Rangers Roundup: NHL to change draft lottery, Artemi Panarin update, and is Igor Shesterkin injury prone?
It’s really hard for me to not see a connection with the New York Rangers winning the Draft Lottery two years in a row and the NHL’s proposed changes to it. The Blueshirts did it right, did not tank and got lucky.
Detroit was abysmal and unfortunately for them selected 4th overall last season, only to watch the Rangers select prized prospect Alexis Lafrenière. Rumors had it that Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings were furious. They weren’t the only ones.
NHL changing Draft Lottery
So yesterday, the NHL sent out a memo of the changes to the draft lottery to ensure that those that tank will get rewarded.
The next lottery drawing will only be for the top two picks in 2021. Meaning whomever finishes dead last will pick no worse than third. In the 2022 Draft, teams having won the lottery twice within five years will be out of the running and no one can jump more than 10 spots. If this was in place last season, the Rangers would not have gotten the first pick.
The Board of Governors needs to approve this but it sounds like Yzerman and others got their way.
Listen, I am all for equity and fairness, but where was this outrage when the Carolina Hurricanes jumped from 11th to 2nd to select Andrei Svechnikov in 2018? That was preceded by the Flyers jumping from 13th to 2nd to take Nolan Patrick in 2017.
I didn’t hear a whimper when the Devils jumped from 6th to 1st overall to select Nico Hischier in 2017. Nor when the Winnipeg Jets jumped from 6th to 2nd overall to select Patrik Laine in the 2016 Draft. And let’s not forget the Edmonton Oilers selecting first overall four times from 2010 to 2015.
Latest on Artemi Panarin
Artemi Panarin is still working on the fall out of the false allegation made by his former KHL coach. The Rangers best player has not played since February 20 and has missed seven games and counting.
There is still no timetable for his return, and David Quinn has told the media any conversations between him and Artemi will remain private. Larry Brooks noted that the Rangers have moved him to a non roster player for now.
Is Igor Shesterkin injury prone?
The injury against the Devils looked much worse than it was. However, this is the second groin issue he’s had in his young career and the third lower-body injury.
He was sidelined early last season with an ankle injury but came back strong. Everyone is well aware of the misfortune of the car accident he and Pavel Buchnevich were involved in. However, in the bubble Shesterkin suffered a groin injury during his half of the exhibition game against the Islanders. Looking back it seemed to happen on a goal where he exploded from his left to right. That’s the same move where he went down against the Devils.
It’s concerning because groins are a fickle thing for a goalie. As someone who has been following the game for a long time, I’ve seen plenty of goalies have repeated groin injuries in their careers. We don’t have to look too far for an example as Mike Richter certainly had his issues much later in his career. The concern is that this is already happening for Igor at 25.
This isn’t a call to panic, but the Rangers certainly need to monitor and work on this with him.
NHL RUMORS
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