Mike Sullivan’s fingerprints are already showing up on the New York Rangers, even if the season as a whole still has plenty of rough edges.
The jump hasn’t come from flash. It’s come from structure, buy-in, and a clearer identity.
That’s been the real shift since the Rangers brought in Sullivan to replace Peter Laviolette after a stunning fall from winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2023-24 to missing the playoffs the next season. Year 1 under Sullivan didn’t fix everything either, as New York finished last in the Eastern Conference, but the group is now showing signs that the message is landing.
Sullivan wants a team that attacks the puck, stays connected, and doesn’t drift out of its defensive shape. With limited offense and no established answer in goal while Igor Shesterkin is sidelined, that kind of discipline matters even more. The system has to carry real weight, and so far the Rangers have done enough to show it can.
The numbers back that up. As Vincent Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic wrote, “New York has gone from a team that allowed 2.68 goals against per 60 minutes at five-on-five (and 2.76 expected goals against per 60) in 2024-25 to 2.36 GA/60 (and 2.59 xGA/60) in 96 games under Sullivan, per Natural Stat Trick.”
That doesn’t mean everything is clean. Some individual results have still been uneven, including that of Pavel Dorofeyev, the team’s big offseason acquisition who is now skating on the third line. But on the bigger picture, the Rangers are trending in the right direction.
Newcomer Sean Durzi has noticed it too. He spoke positively about the coaching staff and the way they prepare the group, saying the plan is there and the responsibility now falls on the players to execute it.
Sullivan has also been direct when things go off the rails. When Dylan Garand’s play came up, he made sure to point out that the issues weren’t all on the goalie. The structure in front of him has broken down at times, and those lapses have cost the team.
That matters because Garand, James Reimer, or Joonas Korpisalo are not going to be asked to do what Shesterkin was capable of doing. The Rangers need the system to protect them better than that.
And when they do it well, it works. New York went 3-1-1 in its first five games without Shesterkin, a strong sign that the Rangers can still win with Garand in net as long as the details are sharp and the execution holds up.
In Other News...
Matt Rempe Trade Buzz Gives Rangers Fans A Real Asset Question
A familiar type of trade chatter has found its way back to Matt Rempe, whose size and edge have made him an obvious talking point around the league even as his role with the Rangers has remained limited. The 23-year-old forward has flashed the kind of physical presence teams say they want, but he has also spent much of his time trying to carve out consistent minutes and prove he can be more than just a rugged option on the fourth line.
For New York, any genuine market around Rempe says as much about league-wide appetite for bulk and snarl as it does about his own future. Edmontons interest adds another wrinkle, especially with a coach like Mike Babcock known for valuing bigger, tougher forwards, but the Rangers still have to weigh whether moving a player with a very specific profile helps or hurts the mix they are trying to build. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Goaltending Collapse Is Making Igor Shesterkin Look Even More Valuable
The Rangers have spent the weeks since Igor Shesterkin went down trying to keep the position afloat, and it has only underscored how much his presence normally stabilizes everything behind them. New York leaned on veteran James Reimer in one spot start, but the goaltending picture has remained shaky enough that Dylan Garand has been pushed into a far bigger role than anyone likely envisioned when the season began.
Garand has become the name the Rangers have had to trust while the rest of the depth chart sorts itself out, and the contrast with Shesterkin has been hard to miss. Managements decision to lock up Shesterkin long-term already looked important when the deal was signed, and it feels even more significant now with the team trying to survive without the kind of netminding it was built to expect. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Bottom Six Suddenly Has A Real Taylor Raddysh Problem
Taylor Raddyshs path with the Rangers has already taken a quick turn this season. After being placed on waivers and sent to Hartford, the veteran winger wasted little time making his presence felt in the AHL, then got another chance in New York when rookie Jaroslav Chmela struggled to provide much impact at the NHL level. Once back with the big club, Raddysh has fit in well enough in a limited role to keep himself in the conversation.
Now the question is how the Rangers want to sort out a bottom six that still looks like it could use more stability. The coaching staff is weighing lineup changes to get more out of that group, and Raddyshs usefulness in brief minutes only adds to the intrigue. For a team looking for better play deeper in the lineup, his situation has become one of the more interesting roster decisions on the board. [Read more 🡒]