Drew Fortescue’s first pro season is arriving with a built-in obstacle course.
The 21-year-old defenseman turned pro this spring after three steady years at Boston College, but the path to New York looks jammed before it even starts. After the Rangers reshaped their blue line through trades and the draft, Fortescue would likely need a disaster to hit Broadway before he sees regular NHL minutes this season.
That doesn’t mean the move was pointless. It just means the challenge is steep.
Chris Drury spent the summer loading up the defense. Marcus Pettersson came in to stabilize the left side of the second pair.
Alberts Smits was drafted as a future left-side anchor on the top pair. Sean Durzi was added to sit behind Adam Fox on the right side of the depth chart.
Braden Schneider got extended, Scott Morrow and Vincent Iorio signed new contracts, and Matthew Robertson is trying to build on a successful rookie season.
The Rangers appear headed toward a conventional setup with three left-handed defensemen and three right-handed defensemen, though Smits could throw everything off if he proves he’s ready sooner than expected. The only real locks at the top are Vladislav Gavrikov and Fox. After that, Pettersson, Durzi, Robertson, Schneider, and Smits all factor into the picture, with Smits serving as the wild card.
For Fortescue, that leaves very little room to breathe. He looks like he’d have to climb several rungs just to get into the seventh-defenseman discussion, much less into a role that comes with actual ice time.
So the immediate target in his first season should be Hartford.
Winning the top-pair job there is the first step, and that means beating out Dennis Cholowski, Jackson Dorington, and possibly Urho Vaakanainen if he’s sent down because Smits forces the issue. If Smits stays in Hartford, he joins that competition too.
Cholowski brings the most experience to the group. The 28-year-old has 254 AHL games under his belt and has averaged 0.50 points per game there.
He also has 173 NHL games across seven seasons. He may not be the flashiest name in the mix, but veteran mileage can matter when a team needs a temporary fix.
Dorington has 79 AHL games over three seasons and has produced 3-10-13. Before Hartford, he played at Northeastern, where he recorded 8-25-33 in 105 NCAA games. Fortescue posted the same 8-25-33 line in 112 games, which gives him a slightly worse points-per-game mark.
Vaakanainen brings a different kind of resume. He’s 27, has played 119 AHL games over five seasons and has a 0.33 points-per-game average there.
He also owns 221 NHL games across nine seasons, with a 0.21 points-per-game average. If Fortescue wants a real shot at becoming an NHL regular, he’ll need a strong start and some help from injuries above him.
None of that is ideal, but it’s not the whole story either.
AHL production only goes so far if a team wants a specific type of player, and Fortescue has the size to at least fit the mold at 6-foot-2 and 194 pounds. Still, the comparison that keeps coming to mind is Zac Jones. Jones would probably already be a regular if he were bigger than 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, but his profile shows how fit and role can outweigh raw production.
Jones has put together a strong track record: 12-35-47 in 61 NCAA games, then 28-101-129 in 168 AHL games, both at 0.77 points per game. Even so, he’s still projected to start this season outside the NHL.
He’s a power-play specialist, and New York already has that covered. Fortescue, meanwhile, is more of a defensive defenseman, and there isn’t an obvious opening for that kind of player right now.
That’s also part of the broader problem. The NHL is moving toward defensemen who can help create offense from all three pairs. If Fortescue doesn’t bring more of that element, his path gets even narrower.
The upside is that Hartford could give him a chance to stand out on a stronger team. If he shines there, he could put himself in position to take advantage if the Rangers want to shelter Smits or if Robertson struggles in his second season.
Fortescue is still a prospect worth watching, and he could eventually matter in New York. For now, though, expectations probably need to stay grounded.
In Other News...
Rangers Still Have One Lineup Debate That Could Shape Everything
The Rangers forward puzzle is starting to come into focus as the new season approaches, with the conversation centering on how the top six should be arranged and which combinations can give the team a cleaner offensive identity. J.T. Miller figures to be one of the most important pieces in that discussion, and the staff is weighing him alongside names like Doc Dorofeyev, Bud Bjorkstrand and Will Cuylle as it tries to balance skill, speed and the kind of chemistry that can hold up over a long season.
What makes the debate worth watching is that the answer could ripple through the whole lineup, especially if the Rangers are looking for a line that can do more than just survive shifts. There is also the question of how the team wants to use its heavier forwards, with Matt Rempes return part of the larger picture if he is healthy, and that sort of size-driven element could alter the feel of the roster in a hurry depending on how the rest of the pieces settle. [Read more 🡒]
Jaroslav Chmela Is Giving The Rangers A Real Bottom-Six Decision
Jaroslav Chmela has turned a straightforward training camp question into a real roster conversation for the Rangers. The young forward has steadily improved, and his recent NHL call-up only strengthened the sense that he is more than a depth name on the page. The organization sees him as a developing player with upside, and his progress has put him in position to force the staff to think hard about where he belongs when the season opens.
The decision now feels less about whether Chmela is part of the Rangers future and more about when the team wants to make that commitment. He could stick in the NHL and claim a bottom-six role, or he could head to Hartford to keep building his game with the Wolf Pack. Either way, the coaching changes in the AHL are designed to help prospects like him keep moving forward, which only makes his camp battle more interesting for the Rangers. [Read more 🡒]
Adam Fox Puts Real Pressure On This Rangers Retool
Adam Fox sits at the center of whatever comes next for the Rangers, because the blue line is still built around their top defenseman and his contract runs three more years at $9.5 million annually. After finishing last in the Eastern Conference, Chris Drurys signal that a roster retool is coming only sharpened the questions around a team that has to get back on track quickly and figure out which core pieces are part of the next version.
Fox has not exactly shut the door on that conversation, but he has also not rushed to answer it. During the season, he was noncommittal about his long-term future, making it clear the focus was on the games in front of him, and only after the schedule ended did he sound more open to the idea that the Rangers could still work, even if the bigger issue is where the organization is headed. For a club trying to reset without losing its best players, that is the pressure point worth watching. [Read more 🡒]