Dylan McIlrath = YouTube Sensation

Hello all.  After a long hiatus, I’m finally back doing posts here.  Forgive my almost year-long absence.  The recent NHL entry draft seemed like a good enough transition point for me to re-enter the blogosphere, and something about a recent top-10 pick has me pretty riled up…
A lot is being said about the Rangers newest first-round pick, Dylan McIlrath, the brutish teenage defenseman from Moose Jaw (Canadian city names, eh?).  While the move perplexed the majority of us Blueshirt fanatics, I quite honestly didn’t know how to feel about it.  That was until I did some research of my own over the weekend.  After undertaking the usual Google search of our newest defenseman, I decided I wanted to see some full-motion video and went on over to YouTube.  I was at first quite shocked to realize that a seemingly obscure 18 year old Canadian junior hockey player had more than one link to his credit on the world’s most popular video site.  Then, I was flat out impressed by what I saw.  The common theme in these videos: nobody gets the best of this kid.  Was particularly moved by the fight with John Stampohar (same build, and 2 years his elder).  What’s more impressive is that you see him come to the aid of his teammates in a few of these videos.  Maybe Dan Carcillo would have thought twice about mixing it up with Marian Gaborik if a player like this was an established presence on the ice at the time. That to me is equally important than any plus/minus or point total.  You can only hope that with NHL level coaching, this kid can one day blossom into what Chris Pronger has been throughout his career