When Chris Drury rolled out The Letter 2.0 in January, he made the blueprint plain: he wanted players with “tenacity, skill, speed, and a winning pedigree with a focus on obtaining young players, draft picks, and cap space to allow us flexibility moving forward.”
Pavel Dorofeyev fits that mold, even if he didn’t come cheap. The Rangers paid a steep price to land him from the Vegas Golden Knights, sending the 26th overall pick, the 92nd pick, and a 2028 top-10 protected first-round pick. Then came the long-term commitment: a seven-year deal carrying an $11 million average annual value.
That’s a hefty investment, but it’s tied to a player who has scored 35 goals in each of the past two seasons. The real question now is how that kind of finishing touch translates to Broadway.
Dorofeyev, known as “Scorofeyev,” just turned in the best season of his career. He scored 37 goals and added 27 assists for 64 points in 82 games with Vegas, and 20 of those goals came on the power play.
On the man advantage, he posted an xGF/60 of 1.02, which ranked 16th in the league among players with at least 200 minutes of ice time, according to Evolving Hockey. At even strength, though, his xGF/60 slipped to -0.021 after sitting at 0.123 in 2024-25.
What Dorofeyev does best is obvious: he scores. He does it with a heavy shot and soft hands, and NHL Edge clocked his hardest shot last season at 93.33 MPH, good for the 93rd percentile.
He can beat goalies in a few different ways, but creating the chance to shoot is another matter. Getting the puck into the offensive zone has not been his strength.
He also isn’t a burner, though that doesn’t make him a poor skater. Vegas didn’t lean on him to carry the puck through transition, and last season he spent nearly 55 percent of his ice time with Mitch Marner. That kind of setup won’t be available in New York, where he won’t be skating with a player of that caliber.
There’s more to his game than the goals, too. Dorofeyev posted an xGA/60 of -0.142, the third-best mark among Golden Knights forwards.
He also proved he could handle the postseason, scoring 12 goals and four assists in 22 playoff games last season. His 58 shots on goal led all players in the playoffs.
The Rangers are counting on him to be a major source of offense, and the fit should make sense. His game should translate, but the key is getting him the puck in the right spots. The line combination that makes the most sense, at least here, is Dorofeyev with Gabe Perreault and Mika Zibanejad.
Perreault has shown elite puck-distribution skills wherever he’s played, including the NHL, and putting him next to Dorofeyev and the team’s top center could help maximize both young players. Dorofeyev going from the fourth option on a Stanley Cup team to the primary threat on a bottom-three team sounds like a setup for regression, but a step forward from Perreault could help keep that from happening.
There’s no mystery about his role on special teams: Dorofeyev will be on the first power-play unit. The Rangers’ power play finished fifth in the league in PP% last season, and if Adam Fox stays healthy, Dorofeyev should have every chance to keep producing with the extra man. A lot of what determines his success will come down to whether the Rangers can feed him the puck consistently.
A reasonable projection for his first year in New York: 80 games, 40 goals, 29 assists, and 69 points. That would mean career highs across the board, and it’s built on the belief that he’ll be asked to drive offense, that Fox stays available, and that Perreault continues to grow. The Rangers’ rebuilt blue line with Sean Durzi, Marcus Petterson, and Alberts Smits should also help the team move the puck better and create more scoring chances in transition.
Maybe that forecast leans a little optimistic, especially on the assist total. But the Rangers should get some help from a weak Metropolitan Division, and last season was already low enough that it would be hard for things to go much worse. The roster also looks more suited to the style Mike Sullivan wants to play, which should help the team get back on track.
In the end, this is the kind of move that will define Drury’s retool. He gave up premium draft capital and handed out a major contract to get a young scoring winger. The deal doesn’t look like an overpay on paper, but if Dorofeyev struggles, $11 million becomes a very expensive bet.
The Rangers do not need a Stanley Cup to call this season a success, but they do need progress. That starts with getting some return on this investment.
Dorofeyev has to prove he isn’t just a product of playing alongside Jack Eichel or Mitch Marner. Even if he falls short of the stat line projected here, he still needs to show he can score no matter who’s on his wing.
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