LAS VEGAS — The Rangers collect players who are 6 feet 5 inches or taller like trading cards.
That’s been a theme over the past two NHL drafts for the Rangers, who took 6-foot-7 left winger Nathan Aspinall with the 159th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2024 draft at The Sphere on Saturday, becoming their third tall skater in two years.
Aspinall, who spent the past two seasons with the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League, will join an already-stuffed Rangers roster that appears to have been accumulated over the last few years.
“[Size] “Size certainly helps,” Rangers director of personnel and amateur scouting John Lilley said. “There are a lot of good small guys, but size is definitely an advantage when you think about the playoffs and the tough games. You have to be big, but it’s nice to start out big and then use your size to your advantage.”
With 6-foot-8-and-a-half-inch Matt Rempe and 6-foot-7 Adam Edstrom coming out of the pipeline last season and making an impact with their commanding on-ice presence, the Rangers clearly wouldn’t mind adding another player of a similar status to the team.
Rempe and Edstrom were both drafted by the Rangers in the sixth round, 165th overall in 2020 and 161st overall in 2019.
Making their NHL debuts roughly two months apart, these two strong skaters made strong impressions and will surely be competing for roster spots next season.
While Rempe made a big splash with three points over 17 regular season games and 11 playoff games, along with 71 penalty minutes, three ejections and one four-game suspension, making him something of a cult hero among prestige fans, Edstrom quietly tallied two goals over 11 solid games.
“They’ve done a great job. They were mid-to-late draft picks, but they’re players with potential,” Rielly said. “Credit to those guys. They’ve put in the time and effort and played big roles in our organization. And now the guys that we drafted, [recently] You have the same opportunity.
“As we say at every development camp, it’s all up to them. It’s up to them to see how they put in the effort going forward.”
In last season’s draft in Nashville, the Blueshirts selected 6-foot-7, 205-pound center Dylan Lubroek, out of the OHL, with the 178th overall pick and 6-foot-5, 216-pound left winger Ty Henricks with the 183rd pick.
The Rangers also selected 6-foot-3 defenseman Rasmus Larsson with the 152nd overall pick.
Lillee stressed that the Rangers valued Aspinall’s size, adding that he really understood what he needed to do to improve his skills and become an effective player later this year. In 94 OHL games over the past two seasons, Aspinall has recorded a total of 19 goals and 19 assists.
“He’s figured out how to use his body,” Rielly said. “He’s another big guy that still has to get bigger and stronger.”
The Rangers named Raoul Boyard as a player they wanted to move up in the draft, and they got their wish by sending the 127th overall pick and a 2026 seventh-round pick to the Predators to select the 61st-ranked center with the 119th pick.
Then, with their final pick in the 2024 draft, the Rangers selected Swiss forward Rico Gredig with the 191st pick.
Boilard described himself as a defensive centre with the offensive tools to make plays and be a force on the forecheck and faceoff, scoring 62 points in his first season in the QMJHL.
“It means a lot,” Boilard said of the Rangers trading up to select him, “so that’s good because it means they like me. A good organization that likes me, that’s a good sign.”
