The Hockey News’ exclusive summer splash series evaluating the off-seasons of every NHL team is into the final stretch. To put these rankings together, we’ve focused the spotlight on every franchise’s off-season additions, departures, hirings and firings. And we’ve labelled each team as belonging to one of three categories – teams that have improved, teams that essentially stayed the same, and teams that have regressed.
We’re now in the top part of these rankings, but Team No. 10 in our summer splash list – the New York Rangers – are still in a tier where they’re one of the slightly better teams, but otherwise stayed the same. So let’s take an in-depth look at how the Rangers’ off-season has developed, and the direction the Rangers are likely to be headed next season:
Additions
Mike Sullivan (Coach), Vladislav Gavrikov (D), Scott Morrow (D), Taylor Raddysh (RW), Justin Dowling (C)
The Breakdown: The Rangers had the 12th-best offense in the league last season with an average of 3.12 goals-for per game. Unfortunately, they had the same average goals-against, ranking 19th overall in that department – and every team below them, with the exception of the Montreal Canadiens, was a non-playoff team last year.
Thus, Rangers GM Chris Drury set out to improve his team’s defense, and he hit a home run with the signing of former L.A. Kings D-man Vladislav Gavrikov. And now, the Blueshirts’ pairing of Gavrikov and star blueliner Adam Fox gives the Rangers one of the very best first defense pairings in the NHL.
Meanwhile, the Rangers made a major change behind the bench with the hiring of former Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins bench boss Mike Sullivan, who could’ve had his pick of a slew of teams but chose the Blueshirts. Sullivan’s structure and accountability demands are likely to make the Rangers better as well.
After that, the only additions Drury made were depth players on defense (Scott Morrow) and up front (Taylor Raddysh, Justin Dowling). But let’s face it – the reason the Rangers were a top-10 summer splash team was because they hired Sullivan and signed Gavrikov – and they signed Gavrikov to a very reasonable $7-million per season contract. Gavrikov could’ve easily signed for more money, but his choice and Sullivan’s choice of the Rangers are endorsements of where this team is headed.
Departures
Peter Laviolette (coach), K’Andre Miller (D), Chris Kreider (LW), Zac Jones (D), Arthur Kaliyev (RW), Calvin de Haan (D), Chad Ruhwedel (D). Nicolas Aube-Kubel (RW)
The Breakdown: Drury did not have a ton of salary cap space to go out and make big moves, so it was necessary to purge some veteran salary this summer. That included trading RFA defenseman and longtime Ranger K’Andre Miller to the Carolina Hurricanes for a first-round draft pick and a second-rounder. But if we’re talking trade-offs, adding Gavrikov in exchange for Miller is a net positive for the Rangers.
That said, the other key Rangers departure is greybeard winger and Rangers fixture Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks. Kreider had spent his entire 14-year career with the Rangers, but his $6.5-million salary (and the two years remaining on his contract) was too rich for Drury to keep around. And veteran coach Peter Laviolette paid the price for the Rangers missing the post-season last year, getting fired after only two years on the job.
Otherwise, Drury allowed fringe players Arthur Kaliyev, Zac Jones, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Calvin de Haan and Chad Ruhwedel to leave via free agency. With due respect to those five players, the Rangers aren’t going to be in trouble because they’re gone. The big issue that needed addressing was the Blueshirts’ defense corps, and all things considered, the Rangers are better as a whole.
The Bottom Line
The Rangers missed the playoffs last year after being the NHL’s best regular-season team in 2023-24. That was extremely frustrating for Rangers fans who were anticipating the Rangers being a better playoff team, not missing the playoffs altogether.
But Drury got a vote of confidence in a contract extension of his own, and he went to work to use all but $777,976 of his cap space to make his team more balanced and better in its own zone. And he moved heaven and earth to ensure he hired Sullivan to run things behind the Rangers’ bench.
We’re not prepared to say the Rangers got notably better – at least, not yet. And certainly, they didn’t get better than the nine teams ahead of them in our summer splash rankings. The Rangers should be in contention for a playoff spot this coming year, but the competition for a playoff berth in the Metropolitan Division will be fierce, and there’s no assurance the Rangers can fend off Metro teams, including the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets, to lock up a playoff spot.
The Rangers’ core of Artemi Panarin, Fox, Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller is solid. But the defense corps isn’t especially deep, nor is the wing position for the Rangers. It’s going to take a lot of effort, some good luck on the injury front, and terrific play from star goalie Igor Shesterkin for the Rangers to bounce back. But their moves this summer give them a better chance at bouncing back – and ultimately, we believe only nine teams had a better off-season than the Blueshirts did.
Summer Splash Rankings
10. New York Rangers
11. Detroit Red Wings
12. New Jersey Devils
13. St. Louis Blues
14. Pittsburgh Penguins
15. Colorado Avalanche
16. Ottawa Senators
17. Boston Bruins
18. Edmonton Oilers
19. Minnesota Wild
20. Seattle Kraken
21. Columbus Blue Jackets
22. Washington Capitals
23. Nashville Predators
24. New York Islanders
25. Tampa Bay Lightning
26. Toronto Maple Leafs
27. Dallas Stars
28. Calgary Flames
29. Los Angeles Kings
30. Winnipeg Jets
31. Chicago Blackhawks
32. Buffalo Sabres
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