From Draft Day to Rangers Debut: Drew Fortescue’s Steady Climb to Broadway

It’s been 1,000 days since the New York Rangers drafted Drew Fortescue. And, in that time, so much has changed for the organization’s newest defenseman.

On that day in Nashville, as their third round pick drew near, the Rangers had set their sights on Fortescue. Concerned he wouldn’t be there for the taking, they swung a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins to move up a pick and grab him. Despite the thunderstorms and humidity plaguing Nashville that day, when Fortescue’s name was announced, it received the biggest pop from the crowd, possibly for the entire draft.

There’s a reason for that. Fortescue comes from a large, hockey-loving family. More than just a family, it feels like a whole community. Scott Wheeler from The Athletic spells it all out, but it gets pretty complicated. The short and sweet of it is that Drew’s dad played hockey, he married into a family that also played hockey and, because of this, Drew has brothers, cousins, and close family friends with whom he grew up playing hockey.

Some of them are even carving out their own careers, like Liam McClinskey, who was an NCAA standout as a Crusader at the College of the Holy Cross and is now playing for the Charlotte Checkers. There’s also C.J. McGee, who helped Quinnipiac University win the NCAA National Championship—much to Joe’s delight—and is now playing in the ECHL.

The moral of the story is that all of these people have been part of Drew Fortescue’s hockey journey and have helped shape the path he has taken.

From Local Rinks to the National Stage

Long ago, and long before his newly minted entry-level contract—even before his big draft day—it didn’t always seem like Drew would make it to the NHL. Yeah, every kid who plays hockey has that dream at some point. But it’s usually not based in reality. That started to change when the Fortescues signed their son up to play for the Mid Fairfield Rangers.

A few familiar names played on the same youth hockey team as Fortescue: Chris Drury’s son Luke, for one. Hall-of-Famer Martin St. Louis’ son Lucas, for another. It wasn’t long after Drew joined that Martin St. Louis, recently retired from the NHL, took on the role of coaching his son’s hockey team. Fortescue then received daily hockey lessons from one of the greatest players ever to play the game.