By just about every metric, the New York Rangers have been a massive disappointment this season.
The Blueshirts currently have a decent shot at sliding into the Stanley Cup playoffs in the second and final Eastern Conference wild-card spot, but even then, the Rangers will be rightly presumed to be post-season roadkill in the first round. And once they are eliminated from the playoffs – one way or another – the focus will turn to what they’re likely to do next season.
From this writer’s perspective, the Rangers are going to be challenged just to bring back the same group of talent next year – a group that’s been unable to do much of any good as it stands this season.
For one thing, the Rangers are already committed to approximately $85.7 million in salary cap space next season – and even with a rising cap ceiling of $95.5-million next year, that leaves the Blueshirts with about $9.8 million in cap space.
Considering the Rangers have to re-sign RFA defenseman K’Andre Miller and six other RFAs, that will leave precious little money to throw at free agents from other teams – something that’s been the M.O. of this Blueshirts franchise for most of the modern era.
Rangers GM Chris Drury has painted himself into a corner with this group, and he’s either going to have to be creative on the trade front to improve his roster, or he’s going to have no choice but to run it back with the same lineup next season. That doesn’t sound like a recipe for a turnaround in the standings during 2025-26.
Now, maybe there is internal improvement ahead for many Rangers players. Superstar goalie Igor Shesterkin hasn’t been able to steal games for his team this season the way he has in the past, and perhaps he will revert to his peak form next year. And maybe stars Adam Fox, Artemi Panarin, Alexis Lafreniere and Mika Zibanejad all overcome sub-par seasons this year by surging next season.
That said, we’re talking about many “what-ifs” for this franchise. There’s no guarantee any or all of the aforementioned Rangers stars will bounce back with high-impact seasons. And that’s why there should be skepticism that the Blueshirts will be able to somehow flip a switch and once again be dominant the way they were in 2023-24, when they won the NHL’s Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular-season team.
In some respects, the Rangers are similar to the Vancouver Canucks, another team that did well in the regular-season last year, but a team that almost certainly is going to miss out on the playoffs this season. Both teams will be planning on a bounce-back showing next year, and both teams could fail once again to make the playoffs.
The Rangers need many things to go right for them to be a top team in the Metropolitan Division in 2025-26. And as we’ve seen this season, many things can go wrong for this particular collection of talent.
The Metro is going to be a more competitive division next year, and the Rangers could once again find themselves battling just to land a wild-card berth, let alone be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.
It’s not easy to climb to the top of the NHL as the Rangers did in 2023-24, but as we’re ...
