Rangers Offseason Preview.

 Offseason plans blog post PT 2 (NYR)

So today we have the eliminated Rangers who were the 2nd team eliminated from playoff contention who have definitely had another down year being the first team in the east to be eliminated, they are the 2nd team  in my offseason preview series, as I will breakdown why the Rangers missed the playoffs and what I personally think they could do in the offseason to improve their team to try and make it better for next year.

1st up the Rangers stats for the 25-26 season

30-35-9 69 8 GR

208 26th GF 

231 T-23rd GA

PP% 24.3 7th

PK% 78.7 20th 

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Goal Scoring Leaders

Zibanejad 32

Lafreniere 22

Panarin 19*

Cuylle 16

Point Leaders

Zibanejad 69

Panarin 57*

Lafreniere 51

Trocheck 49

 * means no longer with team

So when looking at the Rangers stats for the 25-26 season they are nowhere near as bad as the Canucks but you can definitely see why they were the 1st East team eliminated, so if you look at the team defensively, they had a few breaks injury wise that did hurt them but all in all that defence wasn’t up to par as their defensive stats were in the bottom half of the league but weren’t anywhere near as bad a the Canucks as their defence was only 23rd in the NHL and their PK is 20th right now, so all in all they have to be way better to be able to make the playoffs but it is somewhere were they can at least grow from, now when it comes to the offence their 5v5 play and power play have been vastly different this year, as the Rangers have a few 50 point players which isn’t half bad and Zibanejad in particular is having a solid season but I have a feeling most of those points came on the power play as their power play currently ranks 7th in the entire NHL so their power play has definitely been a bright spot this year, but their offence is 26th ranked and I feel a lot of their top end guys have boosted numbers due to their power play and on top of that their Bottom six has been close to non existent this year for the Rangers, so all in all this team has some bright spots and their big guys have come through but they have a lot of work defensively and offensively 5v5 to do.

3 Reasons I believe they missed

1.) Atrocious home record: now I think the main reason the Rangers have not been able to find success this year has to be the terrible record at home, at this current point in time the Rangers along with Vancouver are the only 2 teams who don’t have double digit wins at home and Vancouver has been all around bad so they being bad is expected but NYR’s isn’t, this team has actually been halfway decent on the road but especially at the start of the year they couldn’t be a win at home to save their life, and they only have 4 or 5 regulation wins all season long, so I believe if they were decent at home they may have had a shot at the playoffs but that home record has done them in and is a major reason as to why they missed the playoffs.

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2.) Shesterkin and Fox injuries: now the 2nd reason I feel they didn’t do well was the injury problems they had to 2 key pieces defensively, now Adam Fox has definitely had a down year this season but is still a top 10-15 defender for the Rangers and he went down with a injury and missed a month or two of game action which terribly derailed the Rangers and if that wasn’t enough they also lost arguably the best goalie in the world in Shesterkin to injury for a number of weeks, and taking Shesterkin off that team terribly exposed their defence which is why they have such poor defensive stats, so all in all the losses of Fox and Shesterkin for a few months derailed the team defensively and was another reason they missed. 

3.) Bottom six wasn’t good enough: now the final reason I believe the Rangers were not able to make the playoffs was the lack of depth scoring on this team, now as you can see in the goal and point scoring leaders their big guys actually didn’t do half bad as the Rangers have a few 20 goal scorers and 50 point players, but there depth scoring from guys like Sheary, Laba, Brodzinski etc was not up to par this year which is why their offensive numbers are not great this year, so I believe the home record, the injuries to Shesterkin and Fox and the lack of depth scoring were the 3 main reasons in my opinion that the Rangers missed the postseason. 

Projected cap hit: $78.26 

Projected cap space: $25.74

Significant Pending UFA’s

J.Brodzinski 4-7-11 in 46GP

C.Sheary 4-9-13 in 52GP

C.Mackey 5-10-15 in 52GP (AHL) 

J.Quick .889 SV% and 3.18 GAA in 23GP

Significant Pending RFA’s

B.Brisson 16-16-32 in 56GP (AHL) 

B.Berard 6-16-22 in 41GP (AHL)

B.Schneider 2-13-15 in 72GP

V.Iorio 0-3-3 in 27GP

S.Morrow 0-6-6 in 29GP

D.Garand .896 SV% and 2.83 GAA in 36GP (AHL)

Now when it comes to their UFA’s and RFA’s they don’t have a ton, I think the Rangers will will probably walk away from most of their UFA’s as I don’t expect Brodzinski and Sheary to be back, the only one I think that could potentially be brought back has to be Quick as I could see him sign a 1 year deal to stay in NYR but wouldn’t be shocked if he left or retired, when it comes to their RFA’s I could see maybe one or two not get qualified but I would expect them to qualify most of their RFA’s some of the bigger ones I expect to be back are Morrow, Brisson and Berard who all I believe will be back and could be big parts of next years Rangers team, one I could see not be back is Schneider but the only way that happens is if the Rangers trade him which is a possibility I could see happen but either that will happen or he will resign, but either way I expect most NYR RFA’s to be back next year. 

Current draft capital for NYR in 2026: 11

1RD: NYR, CAR

2RD: CAR

3RD: NYR, LA, NYI, BUF

4RD:

5RD: NYR 

6RD: NYR, CHI

7RD: VAN

Just real quick here the Rangers have a pretty decent amount of draft Capital entering the offseason and may acquire more by the draft, having 2 1RD picks as a rebuilding team is not half bad and 7 picks in the 1st 3 rounds including having 4 3rd round picks is absurd, so I feel like they have a decent amount of capital to work with and may even get pick #1 in the draft if they get lucky, so lots to be excited about when it comes to the Rangers draft capital.

Lastly I look at 3 things I think they should look at in the offseason to improve 

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1.) Figure out which players to move (Trocheck, Raddysh, Schneider, etc): now we look at 3 ways I feel the Rangers could improve in the offseason to become a bit more competitive next year, so the first thing I believe the Rangers should do is move a couple of the players on their roster, they have a few guys who at the deadline were mentioned as potentially being available at the deadline but were never dealt and I feel they could move a couple of them in the offseason, I think Trocheck is the one to watch out for most as I think NYR will get a big enough return that they would consider a move, I think like I mentioned earlier they could deal Schneider as even though he is a solid defensive defender he is a RFA and may not want to sign with NYR or may be too expensive for the Rangers which could lead to a deal, I also could see Raddysh and Vaankanainen get dealt as both are entering the last year of their deals and may want a fresh start next year and I could also see Lafreniere gets dealt if they really wanted to tear things down but with his recent play I think he probably stays, but I think moving a few pieces has to be priority number 1 for the Rangers. 

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2.) Start having young guys play regular NHL roles: now another thing I believe the Rangers have to figure out this offseason is how to get some of their younger players to be regulars in their lineup, now over the years the Rangers have had a stigma around not being able to develop players well and over the past few years they have made some questionable moves with their young guys and even traded away guys like Chytil, Kakko and Miller in recent memory, now the Rangers have a few really decent younger players who I think deserve to be playing NHL minutes such as Perreault who is having quite the end to the year, Laba, Morrow, Robertson, Sykora and there is probably more including whoever they draft with their high draft pick this year, so I do believe creating a few open roster spots entering training camp should be a priority for the Rangers next year so they can have a few of their younger players start making the lineup.

3.) Re-work their bottom six: now another thing I really believe the Rangers should try and do in the offseason is re-work their current bottom six to make it more lethal, now like I mentioned above the Rangers this year have not had overly great production offensively from their bottom six, whether it is Sheary, or Brodzinski, or Laba, or Rempe the Rangers weren’t very productive with their depth this year and I think changing that going forward has to be a priority, I could see them talk away from some UFA’s, maybe move a guy like Raddysh and maybe move on from a few others, and then may in free agency with guys like Sissons or Foligno or on the trade market with guys like Gaudette or Rodrigues to even if it is just adding a few younger guys there like Edstrom or Sykora, I think the Rangers bottom six needs a revamp and in my opinion along with getting spots for young players and moving off prices I feel has to be a priority for the Rangers this offseason. 

So those are my thoughts on the Rangers, and what I think they should do in the offseason, and I don’t expect the Rangers to get a ton better this offseason as they are in retool mode and while I do think they could hit around .500 if they pull the right strings this offseason, I do expect them to miss again next year, but I would love to hear your thoughts below, are you surprised how bad the Rangers were this year, do you think they keep all their Free Agents and could they add more draft capital by the draft and what do you guys think they could do in the offseason to improve for next year, love to hear your thoughts in the comments below and don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel as well.