CHICAGO — At least Jeff Gorton was self-aware of how these draft recaps go.
“We always come here and tell you we got all our guys,” the Rangers general manager said Saturday at United Center after Rounds 2-7 were completed. “So that’s what I’m going to tell you.”
His Blueshirts had two first-round picks Friday and completed their draft Saturday with five more picks, eventually taking five forwards and two defensemen.
First, they traded their top slot No. 102, to the Sharks to obtain Nos. 123 and 174. With 123, they took 20-year-old defenseman Brandon Crawley, who played with the London Knights of the OHL this past season, ranking second among the league’s defensemen in plus-minus rating (plus-55) after helping them win the Memorial Cup in 2015-16. Crawley is 6-foot-1, 203 pounds, and is a native of Glen Rock, N.J.
With pick No. 145 they took Swedish defenseman Calle Sjalin, 17, who led junior players of his Swedish league in points this past season. In the sixth round they took forward Czech forward Dominik Lakatos, and with their second pick in the round, they took forward Morgan Barron, from St. Andrew’s College, who is committed to Cornell next season.
Their final pick in the seventh round was Patrik Virta, a 21-year-old Finn who won the Saku Koivu Award as the best forward in the Finnish Elite League.
After having no first-round picks, the Islanders had five selections in Rounds 2-7, starting things off with Finnish 18-year-old Robin Salo — to relation to former NHLer Tommy Salo — in the second round (46th overall). Salo was second on his team among defenseman with 15 assists, and he won a gold medal at the Under-18 World Junior Championships in 2016.
With pick No. 77, they took Benjamin Mirageas, an 18-year-old defenseman from Massachusetts playing in the USHL who is committed to play at Providence next season. At No. 139, they took Sebastian Aho — no, not the Hurricanes player who was in the Calder Trophy conversation this season. Aho is a 21-year-old Swedish defenseman.
The Isles finished things off by taking 18-year-old defenseman out of the QMJHL Arnaud Durandeau and 18-year-old American Logan Cockerill, who is committed to play at Boston University next season.
The Devils finished their draft off with 10 picks, starting with forward Fabian Zetterlund and defenseman Reilly Walsh in the third round. They added forward Nikita Popugaev in the fourth round, goalie Gilles Senn and Marian Studenic in the fifth round.
They took Penn State-bound center Aarne Talvitie in the sixth round, and then added Hischier’s teammate from Halifax, defenseman Jocktan Chainey with No. 191 overall. They finished things off with two seventh-round picks, Yegor Zaitsev and Matthew Hellickson.