Which way will the Rangers go in the NHL Draft?

The primary focus for the Rangers as they try to retool their roster this summer will be to find ways to improve immediately as they attempt to get back in the playoff picture next spring.

The players they select in this weekend’s NHL Draft in Buffalo likely aren’t going to help them in that endeavor. But a flurry of trades in the last week spiced up the draft, and the Rangers — who own picks 5 and 26 in Friday’s first round and 11 total selections in the next two days — could use some of those picks to get in on the trading activity.

At the very least, if they make no trades and just make all of their picks, they will add to their prospect pool, which right now isn’t very deep.

So one way or the other, this will be a big weekend to kick off what looks like a busy summer for Rangers general manager Chris Drury.

Free agency begins next week. First up, however, is the draft.

“It’s exciting because we can potentially add a high-quality player that could potentially be a New York Ranger for a long time,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said on breakup day when asked about having a top-five pick.

In the pre-draft wheeling and dealing, Ottawa traded captain Brady Tkachuk to Florida for a package that included the No. 9 overall pick, which later was flipped to San Jose, and draft host Buffalo landed the No. 4 pick from Chicago for defenseman Bowen Byram and winger Jordan Greenway.

One report during the week had the Sabres talking to the Rangers about potentially acquiring center Vincent Trocheck, the biggest piece Drury has to offer.

As for Friday, Toronto has told Penn State winger Gavin McKenna that it will take him with the No. 1 pick. What will happen after that is anyone’s guess.

Five elite defensemen are available, and many believed San Jose, already loaded with talented young forwards, would take one of them at No. 2. But trading young forward William Eklund for the No. 9 pick suggests the Sharks will take Swedish winger Ivar Stenberg, the consensus second-best player available, and then potentially take a defenseman at No. 9.

At No. 3, Vancouver likely will take center Caleb Malhotra, the son of former Ranger Manny Malhotra, whom the Canucks recently hired as their head coach.

The Sabres, if they don’t trade the pick, might take one of the high-end defensemen at No. 4, perhaps Chase Reid, the NHL’s No. 2-rated North American skater after McKenna.

The Rangers would have loved to get the younger Malhotra but likely will have to pivot. With Malhotra off the board, they could take another of the defensemen, perhaps Latvian Alberts Smits, or perhaps take a swing and pick 5-9 Swedish center Viggo Bjorck.

In a telephone interview with Newsday, Dan Marr, a group vice president of the NHL’s Central Scouting department, called Smits, the NHL’s No. 2-rated European skater prospect behind Stenberg, “a wild card.”

Smits played professionally in Finland and Germany this season and is considered the most NHL-ready of the defensemen.

“He’s kind of done it all this year by having played on Latvia’s World Juniors [team], played for them at the Olympics, played for them at the men’s World Championships,’’ Marr said.

Bjorck, the No. 4 European skater, had six goals and 15 points in 42 games as a 17-year-old for Djurgarden of the Swedish pro league. He stood out at the World Juniors and the senior men’s World Championships, recording a goal and five assists in eight games while playing on Lucas Raymond’s line.

“He’s only a little over 5-9, but he’s got one of those solid frames,’’ Marr said. “Nobody asks how big [Carolina’s 5-8 Logan] Stankoven is anymore. Nobody asks how big [Carolina’s 5-10] Seth Jarvis is anymore. He’s one of those players.’’

As for the Rangers’ second first-rounder, they could keep it or trade it. Marr said this draft is unusually deep, and that could lead to teams wanting to make deals Friday night.

“We’ve already seen some moves made, and it’s going to be curious on draft day just to see who might want to move up to get into that 10-to-15 range as a player they like is still there,’’ he said.

“Or, more intriguing, [if] they’ve got their eye on somebody, they may feel confident that they can move down a couple spots and still get the same guy, and maybe get an extra pick or improve their roster.

“So I kind of think the GM phones are going to be burning a little hotter this year on draft day.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.