Sometimes, skilled prospects drop in the draft inexplicably. Occasionally, it is because they’re viewed as weak defensively. Sometimes, its attitude issues. Other times, it’s the dreaded “Russian factor”. Whether there is basis to these reasons or not, the New York Rangers have taken advantage of droppers in the past and, most of the time, wildly succeeded.
The late Alexei Cherepanov was an example of a top talent falling into the Rangers lap. Anthony Duclair, Pavel Buchnevich, and many more can be included in this as well. This year’s iteration of the skilled forward likely to fall: Dynamo Moscow’s Klim Kostin.