[Flame4Ever]

Last night the Kitchener Rangers lost to the Plymouth Whalers 4-2 in game 7 of the first round of the playoff series.
I thought I would post some overall thoughts on how the draft eligible players performed and what this series did to their stock in my eyes.

Ryan Murphy:

Murphy showed his strength and his weaknesses in this series. While he continued to make things happen offensively and was absolutely clutch in this series, Steve Spott also leaned really heavily on Murphy especially in the last 4 games of this series often asking him to play what seemed like 25-30 minutes a game.
He clearly wasn't ready for that responsibility and the Whalers clearly were targeting him all series long. As a guy returning from a concussion at the end of the season, he showed no ill effects in his play. Murphy is elusive, but he's also not afraid to take a hit in order to make the right play to move the puck out of his own end.
He remains a fantastic puck rusher who isn't afraid to hold on to the puck until he sees a good opportunity to either dish it to an open team mate or find a clear lane to the net. He's going to need at least one more year to add a ton of strength before he will be able to handle the NHL, but he has all the tools to be an impact player: great vision, fantastic skating, great hands and a fantastic hockey IQ.
If he was 3 inches taller and 15 pounds heavier, we would be talking about a #1 pick without a doubt.

Gabriel Landeskog:
What more can you say about the captain? Just a terrific leader who battles every night. I am going to take the unpopular stance on this one and say I just don't see the upside that some people do.
While some are thinking this guy can maybe put up PPG numbers in the NHL, I remain unconvinced. I am thinking something closer to Nathan Horton or Dustin Brown with fantastic intangibles.
Landeskog is NHL ready though, which will make some teams really fond of him, and there's a lot to like. He's a fantastic hockey player, with a great head for the game, manages the puck well, loves the physical aspect and can play in all situations. If you want a 60 point player who is a leader and willing to do whatever it takes to win hockey games, then Gabriel Landeskog is your man. He's one of the forwards that Spott regularly deploys in 5-on-3 PK situations, he's willing to go to the dirty areas to score goals, fearless in driving to the net and he works the boards well. He generates a lot of chances using his puck protection and strong lower body, but he doesn't have that "natural goal scoring ability". He sees the ice well, but he isn't overly creative or a true playmaker either.
The intangibles he brings are fantastic though. He hits through guys, sticks up for his team mates and will go out and have big shifts when the game is on the line.
Suffered a high ankle sprain in the WJC and his skating seemed a bit hampered in his return, so the injury may have affected his play down the stretch.

Mike Morrison:
A solid butterfly goalie, Morrison was inserted into the line-up in Game 4 when it became clear to everyone that Maxwell was not helping the Rangers win any games in this series.
Morrison is a quiet goalie in his crease, who moves efficiently and quickly side to side and handles rebounds well.
He played solid hockey in the regular season posting good numbers but was outstanding in the playoffs and really helped the Rangers come back in this series.
From what I've been told, politic played a large part in why Maxwell was given chance after chance to try and regain his form while Morrison was improving and pretty much forced the Rangers to play their 2 goalies as a tandem coming down the stretch.