It was training camp of 1998 and Garden management was desperate to show the organization’s youth movement was a reality as opposed to a figment of its imagination in the aftermath of the previous season’s tumble out of the playoff picture that coincided with Mark Messier’s free-agent defection to Vancouver.
That youth movement, such as it was, focused entirely on Manny Malhotra, the 18-year-old center who had been the club’s seventh-overall selection in that June’s draft. It was not entirely clear Malhotra had earned a spot on the club as camp wound down and the signing deadline approached.
Indeed, there was significant sentiment within the organization that Malhotra would benefit more from spending another season in Guelph of the OHL than he would by making the leap to the NHL, even if Wayne Gretzky would be on hand to tutor him.
But Dave Checketts, CEO of the Garden at the time, was so fixated on being able to sell the youth movement that he interceded in contract talks with Malhotra’s representative and overrode general manager Neil Smith in order to get the teenager signed just ahead of the deadline and ensure he would be on the opening roster.
Despite the fact that Malhotra would construct an estimable 16-year NHL career through which he played 991 games, there is little doubt his all-around game would have benefitted from spending his age-18 season in junior hockey. As it was, he became an unfortunate pawn in the distasteful internal battle that would rage for two years between Smith and head coach John Muckler.
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Three years later in 2001, general manager Glen Sather put 18-year-old goaltender Dan Blackburn on the fast track, awarding the 10th-overall selection in the June draft a spot on the roster as Mike Richter’s backup. The alternatives, by the way, were Johan Holmqvist and Peter Skudra, so perhaps that explains it.
Blackburn held his own, but it is difficult to suggest playing 31 games in the NHL as opposed to a full workload of 65 or so starts in the WHL was beneficial. The ultimate impact of the decision to promote Blackburn to the NHL at such an early age cannot be effectively measured, as the goaltender sustained a nerve injury in his left shoulder that effectively ended his career while working out over the summer of 2003.
Blackburn and Malhotra are the most recent players to make the leap to the NHL in their draft seasons. Now, though, the Rangers are considering placing both of their two kid centers, seventh-overall Lias Andersson and 21st-overall Filip Chytil, on the fast track to Broadway.
It would not be fair to suggest management is intent on forcing either player onto the roster. While each has played well through camp and in the exhibition season, neither has dazzled consistently enough to demand a roster spot.
The 18-year-old Chytil has flashed his skill, impressing in the offensive zone in Monday’s 3-2 overtime victory over the Flyers at the Garden. But he had several misadventures in his own end and the neutral zone. And though the 19-year-old Andersson’s advanced two-way game has held its own against three-quarter speed NHL competition, he has not been a cut above. It seems as though 23-year-old Boo Nieves is more immediately qualified to handle the fourth-line and penalty-killing role that Andersson would likely be assigned.
“[Chytil and Andersson] have definitely caught my attention with their skill set, their skating ability, their hockey smarts,” said Alain Vigneault, who also cited the work of Nieves, David Desharnais and Vinny Lettieri in explaining why he is re-slotting J.T. Miller into his rightful spot on the wing. “I’ve said many times that talent has no age. These guys have talent.”
The Rangers could buy some time with Andersson by having him start in the AHL. The question is whether the player, and ultimately the organization, would reap more benefit in the long run from the Swede getting his 10-12 minutes per an NHL checking role as opposed to playing big minutes in all situations back home for Frolunda, with a possible Olympic spot to be earned, as well?
Similarly, only 10 players have played their entire rookie season in the NHL as 18-year-olds since 2005-06. And only Jordan Staal for the 2009-10 Penguins was as young as Chytil, both celebrating birthdays on Sept. 10 of their draft years. Chytil, who will be in the Czech League if not New York, is a special talent, but is he that special?
The Rangers are in a very different situation now than they were during the dark ages of the late ’90s and early 2000s. Still, some things never change. Now, as it should have been then, the long-term development of their teenagers is the priority.