they kind of flip flop a lot on their draft strategy/philosophy. First they decide of crap we are soft, need to draft muscle, then they are like damn too many penalties and suspensions lets draft all Europeans, then all college, then screw it we suck at drafting lets trade the picks, then oh crap our pool is empty of talent lets trade for pics, then oh crap we got too many picks what are we going to do with them, let's trade some for some young players or trade up in the draft, then oh no not enough scorers lets get some offensive players, then speed kills let's not draft anybody that can't fly, then they realize speed without hockey sense doesn't really do much then they go after hockey sense, then they have Lias Andersson and they are like oh no we have to pay attention to speed and character, now we are back to being soft and needing physical players.
See now I don't think they flip flop at all. I think fan perception changes based on whether or not they like what they're seeing, or whether they are mis-interpreting what they're seeing.
I don't believe the moves fall into broader buckets so much as the Rangers operate within the confines of what is available and when it is available. Generally speaking, they tend to value awareness, coachability and projectibility and aren't necessarily going to value a player strictly on pure "skill" for lack of a better term. I don't think they suddenly realized they needed IQ or speed. None of their picks the last three years show any deviation on their thinking that skating is about more than winning foot race --- that especially holds true for players like Lafreniere, Kakko, etc. So I don't know where that's coming from.
If anything, I think the search for value is why you have periods where there are more left defense drafted, or more wings, or why the Rangers aren't going out of their way to draft a center just because they could use one.
The leagues are all about opportunity and who is available. This year our top three picks were from the CHL. But if the pieces fall differently, our top pick easily could've been from Finland again, our second pick from Sweden, and we could've opted for a prospect rather than the second round pick we used on Cuylle.
I will say that the Rangers are always on the lookout for the leagues that can provide solids ROIs and that might be under-valued. As the rest of the league has focused on the US program in recent years, you'll see the Rangers explore what league might be the next "value" league for them. To that point, I expect they'll be watching the Q very closely the next few years.