The Curious Case for Charlie Cerrato

Heading into the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, the New York Rangers will have 8 picks spanning from the 2nd to the 7th round. The top organizational needs in regards to our prospect pool are centers, offensive defensemen, and goalies. It is easier to address most of these needs in the earlier rounds, but as we see every year, there are plenty of players picked towards the end of the draft that far exceed expectations.

Throughout this season I have kept my eye on a lot of players across multiple leagues in an effort to stay updated on Rangers prospects. However, every once in a while a player exceeds expectations so spectacularly that I can’t help but write his name down. Sometimes the players that demand attention are the ones that you’d expect, the projected first rounders, but other times they are a freshman NCAA forward who has gone undrafted in his first two years of draft eligibility…

Introducing: Charlie Cerrato.

Charlie Cerrato is currently a freshman at Penn State. He is 20 years old and measures in at 6’1” and 195 lbs. Since joining the Nittany Lions at the beginning of the season, Cerrato has been playing most of his minutes as the second line center and playing on the team's first power play unit. He has put up 42 points (15 goals, 27 assists) in 37 games so far this season — good for second on the team in points — and his team isn’t done; they will be playing in the Frozen Four in St. Louis on April 10th. He is also third on the team in plus minus and as a little bonus, he leads the team in penalty minutes because what's more exciting than being a menace all over the ice in every way possible.

Cerrato has been instrumental to the success Penn State has had so far in their quest to be national champions; he has five assists in his last two games for the team — both elimination games — including a beautiful assist on the overtime winner against UConn to send the Nittany Lions to the Frozen Four.

One of the first things I noticed about Cerrato was his skating; he is a great skater with outstanding separation speed. His best asset is his ability to break away from other skaters, which in turn makes him a standout rush attacker. His strengths don’t end there, though. He combines a strong hockey IQ with above average puck-handling to make for, in my opinion, elite passing. He makes plays happen out of thin air when he uses these strengths together in games and it is one of the main reasons his team has found success so far this season.

Possibly the most exciting part of Cerrato’s game is that his development is still happening. A lot of players plateau in their transition from junior leagues, but Cerrato made the jump from the USHL to the NCAA and has looked much stronger. Often described as a firecracker, he is the exact type of player that teams should be lining up to draft, and yet this will be his final year of draft eligibility.

What does this mean for the New York Rangers? There is no better use of one of their late-round picks than using it on a player who at worst is a great depth center option and at best has the possibility to be a strong middle six center that can make an impact all over the ice. He would be the perfect complement to a player like Will Cuylle, who is a great net-front presence and would benefit greatly from playing with a playmaker like Cerrato. Most fans have a vision for what role they want their team’s bottom six to have, but rarely will you find a player like Cerrato, who has the tools he does and will likely be available later in the draft.

According to EliteProspects, he is ranked #188 by NHL Central Scouting for North American skaters, so despite his strong play this season he still hasn’t been on many people's radar. This makes him the perfect candidate to be a steal for any team that is really paying attention. I would say a good NHL comparable for Charlie Cerrato is a mix between Ryan McLeod and Kiefer Sherwood. Cerrato is able to play the kind of strong two hundred-foot game that makes McLeod a valuable middle-six center, yet also has the physicality and energy that Sherwood brings to the lineup every night.

Cerrato attended the Pittsburgh Penguins’ development camp this past offseason, so there is a chance they are still keeping an eye on him, but every team should be doing their due diligence with him. Sometimes the draft seems like throwing darts at a board and hoping something sticks, but after watching him play this season, I believe any team would be hitting the jackpot by drafting Charlie Cerrato — so it might as well be the Rangers.