NHL Entry Draft: 2026 NHL Draft pick watch: Rangers with 5th pick after Lottery

[Filip Chytil]

Wheeler: "When we spoke a month ago, I talked about Caleb and how dialed in on Caleb they've been all year. Coming out of the combine, I don't think anything has changed there. I do know is that Caleb and Manny have expressed at least a little bit of queasiness about the prospect of being paired together and what that will look like that. But everything I've been told is that queasiness doesn't extend too hard and fast. And if he's the top player on the Canucks board, which I believe he is or will be when it's their turn to pick, I think they're going to make him the selection and figure out how to work the messaging, how to manage it within the team. I do wonder if he's more likely to spend 2 yrs in college instead of 1."

 

[haohmaru]

Command up to 19th. Yuck. Was hoping for him @26.

 

[Filip Chytil]

 

[RangerBlues]

Athletics draft rankings have McKenna and Stenberg the only potential first line and the next ten as interchangeable parts. And the rest as luck.
NHL talent pool has evaporated.

 

[leetch99]

If you're a smaller D whose main strength is point production then you're really going to have to show it when you hit the NHL and not everyone can. Sometimes the reasons might be to some degree beyond their control---like they might really need power play time but they're not first in line for it. With the Rangers Fox is going to get the bulk of that time. Zac Jones got scraps of that but in pretty much 100 games with us he put up two power play assists. So the best part of his game never really got off the floor for us. He's a talented guy but if his offense isn't there he's not a good enough defender and his size was part of the problem.

Guys like Bleyl or Villeneuve if they were drafted by say Montreal or Colorado (just for two examples) would be effectively blocked by guys like Hutson and Makar. Really they'd be blocked by bigger guys like Dahlin or Matthew Schneider. I don't know how high the Rangers are on Gonchar but if they're really high I don't know if they'd go another route than Bleyl, Villeneuve just because of that that but Fox would be in their way too. Just that might lead the Rangers in another direction as far as our second first rounder.

Yes...they can be easily blocked by some in front of them like maybe a Gonchar....and that would be a nice problem if Bleyl if drafted by us and Gonchar both pan out .......I think we can handle that . Every draftee is usually aways a risk at that stage of the draft .

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

I wonder if there is any chance the Hawks pass on Stenberg for a D

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Athletics draft rankings have McKenna and Stenberg the only potential first line and the next ten as interchangeable parts. And the rest as luck.
NHL talent pool has evaporated.

Truthfully they have no f***ing clue. Out of those next 10 I can almost guarantee you that 2-3 will be 1st line/top pair players, and 2-3 could be complete busts or bottom 6, bottom pair dmen. Nobody knows.

 

[Synergy27]

Athletics draft rankings have McKenna and Stenberg the only potential first line and the next ten as interchangeable parts. And the rest as luck.
NHL talent pool has evaporated.

I’ve been saying this for weeks now. This is where the meta analysis is leading me. Hearing a scout say that these are a bunch of B+ guys. The #1 overall is always hyped to death, but not this year. It’s just feeling like this draft isn’t all that good.

 

[Fitzy]

Athletics draft rankings have McKenna and Stenberg the only potential first line and the next ten as interchangeable parts. And the rest as luck.
NHL talent pool has evaporated.

I'm very confident that multiple defensemen taken top 10 this year will end up playing 23-24 minutes a game for their respective teams in their primes.

 

[I Eat Crow]

If SJS are taking their D there then I’d expect ability to be 1PP quarterback would be a significant factor.

It's Verhoeff or Reid for SJ at #2, IMO.

 

[pld459666]

Is this a needs draft year? I was thinking maybe we might go BPA with all our picks.

We should always go BPA in round 1.

 

[NickyFotiu]

We should always go BPA in round 1.

Then we shouldn't automatically draft a specific position with our second pick in the first round no matter who we draft at #5.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

I think there is some hindsight in at least the Schaefer pick last season. The kid hadn't played at all that season. Islanders took a swing there and it worked out really well for them.

I also wonder if McKenna stayed in the CHL if there would be a different conversation going on right now about him being a #1. He went to the NCAA, against players that are older and more physically mature. He likely would have completely dominated the CHL this past season.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

I think there is some hindsight in at least the Schaefer pick last season. The kid hadn't played at all that season. Islanders took a swing there and it worked out really well for them.

I also wonder if McKenna stayed in the CHL if there would be a different conversation going on right now about him being a #1. He went to the NCAA, against players that are older and more physically mature. He likely would have completely dominated the CHL this past season.

I mean, that's the same exact thing with Verhoeff but some people still like to shit on him.

 

[dshea19]

I think there is some hindsight in at least the Schaefer pick last season. The kid hadn't played at all that season. Islanders took a swing there and it worked out really well for them.

I also wonder if McKenna stayed in the CHL if there would be a different conversation going on right now about him being a #1. He went to the NCAA, against players that are older and more physically mature. He likely would have completely dominated the CHL this past season.

He probably would have had hype beyond belief. Playing in college showed the flaws and gave a more accurate assessment of who he is. He definitely needs to be paired with a shooter and another guy that can fetch pucks and play D. Put him in a successful situation and he should put up very good numbers. If he stayed in juniors, people would probably expect him to be far more than what he is. Imagine if Laf had played college and his flaws were more understood before the draft. Juniors highlights are some of the most misleading things to ever watch. I am still waiting for Josef Balej to reproduce his highlights.

 

[GoAwayRempe]

Gavin McKenna was like 2.5 pts/g post WJC lol. Even if you wanted to remove his 8 point effort against Ohio State he still sat at 2 pts/g. What ever adjustments he needed to make to the NCAA, he made them to the tune of being utterly dominant at this level too.

Penn State wasn't some super team either.

 

[80s Kid]

Then we shouldn't automatically draft a specific position with our second pick in the first round no matter who we draft at #5.

Agreed. There's a lot of uncertainty when drafting players. Don't overcomplicate things and just draft the BPA. If you end up with too many players at one position, you can just trade them for players at positions of more need.

 

[Levitate]

Gavin McKenna was like 2.5 pts/g post WJC lol. Even if you wanted to remove his 8 point effort against Ohio State he still sat at 2 pts/g. What ever adjustments he needed to make to the NCAA, he made them to the tune of being utterly dominant at this level too.

Penn State wasn't some super team either.

I definitely feel like some scouts/prospect analysts haven't quite gotten their head around evaluating a 17-18 year old in college hockey when they could have been playing in the CHL.

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

Wheeler has Reid falling to 5 in today’s mock. (McKenna, Stenberg, Malhotra, Carels):

I’ve heard the Rangers like Verhoeff and mocked him to them in my first mock, but I’m also starting to think there’s a chance Reid gets here, and if he does, I think they’d take him. The Rangers are the first of these teams that I think would give serious consideration to Alberts Šmits as well. He’s one of the closest D to the NHL, which I think matters for New York still, and he has some of the swagger they’ve been drawn to in the past.

 

[I Eat Crow]

Have said for a while that I think SJ just takes their guy on defense at #2. Instead of Rudolph and maybe Smits or Lin, they can choose between Carels, Reid, and Verhoeff.

I think it ultimately goes like this:

McKenna
Reid
Stenberg
Malholtra

Rangers have their choice of Carels, Verhoeff, Bjorck. I'd be most upset with Verhoeff and happiest with Carels.

If Reid or Stenberg fall to the Rangers I'm doing cartwheels.

 

[Levitate]

Reid and Stenberg fall to Rangers, they take Verhoeff instead
(don't ask me how that'd work out)

 

[I Eat Crow]

Reid and Stenberg fall to Rangers, they take Verhoeff instead
(don't ask me how that'd work out)

That happens, my 16 year streak of no remotes through the TV ends. Last one was when McIlrath was taken.

 

[haohmaru]

Wheeler has Reid falling to 5 in today’s mock. (McKenna, Stenberg, Malhotra, Carels):

Every time I hear “swagger” I think of Max Headroom

 

[NYRFANMANI]

Which one of those two goes first? They seem a lot alike to me. I have no idea.

If Bleyl gets picket before Villeneuve, I'll eat a f***ing broom*. Some scout is getting fired that day.

(*German idiom for ain't happenin')

Just go and watch tape, please. Villeneuve's skating it top 3 in the entire draft. His energy with the puck on the stick is sick.

Would love for Klepov to drop to our second 1st round pick.

I would LOVE for us to trade Trochek for a mid 1st pick and land either Klepov or Wyatt Cullen.

They have big dick energy on offense for days. Whoever picks any of them will be very happy.

 

[Kocur26]