Bad Lottery Luck: Rangers Drop to No. 5 in Draft Shakeup

In another surprising year for the draft lottery, the Toronto Maple Leafs avoided the worst-case scenario of losing a top-10 pick to their rival, the Boston Bruins, and were awarded the first overall pick in this year's draft.

While whether or not newly hired John Chayka will big-brain his way into flubbing this for the Original Six franchise is still to be determined, this is so far a big win for the struggling Canadian team. Also moving up to nab the second overall pick are the San Jose Sharks, who will now have taken Will Smith fourth overall in 2023, Macklin Celebrini first overall in 2024, Michael Misa second overall in 2025, and will get another crack at an elite gamebreaking player second overall in 2026.

The Maple Leafs and Sharks' good news about moving up the draft order means bad news for the New York Rangers. The two lottery winners slide right past the Rangers, knocking them down to the worst possible spot for the Blueshirts, fifth overall.

Aside from the top two positions, this draft is unpredictable. Chris Feldman provides an in-depth look at what's available, and while it's safe to say there is plenty of talent in the top ten, there is much debate over the order of who should come off the board. It’s always an unknown as to who will be the best player twenty years from now, but it's nice to have your choice of the lot and the opportunity to pick a consensus top-rated prospect. Now what the Rangers will do is up to two other teams and, as always, unfortunately, themselves.

We'll have plenty of draft coverage coming up in the next two months. From prospect deep dives to Chip's wild trade scenarios to move up (or back) in the draft. Be on the lookout for that in the near future.

But in the meantime, at fifth overall, who would you take?