Just the two USHL New York Ranger prospects were in action on Saturday and to be honest neither did anything to get excited about. Both prospects are playing on teams that are fighting to place second in the USHL’s Eastern Conference and both of their teams lost games to teams that they should have beaten.
Defenseman Rasmus Larsson of the Green Bay Gamblers came over from Sweden to play in the USHL as he prepares to play next season for Northern Michigan University of the CCHA. When the Rangers used their 2023 fifth round pick on him, several of the scouting reports suggested that he was an offensive minded based up the numbers he put up playing in the Swedish junior leagues.
That has proven to be rather incorrect as Larsson has been the opposite, a big (6’3 205) bruising defender who is good at moving the puck. He was drafted at 19 as he was passed over in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft and playing for Green Bay in the USHL has helped him adapt and adjust to the smaller North American rinks.
To be honest if the Rangers were not hurting for defensive prospects then Larsson would not be viewed as a legit prospect but the Rangers will hold onto his draft rights until 2028. If things work out then maybe the Rangers will wind up with solid prospect.
But IF Larsson has any hope of earning a ELC from the Rangers then he will need to learn to shoot the puck more often as he has too many games with no shots on goal. For a prospect who is supposed to have an accurate shot, why he doesn’t use it more often I just can’t explain.
After all that, Larsson was scoreless and did not record a single stat as his Gamblers dropped their second straight game to the Youngstown Phantoms 3-1. Instead of moving to clinch the second seed in the USHL’s Eastern Conference, the Gamblers have turned it into a three team race with two games remaining in the regular season.
After tonight’s loss the Gamblers lead the Muskegon Lumberjacks by two points and the Phantoms by four. Next weekend they have a “home and home” series against the Madison Capitols.
The other USHL prospect the Rangers have is Ty Henricks of the Muskegon Lumberjacks and the best comparison I can make about him is he reminds me of Brody Lamb. A power forward with decent size but will drive you nuts with his lack of consistent play.
Henricks is committed to play for Western Michigan of the NCHC next season and it is a solid program so they see something in him. Here is his USHL page and if you look at his numbers you wonder why they aren’t better.
There are way too many games where he goes pointless and this might explain why he fell to the sixth round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. He too like Larsson doesn’t shoot the puck enough and not to beat a dead horse but you can’t score if you don’t shoot the puck. At 6’3.5 215, the lefty shooter should be better than 17-12-29 in 58 games.
Like Larsson, the Rangers will own his draft rights until 2028 so hopefully he will realize that if he wants that NHL contract then his number one area he needs to improve on is consistency. The Rangers will offer him a contract if he can find a way to put up 20 goal seasons in the NCHC simply because of his size.
Henricks has worked on improving his skating this season and before people go nuts, the Rangers have a skating coach mainly because of prospects like Henricks. He is a true project player.
But against the USNTDP team on Saturday, Henricks was scoreless with just one shot as his Muskegon Lumberjacks blew their second straight chance to jump past the Gamblers for second place losing 4-2 to the last place NTDP team.
Now the Lumberjacks have to hit the road to Chicago for a pair of games against the Chicago Steel, they need to win both their games to have a shot at passing the Gamblers. And because they lost twice they also now have to worry about the Youngstown Phantoms who are just two points behind them in the standings.
