Rangers reaping benefits from Jeff Gorton’s final draft as GM in 2020

Their visit to Montreal on Tuesday is a reminder for the New York Rangers that their former general manager left them with a nice parting gift prior to his dismissal in May of 2021.

Jeff Gorton is now the executive vice president of hockey operations for the Montreal Canadiens, who host the Rangers on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre. But his fingerprints are all over the current Rangers, including the core that reached the Eastern Conference Final in two of the past three seasons.

During his tenure as GM from July 1, 2015 – May of 2021 — Gorton signed Artemi Panarin, traded for Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Lindgren, Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba, and drafted Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko. In fact, New York’s top six defensemen this season — Fox, Lindgren, Trouba, K’Andre Miller, Braden Schneider and Zac Jones — were either drafted or acquired by Gorton.

He also oversaw most of the rebuild after The Letter was sent to Rangers fans on Feb. 8, 2018. During that time he also acquired an excellent bridge player in Ryan Strome, and made some astute moves to land extra draft picks and speed up the rebuild.

Perhaps one of his best gifts — outside of thieving Zibanejad from the Ottawa Senators on July 18, 2016 — was the Rangers draft class in 2020, his final one as general manager.

That draft yielded four players currently on the Rangers roster. And there are two others playing in Hartford of the American Hockey League, who seem on the path to New York in the near future

After the ping-pong balls landed their way that offseason, the Rangers selected Alexis Lafreniere No. 1 overall. He broke out last season with 28 goals and 57 points, and tied for the Rangers lead with eight postseason goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In five games this season, the 23-year-old forward has three goals and six points. Lafreniere appears well on his way to stardom in the NHL, a cornerstone piece for years to come on the Rangers roster.

Gorton and the Rangers hit on their next two picks, too. Schneider was selected No. 19 overall and forward Will Cuylle was picked late in the second round. Schneider, 23, is already in his fourth NHL season with 211 games on his resume. He moved up to take a bigger role on the second pair with Miller late last season and at times in the playoffs. And this season, he’s already proved his versatility by switching to the left side as a right-hand shot after Lindgren’s upper-body injury.

Cuylle led all NHL rookies with 274 hits last season, when the hulking forward also scored 13 goals. This season, Cuylle has a Rangers-best 24 hits in five games, to go along with a goal and three assists as the unheralded glue of the third line with Chytil and Kakko.

Matt Rempe was selected in the sixth round of that 2020 draft and the 6-foot-9 forward made the opening-night roster after creating quite a stir in 17 games as a rookie in 2023-24.

Then there’s forward Brett Berard (fifth round) and goalie Dylan Garand (fourth round), teammates right now in Hartford. Berard led the Wolf Pack with 25 goals last season and was among the final cuts from Rangers camp. He has four goals in four AHL games already this season.

Garand is in his third season with the Wolf Pack and starred in the Calder Cup Playoffs the previous two springs. The 22-year-old is considered the best in-house option to be Igor Shesterkin’s backup on Broadway after Jonathan Quick retires.

That’s quite the haul and parting gift from Gorton. Perhaps current GM Chris Drury can treat Gorton to some poutine as a thank you with the Rangers in Montreal this week.