Talk about a night that lines up just right for Mike Sullivan.
When the Rangers open the 2026-27 regular season Tuesday night in Boston against the Bruins, it won’t just be the start of a new campaign. It will also be Sullivan’s 1,000th game as an NHL head coach, a milestone that puts him in rare company as the 33rd coach in league history to get there and only the third born in the United States. The other two are familiar names in Rangers circles, too: John Tortorella, with 1,628 games coached and sixth all-time, and Peter Laviolette, with 1,594 and ninth all-time.
Sullivan will also move into a tie with Roger Neilson at 1,000 games, which slots him into 32nd place on the all-time list.
Boston is a fitting place for it. Sullivan grew up in Marshfield, starred for four years at Boston University, and spent one of his 11 NHL seasons with the Bruins in 1997-98. His first NHL head coaching job also came in Boston, where he spent two seasons beginning in 2003-04.
That makes Tuesday feel like a full-circle moment for Sullivan, who is now set for his second straight intriguing opener behind the Rangers bench. A year ago, his first game with New York came against the Penguins, the team he coached for 10 seasons and guided to consecutive Stanley Cup championships in 2017 and 2018.
The Rangers lost that night 3-0, which set the tone for what became a rough first season on Broadway for the veteran coach. This time, the hope is for a different result when the puck drops at TD Garden.
Elsewhere around the Rangers, Dylan Garand cleared waivers and was sent to Hartford of the American Hockey League. There’s also a season preview with predictions from Forever Blueshirts staff members Jim Cerny, John Kreiser, Lou Orlando, and Dan Bahl, plus a breakdown of what Garand’s move means for both the player and the team.
Igor Shesterkin was again chosen by The Athletic’s group of experts and former NHL goalies as the best netminder in the game, while the latest weekly notebook on Rangers prospects in the CHL and USHL includes the return of Artem Gonchar.
There’s also a look back at the first week of the season, which features four games in six nights for the Rangers.
Around the league, Tuesday delivered a major jolt on the eve of opening night. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets pulled off a blockbuster trade, with Toronto landing forward Kirill Marchecnko, who had been unhappy in Columbus before signing a six-year, $75 million extension with the Maple Leafs. Forward Matthew Knies was the main piece going to the Blue Jackets, along with plenty of other bodies and draft picks.
The Athletic offered trade grades on the deal, while Sportsnet provided a scout’s view from Jason Bukala.
Other preseason and opening-night developments included the Minnesota Wild placing defenseman Brock Faber on IR because of a concussion, with goalie Filip Gustavsson also starting the season on IR after offseason hip surgery. NHL.com reported that the Vancouver Canucks hope to have Thatcher Demko back sometime before Christmas following hip surgery in January.
Pittsburgh Hockey Now also dug into Penguins GM Kyle Dubas’ season-opening media session, including his sharp answer when asked about Evgeni Malkin’s future in Pittsburgh.
And in Utah, the Mammoth took a hit before visiting Madison Square Garden on Sunday, as defenseman Maveric Lamoureux underwent shoulder surgery and is expected to miss 4-6 months.
Finally, the Panthers will be in a rare vantage point Tuesday night, getting a front-row seat to the Carolina Hurricanes’ banner raising - a neat reversal for the 2024 and 2025 Stanley Cup champs.
In Other News...
New Look Rangers Face One Brutal Reality In The Playoff Race
Chris Drury spent the offseason trying to give the Rangers a noticeably different look, and the overhaul is hard to miss. New arrivals such as Oliver Bjorkstrand, Eeli Tolvanen, Sean Durzi, Marcus Pettersson, Alberts Smits and Joonas Korpisalo are meant to raise the floor after a frustrating finish near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, giving New York more balance and more options as it tries to climb back into relevance.
The problem is that improvement in the standings is only half the battle in the Metropolitan Division, where the race for playoff spots is likely to be unforgiving again. The Rangers should be better than they were a year ago, but the gap between looking improved and actually getting back into the postseason is still a real one, and it is the sort of margin that can turn even a busy summer into only the first step of a much harder climb. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers New Look Gets An Early Test In Boston
The Rangers new season opens quickly and with a little bit of edge, as they head into TD Garden on Tuesday night to face the Bruins in the first game of the 2026-27 NHL regular season. New York is carrying eight new players on its opening-night roster, a sign that this group is already being asked to look and feel different from the one that finished last spring.
Among the fresh faces is 18-year-old Alberts Smits, whose NHL debut adds an extra layer of interest to a roster still taking shape. The night also brings a milestone for Mike Sullivan, who will coach his 1,000th NHL game in Boston, giving an already familiar Original Six backdrop a little more weight as the Rangers get their first real test of the year. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Just Got An Early Blue-Line Boost From An Unexpected Rookie
Alberts mits arrived in camp with plenty of attention after the Rangers took him fifth overall in the 2026 NHL Draft, but he has quickly turned that into a real role on the opening-night roster for the 2026-27 season. The young defenseman made a strong enough impression in training camp and preseason play to earn a place on the third pairing, giving New York an early look at one of its most intriguing blue-line additions.
What makes the move notable is how fast the plan changed for a player many figured would need more seasoning elsewhere before settling into NHL duty. Instead, mits stayed with the main group through camp, and Mike Sullivan made it clear the rookie had done enough to belong. For a Rangers defense looking for reliability and upside, that kind of early breakthrough is the sort of development that can quietly shape the first stretch of the season. [Read more 🡒]