3. Sam Bennett
This may seem like an absurdly hot take, considering Bennett just hoisted the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs while winning a second Stanley Cup in a row, but if the Rangers are going to add a center at a premium price tag, they need someone better than Bennett. Intangibles are important, as is playoff experience, but the Rangers need to boost their overall production. Given that Bennett could net a contract in excess of $8 million a season, they need a player whose career high in points is higher than 51.
At age 28, Bennett is at the top of the hill and potentially starting a slow descent if you believe in traditional NHL aging curves. In other words, although he's been a very valuable player to the Florida Panthers, the odds of him becoming more productive in future seasons are very low. It is also possible that Bennett is only as effective as he is because he's in an environment where he's supported by elite talent such as Aleksandar Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, and Sam Reinhart among others. He's played his role extremely well, but I don't think that will translate to New York.
In many ways it is not hard to look at Bennett and think of Bobby Holik, a player who had multiple 60-point seasons for the New Jersey Devils in the late 1990s and was a key part of a team that won two Stanley Cups during his tenure. As a Devil, Holik scored 202 goals, he assisted on 270 others, and tallied 472 points in 786 games across 11 seasons. The Rangers signed him to a five-year deal that paid him $9 million a year in 2002, and he only appeared in 146 games with the club and tallied 91 points before being bought out by the team in 2005. This may be considered an insult to Bennett, but it is rare for big money deals given out to a team's tertiary talent ever aging well.