Alberts Smits has already become the Rangers’ new standard-bearer in the prospect game.
The 18-year-old Latvian defenseman, taken No. 5 overall in the 2026 NHL Draft, landed in Tier 3 of The Athletic’s annual Prospect Tiers from Scott Wheeler, a list that sorts the top under-23 players in the league. Wheeler labels Tier 3 as “All-Star,” placing Smits among players viewed as top-60 talents - the kind who may not be the face of a contender, but absolutely belong in the middle of one.
That matters because Smits isn’t just the highest-ranked Ranger in the system now. He’s one of three players from New York to show up in the rankings at all.
Wheeler’s process starts with a list of his top 125-150 players, then gets reviewed by a panel of 15 scouts and executives before the final adjustments are made. At the top of the entire board, San Jose center Macklin Celebrini stood alone in Tier 1A after scoring 45 goals and 115 points as a 19-year-old last season. Only four players made Tier 1, and only four more landed in Tier 2.
Smits was the second defenseman in Tier 3B, behind Chase Reid, who went two picks after him to Seattle. All five defensemen selected in the first round of June’s draft showed up in that same tier. For the Rangers, the ranking only reinforces how highly they valued him from the start.
“There were a lot of great options, obviously, picking at five. Alberts, to us, was the top player out of that grouping,” Rangers head of amateur scouting John Lilley said after the draft. “Very excited to get him into our pipeline.”
Wheeler’s read on Smits matches the buzz that followed him out of the draft. He called Smits “one of the safest of the bunch,” while also saying he “has more talent than people realize too - and also more things to work on than people say.”
That mix of polish and upside is why Smits quickly became the Rangers’ top prospect and why the team wasted no time signing him to an entry-level deal. He was widely viewed as the most NHL-ready defenseman in the draft, and his resume backs that up.
Last season, he played against grown men in two European pro leagues, producing 13 points - six goals and seven assists - in 38 games for Jukurit in Finland’s Liiga before adding five playoff games with EHC Munchen in Germany’s DEL. He also represented Latvia at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and the 2026 IIHF World Championship.
At 6-foot-3 and 209 pounds, Smits already has the frame NHL teams want on the back end. Add in his mature two-way game and the way he carries himself on and off the ice, and it’s easy to see why there’s talk he could get to the NHL quickly. Hartford in the American Hockey League remains a possible starting point, but an NHL debut during the 2026-27 season would not be a surprise.
Gabe Perreault is the next Ranger on Wheeler’s list. The forward, who posted 12 goals and 27 points in 49 games with New York last season, checked in as the first player in Tier 4.
Wheeler defines that group as “A top 100 player. Someone who would be a strong piece within a contending or championship core, but not a go-to option.”
Perreault stayed at 4A, the same slot he held in each of the last two years, though Wheeler said he felt “Perreault’s play down the stretch with the Rangers last season warranted raising his projection from Tier 4A to Tier 3C this year but one scout made a point to disagree.”
A ForeverBlueshirts.com poll this summer projected the 21-year-old would finish with at least 50 points this season.
The third Ranger in the rankings is Liam Greentree, acquired in the February trade that sent Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings. He landed in Tier 5C, which Wheeler describes as “a top 150 player. Someone who would offer strong support to a contending or championship core but wouldn’t be an integral piece within it.”
Greentree brings size, strength and skill, but Wheeler said the league has “been consistent in its uncertainty about his pace and a desire for him to be harder. He has also plateaued a little since his 100-point draft year in the OHL earned him a first-round selection (No. 26 overall by the Kings in 2024).”
Greentree is expected to begin his pro career in Hartford, and center Cole Beaudoin could be headed there too. Beaudoin, another 2024 first-round pick at No. 24 overall, was acquired in the trade that sent center Vincent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth, though Wheeler said he was considered for the rankings and did not make the cut.
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