New York Rangers rebuild gets huge boost with 2020 first overall pick
Alexis Lafreniere or Quinton Byfield will be heading to the New York Rangers after they won the draft lottery.
The New York Rangers entered Monday’s NHL draft lottery with the same 12.5% chance as everyone else of getting the first overall pick. Whether it’s fair or not that a team who played in the postseason gets the top overall pick is moot because the Rangers ball was the one selected. They’ll have the first overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.
With that pick, the Rangers will be drafting either Alexis Lafreniere or Quinton Byfield. Those are the two top prospects in the draft and there’s a good argument either one is worth drafting with the first pick. However, Lafreniere is the overwhelming favorite and even the NHL knows that because they had him on a Zoom chat during the lottery.
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Lafreniere gives the Rangers comical left-wing depth. On the left side, they’ll be able to trot out Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, and Lafreniere. Few teams can match that depth. Lafreniere is an elite offensive talent who has dominated at every level he’s played in.
He’s coming off an outstanding draft year that saw him collect numerous awards. Lafreniere won his second straight CHL Player of the Year award. He made his third consecutive appearance on the QMJHL’s First All-Star Team and won the QMJHL MVP award for the second straight season. Lafreniere led the league in scoring as well.
At the 2020 World Juniors, he was named to the tournament All-Star team, won the award for best forward, was named a top three player for Team Canada, and won the MVP for the tournament.
Lafreniere should make an immediate impact on the Rangers and should make them a force to be reckoned with. Especially if 2019 second overall pick Kaapo Kakko improves on his less than stellar rookie season.
Next. 2020 NHL Mock Draft. dark
Byfield would be worth drafting with the top pick as well, as he’s the best center in the draft and the New York Rangers need center depth more than they need wing depth. However, the easy pick is to go with Lafreniere.