This is what trading away those four straight first-round picks plus two of the past four second-rounders in pursuit of the Stanley Cup realistically means for the Rangers, whose organization will be represented by only one player, Russian defenseman Sergey Zborovskiy, in the World Junior Tournament that commences Monday in Montreal and Toronto.
“Most of our top-end guys are probably on our team in New York now, certainly at forward,” director of player personnel Gordie Clark told The Post before the holiday weekend. “When you’re drafting where we’ve been, you have to steal one of those high-enders along the way.