My beloved Dad, Ben Fischler, once had a saying that I never could figure. It went like this: "You can't shoe (or shoo) a horsefly!" Don't ask me what it means because about 80 years later I still can't figure it out. The same holds for deciphering Draft picks, whether it's 1978 or last night's Body Bazaar in Vegas. OR, some pluses and minuses in Rangers Draft history. By far, the biggest blunder can be found under the name MIKE BOSSY. It still strains credulity when you think that the Blueshirt high command chose not one (Lucien DeBlois) but two (Ron Duguay) before the Islanders wound up with one of the foremost natural scorers of all-time in Bossy. As I noted in another piece today, the Blueshirts scored heavily with longshots such as Henrik Lundqvist and Igor Shesterkin in a neat one-two goalie parlay. A fellow who very well might wind up back with New York – in a trade, that is – happens to be our not-so-old-friend Pavel Buchnevich. Stan Fischler US Hall Of Fame MSG Puck Happy Pavel had to wait until the 75th pick in 2013 before he came to MSG. That same Draft also saw the Rangers select Anthony Duclair 80th and Ryan Graves at 110th. Let's be fair, the jury still is out for Kaapo Kakko who was grabbed second in 2019 but there's no doubt that they blew it with Vitali Kravtsov, who went ninth in 2018 and Lias Andersson, the seventh pick a year earlier. Bottom Line: Whoever was the first to call the Entry Draft – I believe it was Bill Torrey in 1972 – a "Crapshoot" was right. Torrey was the fella who won that shoot when he landed Bossy! Bow Tie Bill did better than "shooing a horsefly," he got the thoroughbred!
