Ryan McDonagh going to sign with the Rangers?

Will Ryan McDonagh sign with the New York Rangers; this seems to be the 64,000.00 question this summer. There seems to be a lot of pressure on the kid from the Rangers organization to sign a professional contract.

But other than Pashnin and Stepan, perhaps the most intriguing player was D Ryan McDonagh, the Canadiens’ first-round pick in 2007 who was acquired at this time last year in the Scott Gomez trade and who the Rangers really want to turn pro rather than return for his senior season at Wisconsin. The Rangers do own his rights until August, 2011 but the bigger point is the 21-year-old stands a strong chance of making the team if he comes to training camp. At the beginning of the week, McDonagh said he was not going to make any decisions during the week but it definitely seemed like he was leaning toward returning to Wisconsin. That wasn’t the case when I talked to him today before he left.

“I can’t say enough about how much fun it was out here, everybody was great,” the 6-1 McDonagh said. “This group of guys got pretty close over five days. I’ll take a few days over the weekend for July 4 and set it in stone early next week, meet with (Wisconsin) coach (Mike) Eaves and have a decision after that. I was kind of leaning one way for sure. Coming out of here having fun obviously helps the process. But I still want to go back and think things through.”

Kreider, mentioned Thursday by GM Glen Sather as somebody ready to make the jump to the pro game, seemed a little more hesitant of leaving Boston College, which won the NCAA title last season over Wisconsin.

“We had a great year last year as a team,” said Kreider, who added 15-20 pounds of muscle over the course of the year working under both Boston College and Ranger workout structures. “Individually, I’m not sure I’m so ready.”

Still, Kreider insisted that didn’t mean he had made a decision one way or the other.[Ranger Rants]

Having watched Ryan McDonagh play for three seasons for the Wisconsin Badgers, I must say that I have been impressed with this kid’s game, the guy is a good defenseman and probably could make the Rangers out of training camp, but I also can't fault him for wanting to come back to play his senior year, college life is fun...