from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

It took five years for the Penguins to make the playoffs after drafting Mario Lemieux first overall in 1982, it took eight years (and a trade) for Taylor Hall to make the playoffs after he was selected first overall by the Oilers in 2010 and it’s four years and counting for Jack Eichel in Buffalo.

Which is to say it is not going to turn around immediately on Broadway just because the Rangers will have the opportunity to select elite 18-year-old Finnish right winger Kaapo Kakko with the second-overall pick the franchise was awarded in Tuesday’s lottery for the June 21 draft.

But it sure creates some real optimism and provides a real foothold for this franchise that played it straight from beginning to end and was rewarded for its integrity with its highest pick since the draft replaced the sponsorship of junior teams and became the primary and then essentially exclusive avenue of bringing players into the NHL in 1969.

“I believe in karma and the hockey gods and doing things the right way,” the fairly bubbly general manager Jeff Gorton said by phone.

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