Prospect on the Move: Ryan Haggerty to Blackhawks
As a part of all the draft day and trade madness, the Chicago Blackhawks acquired a prospect. They traded their third string goaltender Anti Raanta to the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Ryan Haggerty.
Haggerty, 22 years old, signed with the Rangers in March of 2014. He has spent most of his time with their American Hockey League affiliate, the Hartford Wolfpack. This past season he had 15 goals and 18 assists with the team. He also had seven power play goals.
Haggerty is a native of Stamford, Connecticut, and he also played with the United States U-18 team. He played college hockey with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Undrafted out of RPI, Haggerty signed on with the Rangers where he quickly became a valuable member of the AHL squad. Haggerty actually saw a bit of an upgrade in his play once he began playing professional. His 33 points last season with the Wolfpack were the most of any of his college seasons other than his last, where he had 43. Those 43 points led the Engineers that season, along with his 28 goal total.
With the United States developmental team, Haggerty had a total of 26 points in 57 games played.
Haggerty is a right handed shot, right wing who is 6’0 tall and weights 201 lbs. Rangers assistant general manager Jeff Gorton said this to the New York Daily News at the time of his signing:
“He’s one of the top guys in college, he’s a free agent we had at the top of our list, and this is something we felt we had to do in order to get him,” Gorton said of sending the 6-foot, 200-pound goal scorer directly to Broadway. “Sometimes that involves burning a year of contract, (which Haggerty will do), but we felt we had to do that to get the player.”
It is expected that Haggerty will go to Rockford, but if he plays well, he could see a chance at being on the Blackhawks roster. Chicago is up against the cap and is expected to trade some of their top forwards, such as Patrick Sharp or Marian Hossa, so that could give Haggerty NHL ice time.
Raanta adds some value to the Rangers who recently traded away their backup goalie Cam Talbot to the Edmonton Oilers. Raanta saw plenty of time with the Blackhawks, but also played often in the AHL with the Rockford Ice Hogs. More than likely he will be with the Rangers NHL team for most of the time in 2015-2016.