Rangers get No. 5 pick in first round after Toronto wins NHL Draft Lottery
The New York Rangers were one number away from winning the NHL Draft Lottery and taking home the No. 1 pick. Not only didn’t they win the top choice, they dropped back to No. 5 — the lowest possible outcome for the team that finished 30th in the overall standings.
Ping-pong balls with 7, 2, and 11 were the first three numbers called — and Rangers fans might have thought the hockey gods were smiling on them because those numbers were worn by Blueshirts immortals Rod Gilbert, Brian Leetch and Mark Messier.
Nos. 9 (Hall of Famer Andy Bathgate) or 14 on the final ball would have given the Rangers the first pick. Instead, No. 12 came up, giving the No. 1 selection to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were 28th in the standings, two spots ahead of the Rangers. It’s the third time the Leafs will pick first; they selected Wendel Clark in 1985 and Auston Matthews in 2026.
Even more disappointing for the Rangers was that the San Jose Sharks, who had the eighth-best odds of winning the No. 2 pick, did so — meaning that GM Mike Grier, a former Rangers executive, have picks 1-2-2 in three successive years. The Sharks took forward Macklin Celebrini with the top pick in 2024 and center Michael Misa with the second pick last year.
The Vancouver Canucks, who finished with the NHL’s worst record and had the best chance of getting the top pick, instead will select No. 3. The Chicago Blackhawks, who had the second-best chance of winning, dropped back to No. 4, followed by the Rangers.
The Calgary Flames, Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets have the next three picks.
The Rangers had an 11.5 percent chance to win the lottery and land the No. 1 overall pick. Those were the third-best odds of the 16 teams participating, after the Rangers finished 30th overall in the NHL, and last in the Eastern Conference, with 77 points (34-39-9), their fewest in a full season since 2017-18, when they had the same amount and finished 24th overall.
Their poor record did ensure that the Rangers were guaranteed a top-5 pick in this year’s draft, since no team can drop more than two spots nor move up more than 10, per the League’s lottery rules.
A year ago, the Rangers had a 3 percent chance of winning the lottery after finishing 22nd in the League with 85 points. Not only didn’t they win, the Rangers fell back one spot to No. 12 overall, and then didn’t even keep the pick.
Faced with the choice of retaining the No. 13 protected pick last year or their unprotected first-round selection in 2026, the Rangers opted for the latter to complete the J.T. Miller trade from Jan. 31, 2025. That pick ultimately was made by the Philadelphia Flyers after a pair of trades involving the Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins. The Flyers selected center Jack Nesbitt, a teammate of Rangers prospect Liam Greentree with Windsor of the OHL, with that No. 12 pick in 2025.
Of course, Rangers fans need not be reminded that the Islanders moved up nine spots after winning the lottery a year ago. They selected defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who looks to be a generational talent and is favored to win the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year. The Rangers’ first pick came in the second round when they took forward Malcolm Spence with the 43rd choice.
The Rangers did have success in the 2019 and 2020 draft lotteries. In 2019 they selected forward Kaapo Kakko with the No. 2 overall pick after moving up four spots in the lottery. The following year, the Rangers won the lottery after finishing 18th in the League and selected forward Alexis Lafreniere No. 1 overall.
