The New York Rangers may have not had a first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, but the team was able to get first-round talent with the 43rd overall pick.
Many NHL analysts predicted Malcolm Spence would be selected in the first round, but he slid all the way to the 43rd pick where the New York Rangers sat and they did not hesitate to draft him.
“Malcolm is an excellent winger, power play, PK (penalty kill), plays the game the right way,” Rangers director of player personnel John Lilley said. “He doesn't cheat the game. We’ve valued him for a few years now… I think he was projected to go quite a bit higher, so when the opportunity presented itself, we were thrilled to get him in that spot, and we think he's got a lot of potential and a high character player.”
The 18-year-old has made a name for himself playing for the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League over the past two seasons.
This past season, Spence served as the team’s assistant captain and had an impressive statistical season, recording 32 goals, 41 assists, and 73 points in 65 games.
Despite the high speculation that Spence would be drafted in the first round, teams passed up on him for whatever reason.
However, his fall out of the draft’s opening round did not discourage him and he’s excited to prove the Rangers right instead of proving other teams wrong.
“I think kind of when you have expectations for yourself, and obviously there's expectations from the media and whatnot of where I was going to get picked, but for me, obviously I believe in myself, and just really I didn't get picked yesterday, I kind of changed my mindset right after and said, ‘well, tomorrow's a new day, and you're in a situation that not a lot of people are in.’ So for me, it was New York's first pick, and I have some family out there, and it worked out really well,” said Spence.
“I'm really excited that they took a chance on me and believed in me when a lot of the other people didn't. So I'm really excited to get to New York City and get to work.”
The next stop for Spence will be at the University of Michigan where he’ll play at one of the best collegiate hockey programs in the country.
While Spence has a lot of natural skill sets, he knows that there’s still a long way to go before he gets to an NHL level both in terms of his body development and transformation as a player.
He strongly believes he’ll be able to accomplish all of his development goals at Michigan in order to be properly prepared for the NHL and the challenges that come with being a professional hockey player.
“I know to play in the NHL, you have to be physically ready,” Spence said. “Maybe there are parts of my game skill-wise that may be ready, but physically I’m not. I know going to Michigan is going to give me more runway time. For me to jump in as an impact player, that’s what I want to do.”
Spence is likely a couple of years away before he could possibly crack the Rangers’ roster, but the potential is certainly there and he has a chance to make a major impact in the future.
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