Well, just minutes after my piece on targets for pick 12 was published, it was announced that the Rangers had decided to move the pick to Pittsburgh to hold onto their 2026 pick. It’s impossible to publish a Rangers 2025 Draft recap without mentioning this, as in a vacuum where you expect the team to be bad next season, I understand the decision. You don’t want to send an unprotected pick to Pittsburgh when it could be Gavin McKenna.
However, it is challenging to reconcile this logic into the Rangers 2025 Draft recap when the pick was ultimately traded for a 32-year-old, 100-point center, which was supplemented by the signing of arguably the top UFA on the market in Gavrikov. Ultimately, I am not a fan of the decision as Drury’s other actions don’t align with it, so it seems more like a fear-driven decision.
The only solace I can take from giving Pittsburgh the pick is that I don’t think they used it effectively, and I am grateful that they couldn’t move up for someone like Hagens. Who would I have taken if we kept the pick? Four of the five options I suggested were still on the board. While passing on Victor Eklund would have been extremely painful for me, especially as he is now an Islander, this team hasn’t had a serious center prospect since Filip Chytil or Lias Andersson. Braeden Cootes would have been the pick at 12 for me.
Let’s move on to the actual draft. The Rangers made 8 picks after Drury restocked the pick cupboard this season. For each pick, I’ll provide a summary, a grade, and which player I would have selected at each slot. Transparently, I have not had the time to follow this draft class as closely as I used to. With that in mind, these grades are based on the raw production, notes from respected scouts in the community, tools, and upside.
Round 2, Pick 43: Malcolm Spence, LW, Erie Otters (OHL)
In general, I have been a fan of how Drury has used his premier picks, and this pick continues that trend. Spence has legitimate top 9 upside with the tools to play higher in the lineup if needed. He is a plus-level skater and competitor, two traits the organization needs to prioritize as we move forward. I was extremely surprised he was available at this slot; perhaps he didn’t fully live up to expectations this season, but Scott Wheeler revealed that he played a chunk of the season sick, causing him to lose about 10 pounds.
EliteProspects had him at 21, Corey Pronman had him ranked 24th, and Scott Wheeler had him at 22nd. The Rangers got a legitimate first-round talent 20 picks back of where he was projected to go. That is a clear win for Drury and the Rangers’ amateur scouts. I also love that he is playing at Michigan next year, I believe College Hockey is an excellent next step for his development.
Grade: A
Will’s Pick: Malcolm Spence
Round 3, Pick 70: Sean Barnhill, RHD, Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL)
The initial fan reaction to this pick was negative, and I understand why when you are just looking at the EliteProspects page for Barnhill. However, his point totals do not paint an accurate picture, as he played limited minutes on a deep USHL team. By all accounts, Barnhill fits the mould of the modern NHL defenseman as a 6’5″ player with excellent mobility and decent puck skills.
Drury has made worse bets on far less toolsy players, so betting on a huge, premium position player with a well-rounded toolkit and two clear standout traits gets a good grade from me. EliteProspects had Barnhill ranked 67th, and Pronman had him 77th on his board. Barnhill will likely return to the USHL for another season before heading off to Northeastern in 2026.
Grade: B+
Will’s Pick: Sean Barnhill
Round 3, Pick 89: Artyom Gonchar, LHD, Magnitogorsk (MHL)
I won’t claim for a second that I watch MHL hockey these days, so I am not overly familiar with Gonchar. His production is eye-catching and nothing to scoff at, but he is listed at only 143 pounds, which is about 40 pounds below where you want a 6-foot defenseman. Below is the opener from his EliteProspects scouting report:
Round 4, Pick 111: Mikkel Eriksen, LHC, Färjestad BK (U20 Nationell)
Eriksen was days away from being eligible for the 2026 draft and produced two very positive showings on a weak Norway team at the U18 World Junior Championships. He came in at 69th on Scott Wheelers’ list, who rates him as a player who drives dangerous chances in the offensive zone, and is a good athlete who has performed well against older competition. From a pure talent perspective, it is clear that the best player on the board was LJ Mooney, but I like this bet by the Rangers.
Grade: B
Will’s Pick: LJ Mooney
Round 5, Pick 139: Zeb Lindgren, LHD, Skellefteå AIK (SHL)
This pick looks like a bet on a toolsy player to put it together, which is tough to knock at this stage of the draft. Lindgren’s calling card is his skating ability, and at 6’1″ and almost 200 pounds, you can see why that would be attractive to a team like the Rangers that needs to rebuild and modernize its defense.
The main concern about Lindgren is that despite his well-rounded toolkit, which should lead to offensive production, his point production has been modest, and he is known more for progressing the puck through passing than his skating. Nevertheless, he played in 5 SHL games last season and should have designs on becoming a regular at that level this year. Let’s see if he can learn to use his toolkit more effectively and push for a spot on the U20 WJC team.
Grade: B
Will’s Pick: Petteri Rimpinen
Round 6, Pick 166: Samuel Jung, RW, Kärpat U20 (U20 SM)
Round 6, Pick 171: Evan Passmore, RHD, Barrie Colts (OHL)
Round 7, Pick 203: Felix Färhammar, LHD, Örebro HK (U20 Nationell)
With these late-round picks, it really makes more sense to just group them together. The standout at this stage looks to be Evan Passmore. Passmore continues Drury’s late-round trend of betting on players with ok tools paired with outstanding physicality. From Mitch Brown of EliteProspects:
“Passmore is unmovable,” wrote Dir. of North American scouting Mitchell Brown. “Opponents bounce off him when they go for contact. He keeps attackers in front of him and easily absorbs high-pace attacks.”
EliteProspects continued to note that Passmore has shown the potential to start producing offensively, and they believe he will breakout next season. This seems like a good pick given the archtype of modern NHL defenders.
Färhammar seems to profile similar to Lindgren as a mobile, puckmoving defenseman, although it sounds like he lacks the same level of mobility as Lindgren. He also got a couple of SHL games last season, so let’s see if he can step into a more regular role at the pro level next season.
On the surface, Jung is the player I am least excited about from this group. He is an overager with unimpressive production in a mediocre junior league. In shocking news, at 6’3″ he continues Drury and his scouting staff’s affinity for picking big wingers late in the draft. I have been proven wrong by these picks before, but a 6’3″ lanky winger is not really exceptional these days.
Jung Grade: D
Will’s Pick: Aidan Park
Passmore Grade: B+
Will’s Pick: Evan Passmore
Färhammar Grade: C+
Will’s Pick: Filip Ekberg
Rangers 2025 Draft recap
Overall, I think this was a fine draft for Drury. I am still miffed that we did not use the pick at 12, but once again I am a big fan of Drury’s first selection and think Spence will be a solid middle-six player in the future. I would have been very pleased with Drury if he selected one of the three little guys (Schmidt, Mooney, Benak), but realistically all three face an uphill battle to make the NHL, and none bring the outstanding production you would like to see from a 5’7″ forward in their draft year.
Outside of the Spence pick, the clear purpose of this draft for Drury and co was to revamp the defensive prospect group, which hadn’t received meaningful draft capital investment in quite some time before the Emery pick in 2024. While there is no homerun pick among the defensemen, I do agree with the archtype he targeted: big, mobile, well rounded toolkits with no clear weakness. Those are the defenseman that succeed in today’s NHL. Barnhill and Lindgren look like the two standouts for me to keep an eye on next season, with Passmore and Gonchar close behind.
I also like the swing on Eriksen in the fourth round. Hope listed him as a fourth round target in her draft previews, and he clearly looks like a player worth keeping an eye on. Unfortunately Norway is not in the top division for the U20 tournament this year, but hopefully Eriksen can start getting some minutes at the professional level.
Overall, I never viewed this as a deep draft class, so Drury coming away with a Day One talent with no 1st rounder gets a good grade from me. I think the public perception of defensemen lags severely behind how NHL talent evaluators view them (for better or worse), so I actually like the swings the Rangers took at the position. This class comes in at about a B- when averaging the grades, but I am a firm believer that your first pick should be weighted accordingly, and I love the Spence pick.
Draft Class Grade: B
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