New York Rangers fall 2 spots at NHL Draft Lottery, settle for No. 5 pick

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksPlayoff bracketNHL Draft rankingRed Light NewsletterNHL Draft The Rangers are poised to make only their fourth top-five pick since 1970. Jared Silber / NHLI via Getty Images Share article12Very little has gone the New York Rangers’ way lately, and that trend continued in Tuesday’s 2026 NHL Draft Lottery. The worst-case scenario occurred, with the Toronto Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks snagging the top-two picks, respectively, to push New York down to No. 5. The Blueshirts entered with the third-best odds to land the No. 1 choice (11.5 percent) but were leapfrogged twice and therefore dropped down by the maximum two slots. That will likely put them out of reach for the consensus top forwards, Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg. It also dings their chances of getting Caleb Malhotra, who’s risen as the best available center and whose father Manny was a first-round pick of the Rangers in 1998. Team president Chris Drury may have to decide between reaching for a forward further down the board or selecting from a deep class of defensemen that includes Carson Carels, Chase Reid and Keaton Verhoeff. New York will have nearly two months to debate, with the draft scheduled for June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. Assuming the Rangers keep the pick and make it, this will be only the fourth time since 1970 that they’ve selected inside the top five. The other draftees were Pavel Brendl (No. 4 in 1999), Kaapo Kakko (No. 2 in 2019) and Alexis Lafrenière (No. 1 in 2020), all of whom fell short of expectations. This year will be New York’s first time picking in the No. 5 slot. But while the Blueshirts haven’t been in the top five very often, they have received their share of recent lottery picks. This will mark their sixth such selection in the last 10 years and first since 2021, when forward Brennan Othmann was chosen at No. 15. That ended a string of five straight years with a lottery pick, the previous four of which were all inside the top nine. Of those five players — Lias Andersson (No. 7 in 2017), Vitali Kravtsov (No. 9 in 2018), Kakko, Lafrenière and Othmann — only Lafrenière remains with the organization. That abysmal batting average is a major reason why New York is back in the lottery in the first place. Those previous high picks were supposed to lay the foundation for years to come, but the failure to identify and/or properly develop the right prospects has abruptly closed a short-lived contention window. The Rangers went to the Eastern Conference final two out of three years from 2022-24, then fell off a cliff while missing the playoffs the last two seasons. At a time when their veteran core is losing its effectiveness, they don’t have enough promising youth to fortify the roster. This year’s draft — for which New York holds not only the No. 5 pick but also a second first-rounder that originally belonged to the Dallas Stars and 11 selections overall — will be critical if they hope to get back on a sustainable path. New York’s latter 2026 first-round pick, which arrived in last summer’s trade of defenseman K’Andre Miller to the Carolina Hurricanes, will fall somewhere between Nos. 23 and 27, depending on the results of the second round of the NHL playoffs. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms