The rough times continued on Broadway last year.
Head coach Mike Sullivan‘s arrival did little to help the reeling club, as they found themselves on the outside looking in at the playoff picture once again. The Rangers underperformed and battled injuries to key pieces throughout the year, finishing in the basement of the Eastern Conference with a 34-39-9 record.
Advertisement
GM Chris Drury continued his retool ahead of the deadline and carried it into the offseason, making some intriguing additions along the way. None was more notable than new top scorer Pavel Dorofeyev, who was inked to a seven-year contract extension shortly after being acquired from the Golden Knights.
Drury bulked up the depth to try to survive any injuries and revamped the d-core with hopes of getting things trending back in the right direction — whether it will be enough remains to be seen.
What the Rangers have going for them…
They return an offensive core that showed some positives down the stretch in what was an otherwise very disappointing season from top-to-bottom. The trio of Gabe Perreault, Mika Zibanejad, and Alexis Lafreniere showed a tremendous connection over the closing weeks and they will be back together to start the year.
Advertisement
You also have to hope that captain J.T. Miller will be able to put together a bounce back showing after he dealt with injuries throughout last season. Sliding in next to Dorofeyev should go a long way towards helping him, too.
On top of that, Drury made some low-risk forward additions to lengthen the lineup and bolster the wing depth.
Oliver Bjorkstrand was a consistent 20-goal scorer until his production dropped off last season with the Lightning, he’ll look to rebound alongside Miller and Dorofeyev on the second line. Eeli Tolvanen is an interesting add with Will Cuylle and Noah Laba as both look to take another step forward on the third line, as well.
Then you have the defense, which returns a steady top pair of a healthy Adam Fox and last year’s big free agent addition, Vladislav Gavrikov. They also brought in a new second unit with veteran Marcus Petterson and the puck-moving Sean Durzi, both of whom Drury hand picked in offseason trades.
Advertisement
Braden Schneider is bumped down to the third pairing, back on a one-year prove-it deal, and he’ll skate with this year’s first-round pick Alberts Smits, who proved that he is NHL-ready in camp.
Then you add in the rest of the up-and-coming young talent in the system upfront and on the backend such as Scott Morrow, Drew Fortescue, Liam Greentree, and Cole Beaudoin among others. Depth, depth, depth is the big thing for this group — they have the makings of a team ready to take some steps forward this season.
The Rangers will make the playoffs if…
Everything comes together as planned.
As both Drury and Sullivan mentioned during their pre-camp presser, one of the biggest things that hurt them last season was losing Fox and Shesterkin for long periods to injury. The Blueshirts bulked up their depth so they could potentially withstand another absence, but they absolutely need a fully-healthy season from both of their stars.
Advertisement
They also need to get off to a better start this season, especially on home ice.
New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (31) celebrates with left wing Alexis Lafreniere (13) and center Mika Zibanejad (93) after defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden / Vincent Carchietta – Imagn Images
New York struggled mightily at MSG last year, losing 15 of their first 25 games at the arena, putting them in a deep hole they were unable to recover from. Playing better hockey in front of the NYC-faithful is an absolute must, especially with 10 of their first 17 games this year being on home ice.
Dorofeyev carrying over his goal-scoring ways would go a long way towards that, with him having found the back of the net 35+ times each of the last two seasons with the Knights.
On top of that, they need the complimentary pieces to step up around him, particularly Miller, who is coming off an injury-plagued and unproductive first year as Rangers captain. Getting him back to a 70-80 point player would be huge.
Advertisement
The new defensive core will also need to click on the backend, tightening things up and putting together much more consistent efforts right off the bat in front of Shesterkin.
While the Metropolitan Division is getting more and more competitive, Drury seemingly has raised the floor on this squad. If all of these things come together, the Blueshirts should be able to climb their way right back into the playoff picture.
The Rangers will miss the playoffs again if…
They can’t make up the production left behind after moving top scorer Artemi Panarin (deadline) and do it all centerman Vincent Trocheck (offseason).
Advertisement
Panarin hurts in the goal-scoring department, an area New York struggled with even while he was still on Broadway, and Trocheck stings on both ends of the ice. If their new-look top-six can’t step up and put the puck in the net on a nightly basis, this team isn’t going to go very far for the third straight season.
Nov 18, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (31) warms up before a game against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. / Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
One of the biggest keys is also for Shesterkin to stay on the ice and return to the Vezina-winning form that carried them deep into their past postseason runs. Everything can come together in front of Shesterkin, but if he isn’t leading the way between the pipes it’s hard to see them crawling out of the cellar anytime soon.
Drury made aggressive moves to try to quickly work through this retool, whether it will be enough is still to be seen.
Advertisement
Prediction
Fifth Place finish in Metropolitan Division, miss playoffs
This team has the pieces to take a step forward this season. The floor has been raised, but it’s hard to tell exactly what their ceiling is. They should be able to work their way back into playoff contention, but a lot has to go right for them to go much further than that.
I do expect that they’ll be playing meaningful hockey and fighting for a spot down the stretch, but with the Wild Card race expected to be tight once again, I don’t think it’ll be enough to snap the two-year playoff drought.
Drury’s seat figures to only get hotter after parting ways with legit assets in this quick retool, and still not getting back over the hump.
Read the full article here
