Rangers laser focus on prospect development really paying dividends

Kaapo Kakko (Howard Simmons)For years the New York Rangers were a team focusing on the now, trying to sign big free agents and be a contender every year. It didn’t always work out that way and it has frustrated some fans, me included, that they never tried a different approach. Well, we see signs every week that this is no longer the case.

When Jeff Gorton took over in July of 2015, his goal was to “retool” the Rangers as he said and that started with the Brassard-Zibanejad trade a year later. A year later, Derek Stepan was traded together with backup goalie Antti Raanta for a top-10 pick and Anthony DeAngelo. The last 16 months however, the Rangers are in full rebuild mode and the latest…