The Rangers had a pretty strong Day 2 of the 2026 NHL Draft, with one “major” roster move in the Adam Edstrom trade. The Adam Edstrom trade caught some by surprise, but it was always a very likely scenario this offseason. Edstrom was healthy scratched towards the end of the season, even when he was healthy. He wasn’t playing through an injury, and given how some other prospects performed, the writing was on the wall.
1. The Adam Edstrom trade was one of recouping assets for a player without a role anymore. Edstrom was tried at center on the fourth line towards the end of the season, but Mike Sullivan wasn’t liking what he saw. Edstrom was then healthy scratched as both Jaro Chmelar and Adam Sykora provided more jump and offense to a lineup starved of creativity. It was clear Edstrom was behind both on the depth chart, and likely would have been behind Matt Rempe if he were healthy.
Center was the last gasp effort by the organization to avoid an Adam Edstrom trade.
2. The Rangers have a ton of bottom six wingers both on the roster and in the system. Sykora and Chmelar stuck in the middle of the season, and Rempe seems to be the team mascot at this point. Tye Kartye’s success after the Rangers claimed him off waivers wasn’t much of a surprise either. Rempe notwithstanding, that’s three consistent bottom six spots with Sykora, Chmelar, and Kartye. Conor Sheary outperformed him as well, taking that last bottom six wing spot. Thus, the Adam Edstrom trade became a necessity to free up space.
3. It’s easy to forget that Edstrom is going to be 26 years old in October. He’s not really a kid anymore, even if it feels like he’s still a rookie. That’s because he’s missed close to 70 games in the last two seasons with injuries. Sometimes, things just don’t work out and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Injury history and roster space were working against him. Instead of waiting, Drury moved forward with the Adam Edstrom trade to recoup an asset.
4. On the Adam Edstrom trade itself, it is a bit weird that Massimo Rizzo was added to the deal since the Rangers have no intentions on signing the pending restricted free agent. Nashville didn’t have roster size constraints, so the Predators didn’t necessarily need to include him. That was a bit weird. Maybe the Rangers aren’t going to sign him, but he’ll get an AHL deal with the Hartford Wolf Pack? Best I can think of.
5. The 5th round pick was the real target in the Adam Edstrom trade, which the Rangers then used to trade up to get into the fourth round and select left wing Spencer Bowes. The 18 year old (19 in September) winger put up 23 goals in 67 games in his first full season in the OHL with Ottawa. Bowes was another draftee by the Rangers who is a great skater with a high offensive ceiling. Naturally as a fourth round pick, expectations should be tempered, but the overall process was good here.
6. Hopefully Edstrom finds a solid home and role in Nashville. He was pretty good here when healthy, but it just didn’t work out. That’s hockey.
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