NY Rangers Will Have Excellent Flexibility to Improve With Two 1st Round Picks

The New York Rangers will have different options to improve this summer with multiple first-round picks.

May 8, 2025; Tarrytown, NY, USA; New York Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury speaks during a press conference to introduce new head coach Mike Sullivan at the MSG Training Center in Tarrytown, New York May 8, 2025. / The Journal News-Imagn Images

The New York Rangers have entered the offseason with a desire to improve upon a highly disappointing campaign for the franchise this year. 

Not too many people would have predicted that the Rangers would be the worst team in the Eastern Conference this season, but that ended up being the case. New York got off to a slow start, and a historically bad one at home. 

Scoring was not easy for the team for most of the year, and that was a main reason for their struggles. Furthermore, a couple of key injuries and the team trading away Artemi Panarin resulted in things not ending well for the franchise. 

Now, with the offseason starting for the franchise, they know that they will have the fifth overall pick in the draft, following the NHL Draft Lottery. With a lot of cap space and some young talent, New York is positioned well to make some nice upgrades this summer. 

Furthermore, even though landing the fifth pick might not have been ideal, the Rangers have a second first-rounder as well, and that gives them some good options. 

Two First-Round Picks Create Flexibility 

General view of a flag being waved by New York Rangers / John Jones-Imagn Images

Thanks to the trading of K’Andre Miller, the Rangers were able to grab a second first-round pick that will be in the later part of the round, depending on how certain teams are eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

With two first-round picks and a desire to contend in the 2026-27 campaign, the Rangers will likely move one of them in a trade. Due to them falling to fifth in the NHL Draft, that likely opens up the possibility of them considering moving that pick. If they had landed in the Top 3 as their record indicated, the pick should have been deemed untouchable. 

Even though it is early, there have been a lot of rumblings about some good players potentially being available this summer. While all of the stars won’t be available, one or two getting moved is possible, and the Rangers should be in on them. 

The young talent on New York is improving, but in order to get a star it is going to take a haul. With two first-round picks, the team could elect to both pursue some help for now and also build for the future. Finding balance between the two can be challenging, but the Rangers do have the chance to accomplish multiple goals with their flexibility this summer.