Biggest needs for NY Rangers at 2025 NHL Draft — where do they need to get better?

When all said and done following the trade deadline, the New York Rangers have a total of nine draft picks in 2025: one first, two thirds, two sixths, and one selection in every other round, as long as they don't complete the condition of the J.T. Miller trade by sending this year's first as opposed to 2026's pick.

Glaringly — the Rangers could use some much needed reinforcements at the center and defenseman slots. President and General Manager Chris Drury can bring in those reinforcements via the prospect pool at the 2025 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held June 27-28 at L.A. Live's Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Here's a look at the two biggest needs for the Rangers and who could be a good fit in those particular needed positions.

Center

When we analyze the history of prospects taken in the NHL Draft, the Rangers really have not addressed the center position since 2017.

While the Blueshirts current centers are good — they are not young. The youngest "center" on their roster currently is Matt Rempe who was born in June of 2002, and he's more of an enforcer and winger anyway. Then there's Adam Edstrom, Sam Carrick and Jonny Brodzinski and Juuso Parssinen — with the youngest of those four being Parssinen at 21-years-old.

The Rangers most well known centers are undoubtedly J.T. Miller, Mika Zibanejad, and Vincent Trocheck and all three were born in 1993.

Eric Nilson

Eric Nilson is a 6’0”, 166 pound pound center who is currently committed to Michigan State University. He's also a fellow Swedish player alongside Zibanejad.

Nilson is one of the more dynamic and complete centers in his draft class outside of the top ten. He played at a few different levels this year, first with the Djurgårdens IF J18 team (8-16-24 in 14 games). Then he played with the Djurgårdens IF J20 team (18-33-51 in 46 games).

Another strength of his game is his passing ability; he knows exactly where to find his teammates.

At only 18-years-old, Nilson could definitely bring some much needed youth to the Rangers' center corps.

Defensemen

The Rangers' defensemen throughout the 2024-25 season left much to be desired. In 99 five-on-five minutes between two of the Rangers most well-known defensemen (K'Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba), the Blueshirts outscored 10-0 with a disastrous 29 percent expected goal rate. In addition to that, Adam Fox was the only reguar on defense to post a positive expected goal rate and Corsi for rate.

Additionally, six Blueliners in the franchise are currently listed as free agents. As a result — they should without question be targeting defensemen in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. And they should be targeting ones who can add some size to the roster.

All of the eight New York defensemen are at 6'5" or below. Only two of those are at 6'5". While size and physicality isn't a big issue for the Rangers — especially when they have Rempe on the roster — I feel like Drury should prioritize adding someone to the blueline who has a bit more size.

Maceo Phillips

Ranked 49th on NHL.com’s prospect rankings for North American skaters, Maceo Phillips is a strong, physical defenseman who skates well and has the potential to be a quality shutdown defenseman during league play.

He’s currently committed to the University of Michigan and is also in his second year with United States National Development Team. The Rangers have historically liked taking players from this program, and who's to say Phillips won't be next? That, and, he's 6'6" while weighing 234 pounds.

The first round of the 2025 NHL Draft will be June 27 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) and Rounds 2-7 are June 28 (Noon ET; NHLN, ESPN+, SN, SN1)