BUFFALO, N.Y. — Saturday wasn’t as splashy for the New York Rangers, who made waves the night prior by trading for scoring winger Pavel Dorofeyev and selecting defenseman prospect Alberts Šmits with the fifth-overall pick, but the work they do outside of the spotlight may be equally important in their efforts to revive the floundering franchise.The Rangers added eight more prospects to their pipeline on the second day of the 2026 NHL Draft at KeyBank Center while executing two trades. One involved sending depth winger Adam Edström to the Nashville Predators, with the pick acquired in that deal then flipped to the Seattle Kraken to move back into the fourth round.The final Day 2 haul consisted of two centers in Tomáš Chrenko (third round, No. 81) and Spencer Bowes (fourth round, No. 102), right-winger Darian Anderson (sixth round, No. 163), goalie Danai Shaiikov (third round, No. 67) and four left-handed defensemen: Ben MacBeath (second round, No. 64), Charlie Morrison (third round, No. 77), Andre Mondoux (sixth round, No. 162) and Ivan Patrikhayev (seventh round, No. 193).History tells us the odds of those picks panning out are slim, but the Rangers must improve their hit rate if they’re going to dig themselves out of the current hole. Director of amateur scouting John Lilley has found some middle-round gems with limited cracks at it since his first draft in 2022, most notably center Noah Laba (No. 111 in 2022), but this was easily the most consequential draft of his tenure with a total of nine picks — New York’s highest number since 2020.“I think we checked a lot of boxes and got a lot of players that our scouts were passionate about,” Lilley said. “I’m really excited, and I know that the guys in the room worked extremely hard.”I’ve been preaching the need to aim for skill and speed after years of favoring size and toughness. The Rangers have loaded up on forwards with bottom-six traits, in particular, so it was time to take some upside swings on dynamic players who have a chance to be offensive difference-makers.They ended up with a mix of both. Let’s dive into a few of the most notable picks, as well as other takeaways from a day that’s truly for the hockey diehards.MacBeaths celebrate pick (and so do the Rangers)One of the largest groups of supporters I saw Saturday was there for MacBeath, with the group collectively jumping the moment the pick was announced.The Calgary native traveled with his parents, siblings and grandparents, and was joined by additional family members who joined from Michigan. A few were proudly wearing his No. 16 jerseys from WHL Calgary.“They mean everything to me,” said a beaming MacBeath. “I’m glad I got to share this moment with them.”