The New York Rangers will be selecting fifth overall in the 2026 NHL Draft, a monumental selection for a team that is desperately in need of an infusion of young talent. The draft has not been very forgiving to the Rangers in recent history, as New York has made plenty of mistakes along the way, whether it be in Chris Drury’s tenure, or Jeff Gorton before him. Let’s take a look at the Rangers worst draft picks since 2010, with hindsight being 20/20, of course.
These are definitely the Rangers worst draft picks in recent memory, and unfortunately most are bunched in the same window that prevented the current iteration of the Rangers from continuously infusing the roster with young talent. Four of the picks were in that critical window of 2017-2021 that led to a lack of scoring depth or, more recently, primary scoring. That’s what makes these the Rangers worst draft picks – they had such an impact on this team’s ability to win right now.
5. Kaapo Kakko 2nd overall in 2019
I struggle with this one a lot, as there was the most merit in selecting Kakko compared to other entries on this list and other players in Kakko’s draft. If any other team in the league had the pick, they were selecting Kakko. He was the consensus second overall pick.
Still, I don’t personally believe Kakko’s terrible Rangers tenure is because of poor development work by the Rangers. Kakko has shown very little potential, and his Seattle Kraken tenure hasn’t been much better. Simply put, the Rangers took an average player with the second overall pick, when in hindsight they could have gotten Mortiz Seider.
But again, Kakko was the consensus second overall pick. There’s also some revisionist history with Seider, who was deemed a reach at the time of the draft.
4. Brennan Othmann 16th overall in 2021
The Rangers needed to nail the 2021 first round pick. They were heading back into their contention era, and supplementing the pipeline with young talent was critical to keep the window open. Picking Othmann was not universally panned, but there were many concerns in the industry about his abilities outside of his shot. Well, those concerns were clearly fair, as Othmann did a whole lot of nothing for the Rangers until being traded to the Calgary Flames.
Players the Rangers could have taken in Othmann’s spot include Jesper Wallstedt (unlikely given Igor Shesterkin) and Wyatt Johnston.
3. Vitali Kravtsov 9th overall in 2018
Kravtsov sure had potential, and this one feels like it could have gone differently if the organization had a better relationship with the player. Still, it’s not like Kravtsov lit it up for another NHL team. The pick didn’t work out, the Rangers wasted another top draft pick without anything to show for it, and worst of all, they could have ended up with Evan Bouchard or Noah Dobson on defense.
2. Lias Andersson 7th overall in 2017:
I will never forgive Jeff Gorton for this selection. Gorton has been crushing it for the Montreal Canadiens, so he’s clearly a capable executive. Drafting Andersson was likely the worst move of his career. Andersson was selected with “competitiveness” in mind, and basically only that in mind. That led to a disastrous Rangers tenure, then falling out of the league completely. New York needed to nail this pick, and blew the opportunity to bring the likes of Nick Suzuki or Robert Thomas into the organization.
1. Dylan McIlrath 10th overall in 2010
The second most egregious selection maybe in the entire history of the New York Rangers, with the first being Hugh Jessiman. The Rangers took McIlrath because he’s tall and strong. That’s it. New York had a shot at Cam Fowler, Vladimir Tarasenko, heck even Jaden Schwartz. Nope. The Rangers wanted a tall guy. What a disgrace.