Goalie prospect Danai Shaiikov was in bathroom while Rangers drafted him

Danai Shaiikov didn’t know what had happened. While watching the NHL draft Saturday at a hotel in Miami — the city where he’d been for a predraft showcase conducted by his agents, he said — he stepped away to the bathroom during the third round.When he returned, everyone started clapping and looking at him.

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.The 19-year-old goaltender from Kazakhstan, who played for the Gatineau Olympiques in the QMJHL last season, was surprised that the Rangers grabbed him with the No.

67 overall pick.Shaiikov knew he’d get drafted, but he thought it’d be later.

It validated his decision to jump from Russia to Quebec last season.Shaiikov said he wanted to play in North America to help achieve his goal of reaching the NHL after not getting drafted during his first year of eligibility.“It’s a good moment for me and for my family, for like all my former coaches,” Shaiikov, the Rangers’ first goaltender drafted since Talyn Boyko in 2021, said Thursday after the final day of development camp in Tarrytown.

“But real work starts now for me.It’s like a lot of work ahead of me, so yeah, nothing changed.

It’s good, but it’s just one day of good like memories and everything.”In predraft interviews, Shaiikov said new Maple Leafs goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is his idol but that he compares himself more to Rangers star Igor Shesterkin.The season in Quebec — when he logged 50 games and finished with a .903 save percentage and a 2.78 goals-against average — forced him to adjust to a quicker pace on a smaller rink, with more dangerous chances unfolding each game.Shaiikov’s goalie coach helped him change some “structure things,” he said, and it helped him adapt.“Small details,” Shaiikov said, “but it’s important details.”Rangers director of player personnel and director of amateur scouting John Lill...