The New York Rangers entered the draft with 10 picks, leading to speculation the team may use some of them to move up in the draft. Some of the speculations involved center and restricted free agent Kevin Hayes having his rights traded as part of a move.
Although the Rangers did ultimately make a trade, Hayes was not involved.
The Rangers packaged picks number 26 and 48 to move up to pick number 22, a spot in which they selected defenseman K’Andre Miller. This was their second pick after taking Vitali Kravtsov ninth overall.