Surprising Player Falls to NY Rangers in Recent NHL Mock Draft

In a recent mock draft, the New York Rangers saw a surprise player fall to them at five.

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

With the NHL Combine coming to a close and the NHL Draft quickly approaching, the New York Rangers will be getting set for an important couple of days at the end of the month. 

Following a bad year, the Rangers will be hoping to have a strong summer and help provide a spark for a franchise that is coming off a terrible season. That process will start in the NHL Draft, where New York will have two first-round draft picks at fifth and 26th. 

Improving the prospect pool and getting some young talent has been a desire of the Rangers during their retool, and having two picks in the first round, one of which is in the top five, should help. While New York likely wished that they had a top-three pick, as their record indicated they should have, being at five should still present them with the opportunity to land a good player. However, who will be available is something that is out of their hands. 

Scott Wheeler of The Athletic (subscription required) recently released his mock draft following the NHL Combine. Compared to recent mocks, this one saw the Rangers going with Chase Reid, who was surprisingly available. 

Reid Would Be a Great Addition

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

While the draft process starts to work itself out, there are going to be plenty of rumblings about what the top of the board will look like. While Gavin McKenna is the likely first overall pick, what the San Jose Sharks do with the second overall pick will be key. In this draft, they elected to take Ivar Stenberg, despite having a plethora of forwards. If they deem him to be the second-best player in the draft, then that should be an easy selection for them. 

Following them, the Vancouver Canucks taking Caleb Malhotra seems like a no-brainer with his dad being the coach. However, with a choice of all the defensemen, the Chicago Blackhawks went with Carson Carels at four. 

Carels has been a name linked to New York a lot already, with Reid being expected to go number two for the last couple of weeks. However, with Chicago taking the left-handed defenseman, the Rangers getting Reid would be a strong addition. 

With a few weeks still to go before the draft, New York will be continuing to do their homework on who to select. If Reid is available, he would be a really strong addition.