When Alberts Šmits came to New York for training camp, he knew, in the back of his mind, that he would make the New York Rangers’ opening-night roster.
“Yeah, obviously,” Šmits said of whether he expected to make the team. “That’s why I came here.”
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When the Rangers selected Šmits with the fifth-overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, they touted him as the most pro-ready defenseman in the draft class.
Šmits is proving that to be true so far, as he made the Rangers’ opening-night roster out of training camp after an impressive two-week showing and will be in the lineup for New York’s first regular-season game against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night, officially beginning his professional hockey career.
“That’s a step I wanted to take over the last years, and over the summer, and now that I have accomplished making the team, it does not stop there,” Šmits said. “I think it’s just the start of a long journey.”
Despite entering training camp as one of the biggest unknowns, Šmits quickly proved that he can hold his own and thrive against NHL players.
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Mike Sullivan had the 18-year-old defenseman practice with the main NHL group for the entirety of training camp, a clear indication that the organization was serious about giving Šmits a chance to make the team.
Over the past two weeks, Šmits has primarily slotted onto the Blueshirts’ third defensive pairing alongside Braden Schneider.
He ended up playing in three of the four preseason games, including one in which he recorded over 23 minutes of ice time.
The speculation going into training camp was that Šmits would likely start the year in the American Hockey League with the Hartford Wolf Pack, but his play flipped that narrative entirely.
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Sullivan was thoroughly impressed with Šmits maturity for a young defensemen, and he quickly realized that the 2026 fifth overall was worthy of making the Rangers’ opening-night roster.
“He’s made the team, he’s made the opening roster because he’s deserving,” Sullivan said of Šmits. “We feel based on where he’s at, we don’t think he’s overwhelmed. We think he belongs. The reason we think he belongs is through his play.
“The size and strength of him as a player at this point, the path that he’s taken to get here and playing the game against men, for all of those reasons, we think he’s deserving of being here… He played extremely well throughout the course of training camp, played well in the exhibition games. We think he’s deserving.”
The Rangers plan to carry eight defensemen to kick off the 2026-27 season, with Matthew Robertson and Scott Morrow serving as extras.
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