Rangers 3 Stars of the Week: European Prospect Edition

As the season goes on, we will be doing a series of posts highlighting the Rangers European Prospects. This will take the form of a 3 Stars of the Week. Each post will highlight the performances of three Rangers’ European Prospects, along with a number of honorable mentions. In order to be eligible, a player must play for a European Team. Prospects in the OHL, QMJHL, WHL, and NCAA will be covered in a separate series of posts.

Note: the Rangers organization has experienced a significant amount of turnover this past year. In addition, many players do not know where they will be playing to begin the year. With this in mind, the list of “European Prospects” will change over the course of the year. For example, Lias Andersson is listed here, however, there is a high likelihood that he will begin the season in either New York or Hartford. This will remove him from the list of European prospects. As the season goes on, the list for eligibility will continue to change.

Honorable Mentions

While the majority of prospects have not started playing with their regular season teams, the KHL season has begun and a number of tournaments have been going on. While not a substitute for Hockey at the Garden, this does provide a “fix” until October 5th.

Champions Hockey League

Lias Andersson, Dominik Lakatos, Tarmo Reunanen and Patrik Virta all are suiting up for their respective teams in the Champions Hockey League. Andersson and his team, Frolunda, are undefeated at 4-0 so far. While Andersson does not have any points, his play has impressed on a fairly deep Frolunda squad. Dominik Lakatos has 2 points (1G, 1A) to go along with 18 penalty minutes for Liberec. Patrik Virta and Tarmo Reunanen each have zero points for TPS, although Virta has impressed in the faceoff circle winning 65% of his draws.

3rd Star

Filip Chytil has been quite impressive every time he has stepped on the ice this summer. His performance in the U20 Four Nations Tournament has been no different. Chytil opened the scoring for the Czech Republic in the 1st period of their 3-1 victory over Team Finland. He is number 21 in the video below.

Chytil then added two assists in a 6-5 loss to Team Russia. On August 31st, Chytil was added to the Rangers Traverse City Prospects Tournament. However, over the weekend, a report out of the Czech Republic was confirmed by Larry Brooks, stating that Chytil suffered a torn leg muscle in the tournament. While Chytil was not expected to make the Rangers roster this year, the injury puts a damper on a very successful summer.

2nd Star

Nicklas Jensen was the second leading scorer for the Hartford Wolfpack last year with 55 points. However, this off-season, Jensen signed with Jokerit of the KHL. Jensen’s rights are still owned by the Rangers for another season so he is still eligible for this list. The KHL’s regular season began last week, and Jensen has played in 4 games for Jokerit scoring 3 points (2G, 1A). While not normally enough to warrant a 2nd Star selection, it is still good to see Jensen putting up points against tougher competition.

1st Star

Arguably the Rangers most important prospect, Igor Shestyorkin had a very good season last year for SKA St Petersburg. So far this year, Shestyorkin has picked up right where he left off. In three games so far this season, Shestyorkin is undefeated with a 1-0-2 record, along with a 1.45 GAA, .947 save percentage and a shutout. While we won’t be seeing Shestyorkin in New York this year, his development will be something to continue to follow.

Fan Questions

As the season goes on I want to cater to your requests. Let us know who you want to see updates on and who you believe is worthy of a Prospect Star of the Week. Please send all questions and comment to my twitter handle @BlueshirtBros94 or to @FullTiltNYRBlog.

 

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