Earlier this week, the New York Rangers signed their 3rd round pick from 2016 (81st overall), Sean Day. The nineteen year old, six foot three, left hand shot defensemen currently plays for the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL. He has traveled a long road to get to this point. He started out with Honeybaked for his bantam year and put up decent numbers. A year later he played with Compuware and soon thereafter, he headed off to the OHL and played for the Mississauga Steelheads. It was around this time that he was projected to be a top five draft pick when mock drafts for his draft class were emerging. Many experts thought he was going to be a cornerstone defensemen for a struggling club. However, as time passed, his stock dropped significantly due to his OHL struggles where he put up only 36 points in 61 games with a minus 27 one year and 22 points in 57 games with a minus 13 in his second year. Those numbers were the number one reason his stock dropped during the draft. Doubts also nagged him that he would not be able to capitalize on his talents. His draft year of 2016 came and he dropped to an 81st overall pick. He was traded this year from Mississauga to the Windsor Spitfires and his game has really turned around. He has currently played 52 games and has 26 points along with a plus 15. Those numbers are a big turnaround from his past performances in the OHL. There is a lot of upside to this kid so it is just a matter of time before he can put it all together. It is an interesting choice by the Rangers to sign him now but he has time to develop. Look for him to play for the Rangers AHL affiliate in Hartford next year and to have significant ice time. He can be a big key for the Rangers defense core down the road and they will certainly need him. Players like Dan Girardi, Kevin Klein and Marc Staal are all getting older. The next wave of young defensemen will be players like Sean Day, Brady Skeji, Ryan Graves, and Sergey Zborovskiy to lead the future Rangers defense core. One day it will be exciting to see Sean at MSG along with his fellow young defensemen wearing the red, white, and blue. 

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