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 Friday.No. 10: Adam SýkoraNo. 9: Drew FortescueNo. 8: Tomáš ChrenkoNo. 7: Ben MacBeathNo. 6: Nathan AspinallNo. 5: EJ EmeryNo. 4: Malcolm SpenceAsk around about Cole Beaudoin, and you might hear questions about his skating or ceiling as an NHL prospect. But you will not hear anything negative about his drive.“I don’t know if you’ll meet a harder-working kid,” said Utah Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong, who drafted Beaudoin with the No. 24 pick in 2024. “He’s the salt of the earth, man.”“He’s always just grinding,” added Marty Williamson, the general manager and former coach of OHL Barrie, where Beaudoin played for four years. “There’s such a consistency to him.”Those traits make evaluators confident that the 20-year-old center will at least have an NHL future, and the Rangers certainly agree. Team president and general manager Chris Drury acquired him — as well as defenseman Sean Durzi and a third-round pick — in a July deal with Utah for Vincent Trocheck. Beaudoin will be at Rangers training camp this September and sees himself as NHL-ready.“My skating, I think, has come a long way,” he told reporters at Mammoth development camp shortly before he was dealt to New York. “I think maybe people were questioning it at the start, but now I feel it’s come a long way. I feel super strong, super fast, super mobile.”Beaudoin will potentially start 2026-27 with AHL Hartford, especially with New York having signed depth center Joe Veleno. But a call-up and NHL debut as early as this season feels possible.