Rangers Send 2025 12th Overall Pick to Pittsburgh to Complete J.T. Miller Trade
Chris Drury opts to send the 2025 first-rounder to the Penguins, prioritizing flexibility and long-term value over a top-12 pick.
The New York Rangers had until 7 p.m. Wednesday to make a decision on the conditional draft pick that was sent to the Vancouver Canucks, who then flipped it to Pittsburgh, as part of the J.T. Miller trade. After much debate on what the Rangers could or should do in this situation, Chris Drury has decided more than 24 hours before the deadline to send the 12th overall pick to Pittsburgh, as opposed to an unprotect first round pick in the 2026 draft.
Breaking: Rangers have notifed the NHL that they are sending this year's 12th overall first-rounder to Pittsburgh to complete the JT Miller deal instead of deferring the transfer to 2026, Post has learned.
— Larry Brooks (@NYP_Brooksie) June 24, 2025
As someone who spent the last couple of weeks watching highlights and doing research on this year's draft class, this comes as slightly disappointing news. However, the fact of the matter is whatever decision Chris Drury and the Rangers were going to make regarding this conditional draft pick, it was going to be made with improving this team right now as the main priority. There are many ways you can look at this decision but as Dan Rosen says below, it appears that they feel the 2026 1st is the more valuable asset, which makes sense, given it is expected to be a stronger draft class.
The Rangers are sending the No. 12 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft to the Penguins to complete the J.T. Miller trade. They believe having a first round pick in 2026 is a better asset than picking this year. It will give them an asset to potentially flip around the trade deadline.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) June 24, 2025
It's also worth mentioning that if the Rangers were to explore the offer sheet route—let's say for someone like J.J. Peterka—they would need their own 2026 first round draft pick in order to supply the necessary compensation. Whether or not this is relevant to Drury's decision remains to be seen.
You have to feel that this decision is more about the value of the draft pick as a tradable asset than it is the Rangers actually using the pick. If the Rangers had any intentions of drafting, they would keep this year's pick as it is reasonable to assume they believe they will have a better season next year and end up with a later pick in next year‘s draft. Not to mention, it is very likely that there will be more interesting opportunities available to teams like the Rangers at the 2026 trade deadline where that draft pick will very much come in handy.
The Rangers will still have eight draft picks this weekend with two picks in both the third and sixth round.
After transferring their first-round pick to Pittsburgh this year, here are the picks #NYR have for this weekend’s draft:
— Keegan Jarvis (@TheKeeganJarvis) June 24, 2025
R2: #43 (from NYR via UTA and COL)
R3: #70 (from SEA), #89 (from TOR via ANA)
R4: #111 (from VAN via COL)
R5: #139
R6: #166 (from SEA), #171
R7: #203
