2026 Rangers Season Previews: Alberts Smits

 This article is part of an ongoing series of New York Rangers Season Previews, taking a close look at what we can, and should, expect from each member of the 2026-27 New York Rangers. To read other articles in this series, go here.

What a monumental year it’s been for Alberts Smits.

He played a prominent role for Latvia in the 2026 Winter Olympics, went fifth overall in the NHL draft during the summer, and there’s a strong likelihood he’ll play his first NHL game in the fall.

The Rangers crammed a lot of their hopes and dreams into Smits when they called his name at the 2026 NHL Draft. Now that he’s finally arrived in New York City and pulled on that blue Rangers sweater, Drury and the rest of the organization have a big decision to make about the path and the pressure they want to place on Smits’ broad shoulders.

For a team that has struggled to develop its top picks into game-breaking players, a lot is at stake. However, Drury and everyone are secretly hoping Smits' play on the ice early on will make that decision for them.

Previous Performance

Alberts Smits committed to his future in hockey at a very young age, joining and playing in the U16 Finnish Development League as a young teenager during the 2021-22 season. Now almost five years later, he has gone through the gauntlet of Finnish professional hockey. Flirting with a point-per-game average throughout most of his career in the development leagues, he was playing with his food in many of his U18 and even U20 games. By the end, he earned his shot and proved he belonged in Finland’s top professional league, Liiga, playing with Jukurit.

Smits was making an impact on both ends of the ice, something the Rangers must have noticed in their scouting. Though Jukurit failed to make the playoffs last year, Smits drew international interest, and he was loaned to EHC München in the top German league, where he finished the season. Sprinkle in a hockey mom's caravan full of important international hockey, ranging from the IIHF World Junior Championships to the 2026 Milan Olympic Games, where Smits again made an impact on both sides of the ice, and you have a player whose mettle has been tested time and again on increasingly larger stages.

Expectations

The expectations for Smits are, in a way, tricky. The best path for him is greatly determined by who you’re speaking with, but if we take a sizable step back, we can outline one definite thing that Smits will accomplish in the 2026-27 season. Bluntly put, his trajectory will be determined by his play during the Rangers Rookie Camp, training camp, and preseason. But everyone’s comfortable saying Smits is expected to play hockey in North America this year, at the very least.

Normally, just-drafted 18-year-olds from Europe are prevented from playing in the AHL. But since he was drafted in the first round, he’s eligible to play in the AHL as an 18-year-old and is exempt from the NHL’s agreement with the IIHF, under which players are loaned back to play for their European club in the first year of their entry level contract. So, Smits will be expected to play for either the Hartford Wolf Pack or the New York Rangers.

At worst, Smits is expected to compete in all the camps and preseason games to the very end and then be assigned to Hartford, where he will be given top-pair minutes in all situations. At best, Smits is expected to compete in all the camps and preseason games to the very end, show the poise and skill that motivated the Rangers and many others to consider him worthy of a pick near the top of the draft, and make the roster playing a regular role. Both paths are acceptable and should be considered for the development of the Rangers' top-ranked prospect.

Predictions

AHL: 48 GP | 11 G | 19 A | 30 PTS

NHL: 24 GP | 3 G | 5 A | 8 PTS

I’m going to go a little against the grain here and predict that Smits will be assigned to the AHL at the start of the season. I think Smits and the coaches will say all the right things about his experience and potential. They’ll be sure to paint a glorious, colorful picture showing that Smits starting in Hartford is in no way a failure. But they don’t want to mess this up, and by giving him the start and experience he needs, they’re making a long-term investment. They’ll point to other prominent players who followed that path, and Mike Sullivan will highlight what they want to see him work on. But it’ll always be framed with the potential and bright future they see in him. This will go on and on until this message from the media has reached every nook and cranny of the internet.

Once Smits reports to Hartford, it will be all systems go for the Latvian defenseman. He should immediately get heavy minutes killing penalties, feature on the power play, and be blocking shots or taking them himself in the waning seconds of every game. If he doesn’t get that experience, the coaches and this organization are failing him. Smits is talented enough that he’ll grab hold of this opportunity and conquer it. He’ll rise to the occasion and do what he does best: make an impact on both ends of the ice.

It still feels inevitable that the Rangers will look to give him a taste of NHL hockey, as long as Smits doesn’t look terribly out of place in Hartofrd, which is incredibly hard to imagine. How long a trial run Smits gets with the Rangers will be determined not only by injuries, but also by how well he plays. If my predicted AHL stat line above is even remotely close, it's probable Smits finishes out the year in the Big Apple.

The Bottom Line

One reason many thought the Rangers drafted Smits was that, among the top defensemen, he was considered the most NHL-ready. As soon as Smits joined the organization, most of us were penciling him in as high as the second pair. But after a busy NHL offseason, Drury upgraded his defensive corps, and now there doesn’t seem to be as much space. And, the idea of Smits starting in the NHL went from feeling like a sure-fire thing to markedly less certain.  

This conundrum does not mean Smits is not NHL-ready, and joining the Wolf Pack does not mean Drury screwed this up. Like all young players, Smits can use more development and coaching as he eases into his first professional year in North America. It’s hard to acknowledge, but it’s about more than just hockey for these kids. Being 18 in a city like New York, with a lot of money and more freedom than you’re used to, is a challenge in itself. Allowing their prospects time to settle and plant their feet a bit better in this new environment is a sound strategy.

On top of that, if Smits can get top-pair minutes in the AHL rather than playing on a third pair, logging 12 minutes a night and watching from the press box on occasion, it’s an easy decision to make in the best interests of both Smits and the organization.