Editor’s note: For the second consecutive year, The Athletic’s Vincent Z. Mercogliano and Peter Baugh are doing a series ranking the New York Rangers’ top 10 prospects. The order is based on detailed analysis of the organizational pipeline, along with conversations with evaluators, coaches and many of the players. The aim is to balance where each prospect is on his development path while weighing projected upside over time.Only prospects who maintain rookie eligibility and are yet to reach their second contract are included, bumping previously ranked players such as Noah Laba, Scott Morrow and last year’s No. 1 Gabe Perreault out of consideration.Each of the top 10 will be profiled in a series of stories that began Aug. 24 and concludes Sept. 4.No. 10: Adam SýkoraNo. 9: Drew FortescueNo. 8: Tomáš ChrenkoNo. 7: Ben MacBeathNo. 6: Nathan AspinallEJ Emery didn’t need long to end his scoring drought when his sophomore year at the University of North Dakota began. The 6-foot-3 defenseman potted a pair of goals in his second game of the season, a 5-2 win against Minnesota, emphatically ending a 31-game collegiate streak without a point.The Rangers didn’t draft Emery, at No. 30 in 2024, expecting him to become an elite offensive defenseman. But they probably were hoping for more than the one point he scored as a freshman. In year two, he showed major progress. Jumpstarted by his two-goal game against Minnesota, the right-handed Emery finished with three goals, 13 points and a plus-17 rating in 38 games for a Fighting Hawks team that reached the Frozen Four.“I put on some size, and I feel like my puck protection really improved,” said the 20-year-old, who is listed at 185 pounds on North Dakota’s roster. “I really worked on puck touches last summer, and throughout the season I felt like they got better and better each game, each week.”Can Gabe Perreault get to Nikita Kucherov’s level?Scott Wheeler, Corey Pronman and moreNorth Dakota assistant Dillon Simpson credited him with impacting NCAA games by shutting down opponents even when he didn’t appear on the scoresheet. Known for his defensive ability, Emery, who also made the United States’ roster for the 2026 World Junior Championship as a sophomore, is set to play at least one more year at North Dakota. He projects to be a bottom-four NHL defenseman: an acceptable outcome for a late first-round pick.