Rangers’ fifth pick and Wolf Pack coaching shakeup signal reset
New York’s fifth-overall pick and Hartford’s coaching purge put the Rangers’ pipeline under pressure. The Wolf Pack must turn young talent into NHL help, or the reset stalls.
The Rangers entered the offseason with a rare chance to reshape both their future and the bridge that feeds it. New York moved into the fifth overall slot in the 2026 NHL Draft, its highest pick since taking Alexis Lafreniere first overall in 2020, and Hartford responded to a disappointing season by clearing out most of its coaching staff.
That combination makes the next few months about more than draft night. The Rangers hold 11 total picks in the 2026 draft, including two in the first round, and the lottery on May 5 set their position before the draft order was finalized through pick No. 27 after the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The draft is scheduled for June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, giving New York a top-five selection and the kind of volume that can either restock a system or be spread across multiple development bets.
Hartford’s reset was just as stark. The Wolf Pack fired head coach Grant Potulny, along with assistants Paul Mara and Jamie Tardif, on May 3. Potulny had been hired as Hartford’s eighth head coach on June 27, 2024, and his tenure lasted less than two full seasons. Brendan Burke remained as goaltending coach, and Colin Downey stayed on staff as skills and prospect development coach.
The results made the change hard to avoid. Hartford finished the 2025-26 season 26-38-5-3 with 60 points, eighth in the AHL’s Atlantic Division. The club scored 190 goals and allowed 253, numbers that underline how far the roster drifted from contention. Hartford is now headed toward its sixth head coach since 2015, the last year it reached the Eastern Conference Finals, and it has made the playoffs only twice since then.
That backdrop is why the Rangers’ offseason can’t be judged by draft position alone. Chris Drury and Ryan Martin, who serves as associate general manager and Wolf Pack general manager, are tied together in a hockey operations structure that depends on Hartford producing real NHL depth. The organization has spent time waiting for that pipeline to mature, and the list of young players who passed through Hartford this season shows where the next pressure points are.
Trey Fix-Wolansky, Brennan Othmann, Brett Berard, Gabriel Perreault, Scott Morrow and Dylan Garand all spent time with the Wolf Pack, and their progress will shape how quickly New York can fill roster spots without adding cost. If the fifth pick becomes an impact player and Hartford’s next coach gets more out of the current wave, the Rangers can preserve cap flexibility while building from within. If not, the reset will stay stuck at the start.
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