The Rangers came out of the lottery with the No. 5 pick, and that knocked them out of the Gavin McKenna, Ivar Stenberg and Caleb Malhotra conversation. It also shifted the spotlight to the defensemen left on the board, and New York went with Latvia’s Alberts Smits.
That choice wasn’t exactly out of nowhere. Smits had been tied to the Rangers for much of the season, and while there was real debate about whether Chase Reid was the safer play - he was still there, after all - Smits had one major selling point: he looked like the most pro-ready player in the group.
That part matters, because the early reaction around the league has been strong. Corey Pronman of The Athletic ranked the Rangers’ farm system 18th overall, but put Smits at the top of the team’s prospect list.
Pronman called him “a tall defenseman with impressive mobility and smarts,” adding: “He can make a reliable first pass and has a big point shot, projecting to have quality amounts of offense. He isn’t a super smart puck-mover, but there’s enough touch in his game to project to be reliable with the puck in the NHL.
He defends very well due to his length and feet, while also competing hard and being willing to play the body. He projects as a top-pairing defenseman.”
Pronman also slotted Smits 16th on his list of the top players and prospects under age 23, one spot behind Reid. Smits landed in Pronman’s fourth tier, the one reserved for “top of the lineup” players. NHL.com was just as high on him, ranking Smits as the Rangers’ top prospect.
There’s also a much simpler reason Rangers fans can breathe a little easier now: the blue line looks different than it did when Smits was drafted. At that point, it was easy to picture him being pushed into a major role right away, with the depth chart behind Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov looking thin. But that changed by the start of free agency on July 1.
New York acquired Sean Durzi from the Utah Mammoth in exchange for Vincent Trocheck, and around the same time landed Marcus Pettersson from the Vancouver Canucks. Pettersson had previously played for head coach Mike Sullivan with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Those moves locked Durzi and Pettersson into the second pairing.
So Smits is no longer being viewed as a rookie who has to be thrown straight into the fire. At least to start the season, he should have room to settle in rather than being counted on as one of the top four defensemen.
That’s a pretty healthy problem for the Rangers to have, especially with the back end looking much stronger than it did at the end of last season. If Smits opens on the third pair, it gives him a path to grow into more over time.
And this isn’t a prospect who’s only been tested in junior-style settings. Smits has already played against pro-level competition in Finland and Germany, and he made Latvia’s roster for this year’s Winter Olympics. He also helped boost his stock by holding his own against NHL talent in that tournament.
For the Rangers, the long view is the obvious one. Smits is expected to become their go-to top defenseman down the line, and the early rankings only reinforce why there’s plenty of buzz around him.
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