Chris Drury’s big swing on Pavel Dorofeyev is the kind of move that can define a Rangers offseason - for better or for worse.
The New York president and general manager brought Dorofeyev over from the Vegas Golden Knights on a seven-year, $77 million deal, a contract that asks plenty of the 25-year-old right away. If it clicks, Drury looks sharp.
If it doesn’t, the backlash in New York won’t be gentle. And there’s already a real question hanging over the fit.
One anonymous NHL executive, speaking in The Athletic’s look at the Rangers’ offseason, pointed to the most obvious concern: Dorofeyev won’t have the same setup in New York that he had in Vegas.
“He’ll now be skating without Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner, both elite playmakers.”
That’s the heart of the issue. The Rangers don’t appear to have a comparable playmaking duo ready to feed Dorofeyev the way Eichel and Marner did, and if they can’t identify the right linemate for him, the deal starts to look a lot shakier.
The same executive made the point even more directly.
“If he doesn’t have people that can help get him the puck and play that way, that’s going to be a challenging one,” the executive said. “How much can he generate given that roster and who’s going to play with him? I’m sure their coaching staff and others are figuring all that out, but I don’t know how that couldn’t be a concern with the amount of money they’re spending on it.”
That’s the puzzle for the Rangers now. The coaching staff has time to sort through it, but not forever. The summer isn’t over yet, and the pressure to find the right fit is already there.
The Dorofeyev move is part of a broader Rangers offseason that has drawn its share of skepticism, especially around the team’s “retool on the fly” approach. The idea is simple enough: move pieces around, add new ones, keep the machine running. But not everyone around the league buys it.
One anonymous executive in The Athletic didn’t mince words about how often that strategy actually leads to a real breakthrough.
“Give me an example of a retool where the team goes to the conference final or the Final. … The retool on the fly rarely works.”
That executive also cited the Washington Capitals, a division rival, as an example of a team that can look like it’s retooling successfully without truly getting close to a championship.
Still, there is at least some confidence around the Rangers’ long-term outlook. One anonymous scout was more upbeat about where things are headed.
“I think long term they should be fine… They’ve got the pieces to be fine and the boat to be stabilized.”
The bigger picture matters here. Igor Shesterkin are all under contract for a while, and with the Rangers expected to turn over parts of the roster over the next few seasons, the core remains in place for the foreseeable future.
Whether this version of the roster is enough to push the Blueshirts back into the playoff picture in 2026-27 is still an open question.
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Still, the bigger question is whether this is real progress or just the calm before another impatient swing at the problem. New York remains in a retooling phase, and without a true top-end forward to tilt games, the margin for error is thin. If the leadership mix does not settle cleanly and Drury starts chasing shortcuts, the Rangers could end up undoing some of the steadiness they have built. [Read more 🡒]