Understandably, with the way the season has gone, many New York Rangers fans would rather lose as many games as possible – even in humiliating fashion if necessary – to improve the team’s lottery odds and draft a potentially special player.
Related: Rangers Should Give Dylan Garand Half the Starts Down the Stretch
However, there’s a case to be made why that notion might be counterproductive, especially where the Rangers are currently.
Finishing Strong Allows for Potential Growth
Firstly, a lot of losing can take a mental toll on a group, which is something the 2025-26 Rangers have been too frequently subject to. It’s something that’s even left J.T. Miller, the team’s captain, visibly frustrated and at a loss for words at different times this season.
J.T. Miller on the message to the Rangers heading into the Olympic break:
“I don’t know. We just need to enjoy or take time – I literally don’t know. Come back with a better mindset I guess” pic.twitter.com/aKcb5M2KYz
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) February 6, 2026
While losing weakens morale, winning obviously does the opposite and makes teams feel better about themselves. We saw this recently with the Rangers during their streak when they picked up points in seven out of the eight games. All of a sudden, the coaching staff unleashed the young talent and allowed them to make finesse plays. The result was more scoring – something the Rangers have lacked in the past year.
While winning does help, certain types of victories leave a bitter taste. For example, the Rangers had no business beating the Minnesota Wild on March 14. But Igor Shesterkin‘s brilliance, where he saved 46 of 48 shots, carried the team to victory. That’s no fault of the Russian goaltender, but it sends a bad message to the team going forward: you can win games even when you don’t play well enough, while it hurts draft positioning simultaneously.
On the other hand, the Rangers’ 6-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks is an example of victories you want to see. The Rangers dominate the better part of 60 minutes, young skaters, including Alexis Lafrenière, Drew Fortescue and rookie goaltender Dylan Garand, continue to give the organization confidence that they can be a part of the future.
Franchise Isn’t Left With Nothing Now
Another important note: It’s not like the Rangers are completely deprived of talent compared to several years ago.
After the organization started the rebuild in 2018 and shipped off players, including Rick Nash and Ryan McDonagh, the Rangers were left with an aging superstar goaltender in Henrik Lundqvist and younger forwards Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich, who both had yet to reach stardom.
In other words, virtually nothing was left in the organization. It was obvious the Rangers needed a franchise player and to get some lottery luck.
However, the organization is now in a slightly better position talent and potential-wise than it was at the start of the last rebuild. The Rangers have a star defenseman in Adam Fox, one of the league’s best goaltenders in Shesterkin, as well as an emerging star in Lafrenière and potentially Gabe Perreault.
Rangers Still Need To Get Lucky
When the season finally ends, it seems likely the organization will wind up with a top-five pick, which could give them the chance to draft someone special. Also, this needs to be emphasized especially now – the NHL has a draft lottery.
The question is which team(s) that didn’t qualify for the playoffs wind up with the ping pong balls bouncing their way? The Vancouver Canucks will all but certainly finish as the worst team in the NHL for 2025-26 and own the best odds of landing the first overall pick for the upcoming draft. Still, they only have just over a 25 percent chance of earning the top pick.
The second, third and fourth-worst teams in the NHL, which are likely where the Rangers will finish by the season’s end, have 13.6, 11.6 and 9.5 percent chances to win first overall, respectively. For second overall, those odds go to 14 percent, 11.2 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively. And for third overall, 30.3 percent, 7.6 percent and 0.3 percent.
Yes, finishing with the second-worst record in the NHL puts favorable odds at winning a top-three draft choice. Still, to land a top two pick, some luck is needed, regardless. Some recent examples of this included the New York Islanders last year, jumping from 10 to one, and the New Jersey Devils in 2022, rising from five to two.
Plus, in just about every draft, a talented player falls. For example, James Hagens fell to the Boston Bruins in the 2025 Draft at seventh overall, while Ivan Demidov dropped to the Montreal Canadiens at fifth overall in the year prior.
So again, this just further emphasizes how important developing existing players within the organization is and setting the stage for next season. It’s not wise to put all the chips in at landing the first or second overall pick in the draft. There needs to be a plan beyond that.
As long as the Rangers’ younger players prosper, as has been the case recently, there are benefits to winning games and finishing the season strong.
