New York Rangers Could Target These Defensemen in 2025 NHL Draft
With a depleted prospect pool on the blue line, the Rangers must focus on defensive talent in the upcoming NHL Draft. Here are five players who could help solidify the team’s future at that position.
After the extraordinarily disappointing weekend the New York Rangers had, dropping two games to teams they're battling with for a playoff spot, what better time than now to start looking ahead at the upcoming NHL Entry Draft.
Regardless of how this season from hell turns out, playoffs or not, Chris Drury and the Rangers front office should have a strong idea of what they need to accomplish in this year’s draft. Typically, drafting the best player available is always a good strategy to follow, but a quick look at the Rangers depth chart should go to show that there is a glaring need in one specific position that needs to be prioritized.
Before we get into that, let’s take a look back at the Rangers prospect pool. Back in mid-September, Roberto and I ranked the Rangers prospects by position.
Chris Feldman
Chris Feldman
Chris Feldman
Chris Feldman
Of the four goaltenders, Olof Lindbom was only mentioned to indicate he would be moving on as the Rangers did not present him with a qualifying offer and he signed with a team in the Finnish League. Dylan Garand really can’t be considered a prospect anymore, as he has several years of professional hockey in the AHL under his belt now. Which just leaves Hugo Ollas and Talyn Boyko. A notable shortage, but when you have one of the best goaltender in the world on your team for the next eight years, it’s not as big of a priority as it could be.
As for the 16 forwards we listed, the Rangers still technically hold signing rights to Karl Henriksson, but he signed in the SHL and likely won’t ever make the NHL. Aside from him, the Rangers dealt Ryder Korczak to Tampa for winger Lucas Edmonds who is in the midst of his fourth season in the AHL. Of the remaining 14 forwards, Brennan Othmann and Brett Berard have some NHL experience on top of their years in the AHL which could bump them up. But generally speaking, there’s enough in the cupboard to get you by.
On defense, the Rangers are all of a sudden quite short. They included Victor Mancini in the trade for J.T. Miller, the signing rights to Hank Kempf went over in the trade to Colorado in the Lindgren trade and, similarly to Dylan Garand, Matthew Robertson is really starting to graduate from prospect to fringe NHL/AHLer. They did acquire Jackson Dorrington in the J.T. Miller trade, who certainly falls under the prospect category. But still, that leaves just E.J. Emery, Drew Fortescue, Dorrington, and Rasmus Larsson, who still isn’t signed to an entry level contract.
When all said and done following the trade deadline, the Rangers have a total of eight draft picks in 2025: no firsts, but two fourths, two sixths, and one selection in every other round. While this team certainly needs higher-end prospects, it’s not the worst draft class to be without a first rounder, especially under the assumption that it would be a later-round selection. While there’s always intriguing names to be found, it isn’t a particularly strong prospect pool to choose from, especially compared to recent years.
Unless there is a situation where a player falls significantly on draft day or the Rangers have someone they really like within their range, they should without question be targeting defensemen in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. With the amount of picks they have, they should have no problem finding diamonds in the rough to help shape the future of their back end.
With that, let’s take a look at some options.
Here Are 5 Defensemen the Rangers Should Target
Maceo Phillips - U.S. National Development Team
Ranked 49th on NHL.com’s prospect rankings for North American skaters, Maceo Phillips is a strong, physical defenseman who skates well and has the potential to be a quality shutdown defenseman at the NHL level. He’s 6’6”, shoots left, and is already clocking in at 228 pounds. From Wayzata, MN, Phillips is currently in his second tour of duty with the United States National Development Team. In 33 games last season, he registered just four assists and, at the time of this writing, has two goals and one assist in 17 games this year. He’s committed to the University of Michigan and looks up to a current Rangers who went down the NCAA route in K’Andre Miller. While he might have the size and stature that Key does, Phillips is more of a defensive-defenseman. Combine that with the fact that he’s a USNDT product, it’s fair to assume Drury could have his name at the top of his priority list.
There’s a chance that Phillips will be off the board by the time the Rangers make their first selection, but their second round pick did originally belong to the Seattle Kraken. Depending on where they finish in the standings, there’s a good chance that Phillips is a very realistic target for the Rangers with that second rounder, assuming his stock doesn’t skyrocket between now and then. The Rangers could always consider trading up in attempts to draft him as they certainly have the draft capital to do it. If defense is the priority it should be, Phillips could be worth trading up for if necessary.
