Rangers acquire sniper Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas, select Alberts Smits fifth overall in NHL Draft

Rangers general manager Chris Drury has a lot of work to do this summer as he tries to retool his team’s roster, and on Friday, he started the summer off with a bang, trading for sniper Pavel Dorofeyev from the Golden Knights, then selecting NHL-ready Latvian defenseman Alberts Smits with the No. 5 overall pick in the NHL Draft.

After all the blockbuster trades that dropped in the week leading up to the draft, Drury and the Rangers joined in the fun shortly after the draft started, agreeing to send three draft picks to Vegas for Dorofeyev, 25, who had 37 goals for the Golden Knights in 2025-26 and another 12 in the playoffs.

They gave up their second first-round pick (No. 26 overall) and one of their third-round picks (No. 92) on Friday, plus a top-10-protected first-round pick in 2028. They reportedly signed the 6-1, 194-pound Dorofeyev to a seven-year contract worth an average of $11 million per year.

Dorofeyev had been a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, and Vegas — with about $4.6 million in space under the salary cap, according to PuckPedia — could not afford to keep him.

The Rangers, who had an obvious need for a goal-scoring top-six forward, had plenty of cap space. Even after signing Dorofeyev, they are projected to have $14.7 million in available space, according to PuckPedia.

A few minutes after making the trade, when their turn came up at No. 5, the Rangers took the 6-3, 209-pound Smits, who played for Jukurit in the Finnish pro league and for Munich in the German pro league this season, as well as playing for Latvia in the World Junior Championships, the Olympics and the World Championships.

In doing so, they passed on taking the No. 1-rated defenseman available, Chase Reid.

“We were very excited to get him into our pipeline,’’ director of player personnel and amateur scouting John Lilley said of Smits. “I had lots of viewings on him throughout the year in the Finnish Elite League, in Germany, the World Junior Championships, and we just felt like he was the best option at that time.’’

Lilley wouldn’t say how far away he thinks Smits is from being an NHL player, saying “that’s not up to me,’’ and added that the trade for Dorofeyev did not impact the decision to take Smits. He expects Smits to be at training camp in the fall.

After Penn State winger Gavin McKenna went first overall to the Maple Leafs, San Jose took Swedish winger Ivar Stenberg No. 2 and Vancouver took center Caleb Malhotra at No. 3.

Then the Sabres, picking at No. 4, made the first surprise pick of the draft when they took defenseman Daxon Rudolph instead of Reid, who was the NHL’s No. 2-ranked North American skater prospect after McKenna.

That left the Rangers with the option of taking Reid if they wished, but they took Smits, a physical, two-way lefthanded shot who left Latvia at 13 to go to Finland in order to help improve his game. Reid ended up going No. 7 overall to Seattle.

“I’m really happy to go to New York,’’ Smits said on a Zoom call with reporters.

He was asked how much it meant to him to be selected in the top five picks. “The number wasn’t that important,’’ he said. “I’m going to a good organization, but I think I got both, being selected in the top five and going to the good organization. So it’s a very lucky night for me.’’

Asked to describe his game, Smits described himself as a two-way defenseman. “I’m trying to take care of the ‘D’ zone first, and then I also can create some offense and help the forwards in an offensive zone and create some offensive plays,’’ he said.

Smits was one of a group of five elite defensemen considered top-10 prospects who were available in the draft. The other four are all committed to play college hockey next season; Smits could be available to come to training camp and compete for a spot. For a team hoping to improve its roster quickly and try to get back into the hunt for a playoff spot after missing out on the postseason the past two springs, that may have been a factor in his selection.

He was asked if he expects to be at training camp in September. “I’m not thinking too much about the future, and just living in this moment, and kind of soaking all the emotions in,’’ he said. “And then we’ll go from now on.’’

The Dorofeyev trade was the second of the day for the Rangers. They began the day by trading forward Brett Berard, 23, to Montreal for AHL defenseman William Trudeau.

A fifth-round pick in 2020, Berard had made a splash when the Rangers called him up from Hartford in 2024-25, recording six goals and 10 points in 35 games. But he struggled last season after becoming the final cut in training camp, and in two separate call-ups to the Rangers, he had no points in 13 games.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.