The disappointing lottery result on Monday night clarified for many whether the Rangers should keep their 2025 first-round pick. Solidifying what appears to be the more popular opinion: The Rangers should take the hit this year and move the pick to Pittsburgh now in order to hold onto next year’s unprotected pick. But is that the right call? The Rangers 2025 draft pick is a solid asset, and there are a bunch of other options available as well.
I understand the concern. People see a potential franchise winger at the top of next year’s draft, and the thought of the Rangers’ pick turning into a Penguins superstar is terrifying. I’ll defer to Dave’s excellent piece from yesterday on why that is highly unlikely to be the outcome. Instead, I want to focus on the strength of this draft class at key positions of need and why the Rangers 2025 draft pick is a major asset.
I have to concede that dropping even one spot has dampened my excitement about the options the Rangers could have when they are on the clock. But loading the Penguins with two guaranteed premium picks as they start their rebuild is not on my wish list. The Rangers 2025 draft pick provides them with valuable options, and I am not convinced that giving it to Pittsburgh should be under consideration.
Grass is greener in 2026?
Dave mentions this in his piece, so I won’t go into too much detail here, but I think it needs to be addressed. A year out from the 2026 draft, Gavin McKenna looks like a can’t-miss prospect. But for some reason, the public has extrapolated and come to the conclusion that 2026 is a deep, can’t-miss class akin to 2003 or 2015 or 2023. Why?
A lot can change in a year, but right now, this looks like an incredibly weak US draft crop, Finland looks set to continue its drought of true top-end prospects, and there is no Demidov/Michkov type on the way from Russia. I am not saying you need a strong US crop for it to be a deep class, but it is a good rule of thumb to have, especially when two other countries are looking like they are having a weak draft year.
That’s three of the top 5 player-producing countries looking like they are going to have a weak year. It’s not a compelling argument for the strength of the draft class. What you could say about next year’s class is that it looks like a much stronger group for defensemen, but the 2025 class looks much stronger for centers, and centers > defensemen in draft day value.
So long story short, the narrative floating out there that you can get a 12th overall quality player in the 20s of next year’s draft is detached from the reality of the class right now. Again, that could change in a year, but I would be really surprised.
The Rangers can (probably) draft a center
Every year since joining Blue Seat Blogs, I have written several articles discussing which prospects should be targeted in the first round. I always write one focusing on centers, praying that it ends up being somewhat useful, but the reality is that when you are drafting in the late 20s, you are not getting high-upside center prospects. That’s why the Rangers 2025 draft pick is so important this season.
It is also rare that you get a draft that has an abundance of center prospects, but this draft has them! Just because there isn’t a McDavid or a Celebrini at the top doesn’t diminish the fact that there are 8 or 9 players with legitimate top-six upside at the position.
Couple that with the fact that we also know that teams reach for defensemen in the top 10 based on need, and we could see at least one or two legitimate top 10 prospects likely fall out of the top 10, and it’s easier to get excited. For context, I would argue that list of centers includes:
- Michael Misa
- James Hagens
- Caleb Desnoyers
- Roger McQueen
- Anton Frondell
- Jake O’Brien
- Brady Martin
- Cole Reschny
- Braeden Cootes
- Cullen Potter (Maybe, I think he’s a winger)
As we approach the draft, I will provide a more detailed look at each of these center prospects, and I am sure Hope will provide plenty of draft content as well. There are also legitimate top 4 defensive prospects that are worth considering at 12, such as Kashawn Aitcheson, Radim Mrtka, and Jackson Smith. As I said in my piece about Adam Fox, the Rangers defense lacks the puck-moving and skating skills required in the league these days. Another reason why the Rangers 2025 draft pick is critical this year and not next.
The Rangers 2025 draft pick Is a valuable trade chip
While I do not think they should send the pick to Pittsburgh, I am not against trading the Rangers 2025 draft pick for immediate help at left defense. I am not a fan of how Chris Drury has spent the cap space that he opened up by moving on from Jacob Trouba, but it is widely suspected that Chris Kreider has played his last game as a Ranger, which should open up additional space.
K’Andre Miller failed to play himself into a large contract extension this season, and Carson Soucy simply isn’t it on the left side. So the Rangers could have some room to play around with if they move Kreider and hopefully Soucy. That cap room could mean adding a significant piece via trade, like a JJ Peterka, Matthew Knies, Ryan McLeod, or, if one can dream, Mason McTavish? Surely the Rangers 2025 draft pick would be in play here.
I also see a lot of people getting hung up on the 2026 pick being more valuable at the 2026 trade deadline. Well, if the Rangers are looking to add at the deadline, that means they are in the playoff hunt and well out of McKenna’s range, so there goes one of the big arguments for moving the 2025 pick to Pittsburgh. Whomever the Rangers draft at 12 would be a more enticing trade chip than an unknown pick in the 20s, so the Rangers 2025 draft pick can be kept and still be viewed as a trade chip, like with the Avalanche and center Cal Ritchie.
Overall, I feel people are jumping the gun about the 2026 draft class. To say it definitively looks better is a stretch outside McKenna and the early signs are a bit less encouraging than how the 2025 draft class looked this time last year. There are more effective ways to use the Rangers 2025 draft pick as a way to inject some excitement into an organization that desperately needs it.
