RALEIGH – According to Glen Sather, Al Montoya is the best 18-year-old goaltender he’s seen since Dan Blackburn.
The Rangers did it, did what they’d pretty much been advertising for the last week, selecting the U. of Michigan goaltender with the sixth overall pick in yesterday’s Entry Draft only three years after using the 10th overall pick on Blackburn, who is now a question mark but whom Sather had previously often referred to as the best 18-year-old netminder he’d seen since Grant Fuhr.
“[Montoya] is a great player, but that’s only part of it,” the GM said yesterday. “He has personality and sizzle, he seems to get better in the big games and he relishes the idea of coming to New York.”
Montoya, whose mother, Dr. Irene Silva, emigrated from Cuba in 1963 as a nine-year old, will be the first player of Hispanic heritage to play for the Rangers if he makes it, and the first Cuban-American in NHL history. He’s a charismatic kid who led Team USA to its first World Junior championship ever in last winter’s tournament, and first announced his desire to play for the Rangers during a press briefing at the Stanley Cup Finals.
“I always loved watching the USA hockey team and the goaltender was always Mike Richter; every time it was the Olympics, it was Mike Richter time,” Montoya, born and raised outside Chicago, said yesterday of the recently retired No. 35, who currently is taking classes at Yale. “I love the Rangers. It’s always been my dream to play at Madison Square Garden.”
Sather entered yesterday’s proceedings owning seven of the first 51 picks. That changed after a couple of deals, through one of which the Blueshirts were able to trade up for Calgary’s pick at 19th overall that they used on highly-regarded Finnish left wing Lauri Korpikoski. Indeed, the Rangers coveted Korpikoski to the extent that had Montoya been gone at the six-hole, the team would have attempted to trade down to take the Finnish winger.
“We had Korpikoski right at the top of the charts; to me, he’s the hidden gem of the draft,” said assistant GM Don Maloney, who essentially ran the draft. “He’s a player you can win a championship with.”
Montoya will most likely return to the Wolverines for his junior year, though the Rangers have some interest in signing him now and getting him into Hartford. Blackburn, rehabbing from March surgery on the left shoulder nerve injury that sidelined him for the entire season after two years with the Blueshirts that would better have been spent developing in Kootenay, hopes to be ready to begin the season with the AHL Wolf Pack. Henrik Lundqvist, another well-regarded prospect, will spend next season in the Swedish Elite league after representing his country in the World Cup tournament.
“We think we can win a Stanley Cup with Danny, and that Henrik is the best goaltender in Europe,” said Maloney. “Hopefully they’re all going to be stars, and they’re all going to be assets.”
Sather, in fact, referenced the Devils’ history in which they selected Chris Terreri, Craig Billington, Kirk McLean, Sean Burke, Martin Brodeur and Mike Dunham within an eight-year span from 1983 to 1990. McLean was eventually traded for Patrik Sundstrom, Burke for Bobby Holik.
“If the draft picks turn out, they can be traded for other assets,” said Sather. “But we drafted Montoya to play for the Rangers.”
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The Blueshirts did not select a defensemen with their eight picks within yesterday’s first three rounds. Draft concludes today . . . After Alexander Ovechkin (Washington), Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh), Cam Barker (Chicago) and Andrew Ladd (Carolina) went with the first four picks, Phoenix pulled the lone shocker by selecting Minnesota 11th-grader Blake Wheeler at No. 5 after passing on Montoya.