BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014Despite the movement and uncertainty in front of them, the outcome for the New York Rangers\u2019 No. 5 selection in Friday\u2019s 2026 NHL Draft turned out precisely how many thought it would.<\/p>\n
They used the pick on Alberts \u0160mits, a 6-foot-3 Latvian many consider the most pro-ready defenseman in this year\u2019s class. He\u2019ll immediately jump to the top of a prospect pool that\u2019s been depleted over the years by a series of win-now moves and a spotty developmental track record.<\/p>\n
\u0160mits is expected to sign his entry-level contract this summer, according to a league source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal isn\u2019t finalized. There\u2019s a chance he\u2019ll begin the season by getting his feet wet with AHL Hartford, but making the NHL club out of training camp isn\u2019t out of the question.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I feel is excitement, so I\u2019m not thinking too much about it,\u201d \u0160mits said when asked if he feels he\u2019s ready for the NHL. \u201cI\u2019m not rushing anything right now. I\u2019m living in this moment and just happy that I ended up taken by a good organization. So, we\u2019ll see how things are going to turn out in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rangers take Albert Smits, one of the most complete players in the draft<\/p>\n
The Athletic Hockey Show<\/p>\n
The Rangers passed on fellow defenseman Chase Reid, who was the top-rated defenseman according to The Athletic\u2019s Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler, as well as Carson Carels and Keaton Verhoeff. They had clearly zeroed in on \u0160mits as their guy.<\/p>\n
The 18-year-old separated himself by displaying a mature game while playing against higher competition than his draft-eligible peers. The hard-shooting lefty spent the season playing at Finland\u2019s top level, Liiga, where he posted 13 points (six goals and seven assists) in 38 games while averaging around 20 minutes per game for Jukurit. He was then loaned to EHC M\u00fcnchen in Germany, where he registered another six points (two goals and four assists) in 11 playoff games.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis future is as bright as it can possibly be,\u201d EHC M\u00fcnchen coach Oliver David said. \u201cHe has a very good ability to get out of the defensive corner. He\u2019s got a great defensive stick to kill plays. He can go back, get first touch on a puck and get out of a corner in many different ways. He likes to use his skating as sort of the default and get the puck up the ice that way. Skating is really, really good. \u2026 He\u2019s also capable of contributing on both special teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u0160mits put those skills on display at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, where he grabbed scouts\u2019 attention while representing Latvia. His crunching hit on U.S. captain Auston Matthews was a signature moment, but his length, mobility and steadiness were apparent throughout the tournament. \u0160mits later cemented his status as a high pick at the World Championships.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was able to handle those responsibilities on very big stages,\u201d David said.<\/p>\n
Those performances against many established NHLers removed some of the projection that would have come with other defensemen in this range. The margin between Carels and \u0160mits, in particular, was viewed as razor-thin. But Carels\u2019 late-season concussion and resulting neck injury may have factored into the final decision.<\/p>\n
There are fewer concerns over \u0160mits, who may not skate quite as well as Carels and Reid and hasn\u2019t produced the same volume of offense, but is still considered adept in both areas, with a shot that grades out better than both. There aren\u2019t any glaring holes in a game that\u2019s defined by its well-roundedness, with Pronman ranking him as the second-best prospect in the draft while Wheeler aptly had him at No. 5.<\/p>\n
Both notably had Reid higher, who was surprisingly there for the taking after the host Buffalo Sabres stunned the KeyBank Center by selecting defenseman Daxon Ruldoph at No. 4. But the Rangers are deeper on Reid\u2019s right-handed side with Adam Fox, Will Borgen and Braden Schneider on the NHL roster and 2024 first-round pick E.J. Emery in the pipeline. They also already have an established power-play quarterback in Fox, which would have blocked Reid from ascending to that role.<\/p>\n
Those aren\u2019t reasons to pass on the best player available, but \u0160mits was viewed as that by certain scouts \u2014 including at least some from the Rangers, clearly \u2014 while filling a bigger need and playing the rangy, rugged style New York prefers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very, very impressive,\u201d an Eastern Conference scout told The Athletic, speaking anonymously to offer candid thoughts on this year\u2019s prospect class. \u201cHe\u2019s a moose.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u0160mits may have had an inkling he was heading to the Rangers. Following the NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo earlier this month, he headed downstate and visited New York City.<\/p>\n
It was his first time in Manhattan, and when asked if he went to see the sights or because he thought he\u2019d be drafted by the Rangers, he flashed a smile and responded, \u201cBoth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a city you have to go to if you\u2019re close,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a good place, it\u2019s a big city, a lot of things to see, and I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014Despite the movement and uncertainty in front of them, the outcome for the New York Rangers\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4823,385,99],"class_list":["post-729312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}