12. New York Rangers
While the Rangers finished behind Florida and Columbus and have already bowed out of the play-in round, they rank as a worse option here due to their future outcome. While the two teams before them are average team’s with average future outlooks, the Rangers are filled with young talent looking to contend in the near future, making them a potential obstacle for the Sens.
They already have established stars in Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, as well as emerging young talent such as Adam Fox, Filip Chytil, and Kaapo Kakko, not to mention the two-headed monster of young goalies with Alexandar Georgiev and Igor Shesterkin. The Zibanejad factor keeps them from being a nightmare outcome for Ottawa, but adding Lafrenière to their young core would almost certainly put them in a better position going forward than Ottawa.