The New York Rangers have spent the last few years trying to remind everyone they belong in the league’s top tier, and that pressure has only sharpened the spotlight on what comes next.
Former NHLer turned analyst Mike Rupp believes that next move may still be the kind of swing that changes everything. On his read, Chris Drury and the Rangers have been trying to line themselves up for a major strike, even if the big Broadway move hasn’t happened yet.
“I think we’re in a spot here where I think Chris Drury and management was looking towards this past summer. I think they were trying to position themselves in a way to go big, whatever that meant, the big, big-name players that were out there that we saw get absorbed by their current teams in a lot of situations… I also think that they have always had an eye on Connor McDavid and that situation and monitoring that.
So I think there’s probably a plan to do something big. It just hasn’t come to fruition up to this point,”
McDavid, 29, is set to begin the first year of the two-year, $25 million extension he signed with the Oilers in October. He’s coming off a huge 2025-26 season, one that produced 138 points - 48 goals and 90 assists - and earned him the Art Ross Trophy.
For now, McDavid’s priority remains the same: winning a Stanley Cup in Edmonton. But if the Oilers stumble in 2026-27, the conversation around his future will get louder fast.
There will be no shortage of teams linked to him if that happens, and the Rangers figure to stay in that mix as long as they’re back in the hunt themselves. It’s New York, after all.
In Other News...
Rangers May Be Heading Toward Another Painful Braden Schneider Decision
Braden Schneiders place in the Rangers long-term picture is suddenly looking less secure than it once did. The 24-year-old defenseman has not quite matched the early expectations that came with him, and with New York already carrying several blueliners on long-term deals while younger options continue to push into the conversation, his path to a steady role has become harder to define.
For a front office still trying to balance roster construction with salary cap reality, that creates a difficult kind of decision. Schneider is no longer just a player to monitor on the back end, but part of a larger equation about how the Rangers can address other needs without thinning out their defense too much, and the next stretch of his play could go a long way toward determining how aggressively management moves around him. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Could Still Make One Intriguing Move Before Camp
With training camp approaching, the Rangers are still leaving room for one more move up front, and Shane Wright has emerged as a name worth watching. The Seattle center was the No. 4 overall pick not long ago, and at 22 he still fits the kind of young, controllable talent New York has tended to value when looking to deepen its forward group. For the Rangers, the appeal is obvious: a player who could slide into a third-line center role and give the lineup another option down the middle.
How New York would get there is the part still worth tracking. Any serious pursuit would likely force the Rangers to weigh pieces from a defense corps that already has its own internal value, and that kind of decision is never simple this late in the summer. Wrights situation has opened the door for speculation, but the real question is whether the Rangers decide the fit is strong enough to part with a useful young defender before camp opens. [Read more 🡒]
Mike Sullivan Fixed One Rangers Problem But Created Another
Mike Sullivans first season behind the Rangers bench did deliver one clear change: the team became harder to play against defensively. After coming in with a more structure-first approach, he helped tighten things up on that end compared with the previous season, giving New York a more reliable foundation even as the rest of the roster kept searching for rhythm.
The problem was that the same system did not solve everything else, and the Rangers spent much of the year fighting for consistency on offense. Injuries to key players helped trigger a long losing stretch, and the lineup decisions that followed only added to the uncertainty as the club tried to balance short-term results with player development. What looked like one problem fixed quickly turned into another one waiting for answers. [Read more 🡒]