Moving Up in NHL Draft Might Be Too Expensive for NY Rangers

Will it cost too much for the New York Rangers to move up in the NHL Draft?

Jun 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; The video board shows the 20th overall pick for the Columbus Blue Jackets is about to be announced in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft at Peacock Theater. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The New York Rangers are getting set for an important offseason, and what their plan to improve will be interesting to watch. 

Coming into the summer, New York has a lot of work to do to improve a team that had the worst record in the Eastern Conference last year. The Rangers will have some good options to improve, but tough decisions will have to be made. 

As New York has been going through their retooling, they have done a good job of creating a lot of cap space for this summer. Unfortunately, the free agent class isn’t the strongest, and it might not behoove the Rangers to spend on this class. However, with an expectation to improve, they might have to go to the trade market. 

After having some bad luck in the NHL Lottery, New York would have loved to be in the top three of the draft to take one of the projected top forwards. However, while they still might be able to move up, the price could be high. 

Price For Second Pick Might Be Too High 

New York Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider / Danny Wild-Imagn Images

While the Rangers would likely love to move up to secure one of the top three forwards, that could be a price that is simply too steep for New York. When using the PuckPedia Perri Pick value calculator, it sets a numerical value for all draft picks. 

Even though the second pick and the fifth pick aren’t that far apart, the value of the two is nearly 20 points apart. In any potential deal, a pick swap of these makes sense, but even if the Rangers threw in the 26th overall pick, the value still wouldn’t match up. 

While Braden Schneider could be an appealing option to put in a deal as well, giving up two first-round picks and the young defenseman would be a steep price to pay to move up three spots. 

Adding one of the top forwards would be great, but New York has been working hard to accumulate young assets and moving both of their first-round picks, and potentially a player like Schneider feels like too steep a cost. 

Overall, it will be interesting to see what the Sharks might look to do with the pick. It seems like they are open to shopping it, and with a plethora of young forwards on the team, that makes sense. However, while the pick would be great for the Rangers to get, it could be a bit too much to give up.