First Call: Rangers still deciding what to do with potential Penguins' draft pick; promising prediction for Derrick Harmon

Wednesday’s “First Call” has a promising prediction for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-round draft choice. The Florida Panthers Stanley Cup celebrations are already off to a rough start. We are still trying to figure out plans for the New York Rangers and the draft choice they owe the Penguins.

Plus, we have a better grasp of what the Atlantic-10 schedule will look like this year for Duquesne.

Down to the wire

Here’s some news about the upcoming NHL draft that will impact the Penguins.

The New York Rangers are still deciding what to do with their June 27 first-round pick that could become property of the Penguins. The club may not make up its mind until the mandatory deadline of June 25.

That news comes from Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA Today and SNY TV. He says Rangers general manager Chris Drury likely won’t make a decision until he absolutely has to do so.

That’s 48 hours before the first round.

The #NYR have a week to decide if they're going to keep the No. 12 pick in the upcoming NHL Draft or preserve their 2026 first instead.

My understanding is that Chris Drury intends to take it down to the wire while he continues to weigh all options ????????https://t.co/fjdcWPdnWM

— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) June 18, 2025

The looming uncertainty is the result of conditions from a pair of trades that were made this past season.

The Rangers dealt a 2025 top-13 protected first-round draft pick to the Vancouver Canucks along with forward Filip Chytil and defenseman Victor Mancini in exchange for former Pittsburgh Hornet J.T. Miller, as well as defensemen Jackson Dorrington and Erik Brannstrom.

Vancouver then spun that pick to Pittsburgh as part of a trade that also featured Danton Heinen, Melvin Fernstrom, and Vincent Desharnais coming here in exchange for Drew O’Connor and Marcus Pettersson.

The Rangers could elect to keep the draft pick this season. Should that happen, the Penguins will receive an unprotected first-round pick from the Rangers for the 2026 draft.

Rough start

The Stanley Cup has already been damaged, and its victory tour of Florida has just barely begun.

Beer is coming out of the Stanley Cup and poured onto the crowd at the Elbo Room pic.twitter.com/bqZyC4JURe

— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) June 18, 2025

Via the Associated Press, the bowl of the trophy cracked, and the bottom got dented not long after the sacred chalice was awarded to the Florida Panthers for a second year in a row.

The Panthers won their second consecutive title on home ice Tuesday night, beating Edmonton in Game 6 of the finals 5-1. The team partied with the Cup throughout the night and well into Wednesday afternoon.

A spokesperson for the Hockey Hall of Fame said the keepers of the Cup plan to have it repaired by Sunday’s celebration parade.

The Cup is now 131 years old. It has been in Mario Lemieux’s pool, dropped during a Tampa Bay Lightning boat parade in 2021, and dented by the Colorado Avalanche on the night they won it the following year.

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High hopes for Harmon

NFL.com put together a prediction piece for who will make the NFL’s All-Rookie team. The Steelers first-round pick, Derrick Harmon, is on it.

“Instinctive and versatile with a well-rounded skill set, the first-round pick is the kind of defensive lineman who thrives in Pittsburgh,” writer Gennaro Filice said. “Harmon racked up an eye-popping 55 pressures in 2024 — 12 more than any other FBS interior D-lineman, per PFF — and now he gets to learn from a 15th-year pro with a doctorate in disruption, Cam Heyward.”

The website also pointed to a definitive quote from D-line coach Karl Dunbar about Harmon.

“He goes out there with the ones. He’s our left, starting defensive tackle. You can write that,” Dunbar said.

So Harmon is at least going to get lots of reps to prove himself as a rookie to start the year.

Running back Kaleb Johnson could’ve been considered a candidate on the offensive side of the ball too. However, Las Vegas’ Ashton Jeanty and R.J. Harvey of Denver got the RB nods.

Pairings procured

We now know the pairings for how the Atlantic-10 basketball regular season will work out. 

Duquesne will face Dayton, Davidson, Saint Louis, St. Bonaventure and Rhode Island twice during the 2025-26 season. The Dukes will host VCU, Richmond, George Washington and La Salle at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. They’ll visit Loyola Chicago, George Mason, Saint Joseph’s and Fordham.

This is the third consecutive year the Dukes will face Dayton twice during the regular season. The 2025-26 campaign also marks the 20th straight season that Duquesne and St. Bonaventure will battle home-and-home.

Duquesne and Saint Louis haven’t played two games during the regular season since 2020. Rhode Island and the Dukes will knock heads twice in a season for the first time since 2021. Davidson is a two-time regular season opponent for the first time since February of 2022.

The 2026 Atlantic 10 Championship will be at PPG Paints Arena this March. It’ll be the conference’s 50th anniversary. Five of the first six A-10 Championships were held at the Civic Arena from 1978-82.