Rangers Must Keep the 12th Overall Pick

Giving up the pick says the expectation is failure. It’s another step backward. It shows fear. If there’s belief in this team, and based on the decisions already made, there has to be, then there’s no justification for giving the pick away. Otherwise, the Rangers are headed for another dark age. They have to bet on the team. They have to keep the pick.

What Was the Point of the J.T. Miller Trade?

Handing the 12th overall pick to Pittsburgh would imply a lack of faith in anything good happening next season. In which case, why trade for a 32-year-old center with trade protection who will be 37 when his contract ends? This is the contradiction the Rangers have backed themselves into. J.T. Miller is not a stopgap. He’s not a rental. He’s not a player a team acquires if it’s even remotely concerned about taking a step backward. He’s a 32-year-old on a long-term contract with full trade protection and a massive cap hit. If there was any serious concern about where the team might be a year from now, he should never have been targeted in the first place.

This wasn’t a deal about flexibility. It wasn’t a calculated future swing. It was a commitment, financially, structurally, and philosophically. J.T. Miller is meant to be part of a contending roster, not a team scrambling to avoid disaster. So if the organization is already afraid of what 2025–26 might look like, then the trade collapses under its own logic. Why lock into term and protection on a player entering the back half of his 30s if there’s no belief in the short-term outlook? Why spend significant cap space and roster capital if the plan is to play scared? If the front office gives up the 12th overall pick now, it sends a clear message: there is no plan. There’s just reaction. One day it’s a win-now move. The next, it’s damage control. And somewhere in the middle, the long-term stability of the team gets burned.

There’s no way to justify that inconsistency. Either the Rangers believe in the group they’ve built, or they don’t. If they do, the pick should be kept. If they don’t, then the trade was a mistake. There’s no version of this where both can be true.

Hiring Mike Sullivan Underscores the Stakes

The Rangers didn’t hire Sullivan to oversee a step back. They hired him to win. This is a two-time Stanley Cup champion with a reputation for structure, intensity, and postseason results. He’s not a development coach. He’s not here to manage expectations. He’s here to get a veteran roster back to the playoffs. The last coach was fired for missing them.

That context matters. Bringing in Sullivan was a statement. It signaled that the organization still views itself as a contender. That the standard hasn’t changed. And that anything short of success is unacceptable. Which is why giving away the 12th overall pick would send the wrong message. It would suggest hesitation. It would suggest the team isn’t fully confident in its ability to bounce back. That undercuts the intent behind hiring Sullivan entirely. If the front office believes this is a playoff team, and everything it’s done says it is, then there’s no reason to play scared. Teams that are trying to win don’t protect against their own collapse. They prepare to avoid one.

Options at 12

If the Rangers keep the pick, there will be plenty of talent on the board. The 2025 class may not have a clear-cut No. 1, but there’s depth, and real upside through the middle of the first round. As Scott Wheeler of The Athletic put it, “First, I’m not convinced, outside of what McKenna represents at the top of next year’s draft, that it’s actually much stronger, and I’d caution you against trusting anyone who is declaring it is definitively more than a year out. … it’s also another weaker class for USA Hockey and Finland, and it’s a long, long way away” (from Wheeler, Scott “2025 NHL Draft Lottery Takeaways: Who Goes No. 1 and 2, Trades, the Rangers’ Pick and More.” The Athletic, May 5, 2025).

The strongest options for the Rangers are as follows. If Roger McQueen slips due to the injury that kept him out for much of the season, the Rangers could land a top-five talent. McQueen posted 20 points in 17 games for the Brandon Wheat Kings and offers size, skill, and legitimate No. 1 center potential down the line.

Brady Martin of the Soo Greyhounds is another center to watch. He put up 72 points in 57 games and would help reinforce a thin prospect pool down the middle. Jake O’Brien, who exploded with 98 points in 66 games for the Brantford Bulldogs, has likely played his way into the top ten, but if he’s there, he would be an excellent selection for the Rangers.

Lynden Lakovic brings a 6-foot-4 frame and a style of play that fits the mold Chris Drury tends to favor. Justin Carbonneau put up 89 points for the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and would address the long-standing need for skill on the right wing. Carter Bear had 82 points in 56 games for the Everett Silvertips before an Achilles injury ended his season. If his stock falls, he could be a value play.

Finally, there’s Caleb Desnoyers. If the Rangers are aggressive, they could look to move up and target him. Desnoyers led the Moncton Wildcats with 84 points in 56 games and added 24 more in 13 playoff games. This move would truly signal that the Rangers have faith, as Desnoyers is the most NHL-ready prospect out of the ones discussed in this article.

The point is simple: there are real options. The Rangers would have a chance to add size, scoring, or long-term center depth at a price point that fits their cap structure. Handing that opportunity to Pittsburgh in order to guard against the possibility of next season going sideways isn’t just shortsighted, it doesn’t align with anything else the organization has done.