Why Rangers face dilemma with conditional 1st-round pick they traded away in 2025 NHL Draft
Once this season mercifully comes to an end, the New York Rangers can dive right into a critical offseason for the organization. There are a slew of important decisions to make, including one that involves a first-round draft pick they traded away — and was traded again, this time to one of their rivals in the Metropolitan Division.
As part of the J.T. Miller trade on Jan. 31, the Rangers sent a conditional 2025 first-round draft pick to the Vancouver Canucks. That pick then was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a trade that sent veteran defenseman Marcus Pettersson to the Canucks.
The condition on the pick is that it is top-13 protected. That means if the Rangers finish 20th or worse overall this season, general manager Chris Drury has the option to keep this year’s first rounder and send next year’s first-round pick to the Penguins with no protection.
With a week to go in the season, the Rangers are 23rd out of 32 teams — meaning that as of today, Drury has a decision to make. Even if the Rangers move ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Islanders and Detroit Red Wings before the season ends (each of those teams enters Thursday with 79 points, tied with the Rangers but with a game in hand on New York), the Rangers would be 20th overall in the League.
That leaves Drury with a decision on the top-13 protected pick.
Keep in mind that per NHL Draft Lottery rules, a team can only move up a maximum of 10 spots. That means to have a shot at the No. 1 overall pick, the Rangers need to finish no better than 11th in the League this season.
Complicating matters is that the the 2026 draft is considered much deeper than this year’s. But the Rangers certainly hope to finish much higher in the standings next season and this year could be a chance to land one of the top picks.
What to do? Drury has until 48 hours before this year’s draft to notify the Penguins if the Rangers are keeping this year’s pick or relinquishing it.
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Rangers must choose between keeping 2025 1st-round pick or one in 2026
The Rangers currently have eight selections in this year’s draft after the first round — many accumulated from the bevy of moves Drury made throughout the season. They have only a first- and third-rounder in the 2026 draft from rounds 1-4.
So do the Rangers take advantage of the high pick this year hoping to get an impactful player a year earlier, or keep their already small draft capital intact for 2026, when there’s believed to be more talented prospects available.
That the pick going to Pittsburgh, which is in need of young talent as much as any team, adds weight to Drury’s decision following the draft lottery. Though his job is to do what’s best for the Rangers, he doesn’t want to directly help a division rival satisfy its biggest need.
Some have mentioned how rolling the pick to next year’s draft could send the wrong message to the seemingly sensitive locker room. Setting the expectation that the team could be as bad or worse next season, making it a better pick for the Rangers in a more talented draft.
The Rangers have plenty of picks to satisfy the cupboards or be creative at this year’s draft without the first rounder initially at hand. Retaining the first rounder in next year’s loaded draft doesn’t have to send a message one way or the other.
It’s hard to gauge which is the right choice, though it seems hard to imagine Drury passing on a top-10 pick this year after the misery of how they ended up in this position. The way this season unfolded makes you wonder who would be available if the Rangers dangled a top-10 pick as part of a trade package to land a young player who could impact the current roster right away.
The days of dreaming on a Brady Tkachuk blockbuster have passed. But a top-10 pick and, say, K’Andre Miller or Alexis Lafreniere or Brennan Othmann, could land the Rangers a significant return. That would benefit the Rangers immediately and in the long term.
Or they could keep the top-10 pick (assuming they land in the top-10 after the lottery) or wherever that pick ends up. Or is the better play sending the pick to the Penguins, counting on a deeper draft next season, is the play.
There’s no simple answer. Drury very well could wait right up until that 48-hour window before letting the Penguins know what the decision is.
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