In Defense: Rangers Defensive Prospect EJ Emery
He won’t light up the scoresheet, but EJ Emery is quietly becoming exactly what the Rangers drafted him to be—a true shutdown defenseman.
Last season when we checked in on EJ Emery, the youngest New York Rangers prospect at that time was in the midst of a challenging season. He had just been one of the last cuts from Team USA’s World Junior Championship roster—a team that went on to win gold—and on top of that, tallied just a single assist in thirty-one games during his rookie year with the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks. On the surface level, these would be red-tinged flags waving about the former first-round pick.
But it’s time to come to terms with who EJ Emery truly is as a player—a shutdown defenseman.
Emery is not a goal scorer. He won’t quarterback your power play, and he won’t often activate to jump in and join the rush. But what he does do is defend. And, oh boy, does he do that well. Emery will be on the ice in the waning minutes protecting a one-goal lead, he will feature on your top penalty kill, and he’ll remain back to hold the fort down while his offensive-minded partner takes a risk.
Emery is a fine prospect and an incredible athlete to have in the stable for the Rangers, but he continues to get all this flak. Why is that? It’s primarily where he was selected. A first-round pick that doesn’t have offense? For lack of a better word, that’s not considered a “sexy” pick. The Rangers passed on a lot of other available talent, as they often do, and as every team does every year. But they still walked away with one of the draft's best athletes and defensive players. A team needs its offense driving stars, but it can’t be denied that it also needs effective shut-down defense just as much.
