Dan’s Daily: Draft Drama. Rangers Stink; Penguins Spot Improving

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ flat performance against the Chicago Blachkawks Sunday afternoon may have done the organization a solid. With only four games remaining on the Penguins’ schedule, the team improved its draft slot by a couple of spots.

We’re doing a slightly different format today because I don’t think there’s a lot of news you care about, and there is one pressing matter at hand: Draft Seeding.

Despite the loss Sunday, the Penguins concluded the day still in the eighth overall spot. However, following Monday’s games, the team fell to the sixth overall slot. Thank the Buffalo Sabres and Seattle Kraken for getting on winning streaks and surpassing the Penguins.

Seattle has won three in a row, while Buffalo has won four.

Seattle had a spirited 2-1 win over the LA Kings, blowing up their spot for a top-five pick. Buffalo smoked the Boston Bruins 6-3, and they’ve decided to wreck plans for yet another top-three pick.

If the season ended today, Boston would have the fourth overall selection. At the trade deadline, Boston was on the cusp of the wild card battle, but they are just 1-8-1 in their last 10 games. As our colleague, Andrew Fantucchio, writes, the Bruins’ tank is alive and well.

It appears to be a three-team race for the sixth spot between the Penguins, Buffalo, and Seattle. All three teams have 74 points. Seattle and the Penguins have played 78 games, but Buffalo has played only 76.

Winning helps the players, and losing helps the organization. As we noted Sunday, there is a large gap in “guarantee” after the top six players.

Read More: Matching Five Possible Draft Picks to Current Penguins Slot

Lost in the shuffle are the Detroit Red Wings, who are tied with New York at 79 points. A few Red Wings wins would help the Penguins by potentially improving their second first-round pick this year.

The other team that Penguins fans should be watching or caring about has been doing quite poorly over the last week. The New York Rangers have not only fallen out of the wild-card spot but are essentially eliminated. They trail the Montreal Canadiens by six points with five games remaining.

For those who only occasionally check in, the Penguins traded Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor to the Vancouver Canucks for a package including either the New York Rangers 2025 pick, top-13 protected, or the Rangers’ unprotected 2026 pick.

The drama begins there.

Montreal’s magic number to clinch the club’s first playoff berth since beating advancing to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021 as part of the shortened and re-aligned COVID season (They played in the All-Canadian division). The last time Montreal qualified for the playoffs in a full season was 2016-17, and they lost to New York 4-2 in Round One.

Read More: Canadiens’ Phenom Lane Hutson Keeps Making History

The Rangers have been bad. They’ve punted away numerous chances to climb in the standings, and now it is probably too late. Six points back with five to go would require a collapse by the upstart Canadiens, who are at least a year ahead of schedule in their rebuild.

New York began its crucial four-game block by getting run over against the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-1. Hopes are fading fast, and no one can save the Rangers.

New York currently has the 12th overall pick, which means they could keep their 2025 first-round pick, thus granting the Penguins the unprotected 2026 selection. The Rangers could easily fall to the 10th overall slot. The New York Islanders are one point behind with one game in hand, and the Columbus Blue Jackets are two points back with one game in hand.

The question is: Will the Rangers bet on themselves and keep the 2025 pick if they finish in the bottom 13? With the 2026 Draft set to be the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes, would the Rangers give up their 2025 top-13 protected pick to the Penguins, even if it is in the 10-12 range, to protect themselves in the event of a bad 2025-26 season and losing a chance at McKenna?

The Rangers should not be this bad. Two front-line centers? Check. An all-world winger who can snipe in his sleep? Check. Norris Trophy-winning defenseman with depth around him? Check. One of the two best goalies in the game? Yep.

And yet, the Rangers keep sliding. I suspect Penguins fans would prefer the Rangers keep this year’s pick and revel in the chance to root against them in every single game next season. But what will Rangers general manager Chris Drury do?

What would you do?