EJ Emery raves about Rangers top pick: ‘he’s going to be awesome player’
Maybe one day EJ Emery and Alberts Smits will patrol the blue line together for the New York Rangers. A pair of first-round draft picks, one a right-shot (Emery), the other a lefty. That’d be a dream scenario for the Rangers, and their scouting and development departments.
This week, though, they are a pair of defenseman prospects attending Rangers development camp — albeit high-profile ones, considering their draft pedigree. Emery was the No. 30 overall pick by the Rangers in the 2024 NHL Draft. And New York landed Smits with the No. 5 overall selection less than a week ago in this year’s draft.
Emery is the elder statesman, if you will. He’s 20, a year and a half older than Smits, who turns 19 on Dec. 2. When asked on the first day of dev camp what he thinks about Smits, the typically understated Emery pretty much gushed with enthusiasm.
“He’s big. He’s a young kid that’s going to be incredible, he’s going to be an awesome player,” Emery told reporters Monday. “I’m super excited to be here with him and get to know him a little bit.”
There’s a chance that Smits signs his entry-level contract and competes for a spot on the Rangers defense corps in training camp this fall, though he wasn’t saying if that’s the plan on Monday. But there’s little question that Smits is on the fast track to the NHL, after playing in two European pro leagues last season and representing Latvia at the Milan-Cortina Olympics and IIHF World Championship as an 18-year-old.
EJ Emery, Alberts Smits on different development paths to Rangers
That’s the opposite of Emery, who’s set to begin his junior season at North Dakota, and whose growth as a player is more of a slow roll, by comparison. That’s not a surprise since John Lilley, New York’s director of amateur scouting, said that the Rangers wouldn’t rush Emery’s development on the day they drafted him two years ago.
A traditional stay-at-home defenseman, Emery told reporters that he added 10 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-4 frame this past year, and feels a lot stronger.
“I can feel it with the skating and having that extra power, especially defending against players, boxing out,” Emery explained. “You can feel that extra size and all the work I put in to do that.”
North Dakota reached the Frozen 4 last season and are among the favorites to contend for the NCAA title in 2026-27. Emery said he “can’t be more excited to play with” young defensemen Carson Carels and Keaton Verhoeff, who each were first-round picks, along with Smits, in this year’s draft.
As for the question he gets asked each year, when does he plan on turning pro with the Rangers?
“Right now, I’m just focused on UND and winning a National Championship there,” Emery stated. “I’m going to take it day by day and when we get to that, we get to that.”
But this week, watching Emery and Smits on the ice, it’s easy to picture a day when each is a regular on the Rangers blue line, perhaps even partnered as a top-four pairing.
