NY Rangers Face Uncertainty in NHL Draft Following Sabres Acquiring 4th Pick

Following a big trade, the New York Rangers have a new team ahead of them in the NHL Draft.

Dec 17, 2024; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; View of a Buffalo Sabres logo on a jersey worn by a member of the team during the second period at Bell Centre. / David Kirouac-Imagn Images

With the NHL Draft just a couple of days away, the New York Rangers will be preparing for a very important night for the franchise. 

As of now, the Rangers are set to be on the clock with the fifth overall pick. Despite some other movement in the top 10 of the draft the last couple of days, it would be wise for New York to hold on to their selection and use it. This is a team that desperately needs some young talent, and the fifth pick can help them improve that. 

However, with a lot of player movement of late, the top four in the draft have already been impacted. Due to the San Jose Sharks trading William Eklund, that should result in them taking winger Ivar Stenberg with the second overall pick. The Sharks were a team that figured to be in the mix for one of the defensemen at two, but they could look to address that at nine instead. 

Furthermore, the Chicago Blackhawks traded the fourth overall pick to the Buffalo Sabres for defenseman Bowen Byram, and it will now be a new team selecting ahead of the Rangers. However, whether or not Buffalo will use this pick remains to be seen. 

Scott Wheeler of The Athletic (subscription required) recently wrote about what the Buffalo Sabres’ plan could be right ahead of the Rangers in the NHL Draft. After just recently acquiring it, the Sabres might not hold on to it for long. 

Uncertainty Ahead of Rangers

New York Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury / The Journal News-Imagn Images

With a new team entering the mix, what happens ahead of New York has become uncertain. The Rangers were certainly hoping that one of the top three forwards would fall to them at five, but that seems extremely unlikely at this point, and that trio could end up being the first three players taken. 

Now that the Sabres are at fourth, what they might do with the pick will be up for debate. This was a team that had a nice little run in the playoffs and will likely be hoping to replicate that success. However, they have lost some key talent with Byram being traded and Alex Tuch’s rights going to the Washington Capitals. 

With a great asset now in the fourth pick, seeing the team get aggressive on the trade market to replace Tuch makes a lot of sense. For the Rangers, this offseason has been moving fast around them, and it will be interesting to see what the team is going to do in the draft, trade market, and in free agency.