Tye Kartye has wasted no time making himself impossible to ignore at Rangers training camp.
Through three days, the 25-year-old forward has been one of the loudest notes in the building, and Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage only added to the buzz. Kartye scored twice again, giving him three goals in three camp scrimmages. But the goals are only part of why Mike Sullivan keeps coming back to him.
“He’s an easy guy to root for and he’s an easy guy to like because of the attitude, the effort, the intentions he brings to the rink every day,” Sullivan said Saturday about Kartye.
That kind of trust is exactly what the Rangers were betting on when Chris Drury and his staff claimed Kartye off waivers last season on Feb. 27.
The move has looked smarter with each passing week. Kartye became a fixture in New York’s bottom-six group down the stretch, piling up 75 hits and 14 points - five goals and nine assists - in 24 games.
He also logged a career-high 14:04 of ice time per night with the Rangers and emerged as a reliable penalty killer.
His style fits the new coaching staff’s vision cleanly. Kartye averaged 13.32 hits per 60 minutes, third among Rangers players who appeared in at least 15 games in 2025-26, and his direct, north-south game has clearly caught Sullivan’s eye.
“I think he skates well, I think he plays the way we want to play,” the coach noted. “I think he’s gotten better and better every day that he’s played for us. You know, he’s had a strong first few days here.”
That strong start has Kartye working on the fourth line in camp, alongside center Joe Veleno and either Jaroslav Chmelar or Matt Rempe on the other wing. It’s not the same slot he might have been in before the Rangers added Eeli Tolvanen, but it hasn’t slowed Kartye down at all.
The Tolvanen signing, a one-year deal worth $1.5 million, changed the look of the bottom six almost immediately. Kartye had shown good chemistry with Noah Laba on the third line last season, and with Will Cuylle on the other side, that trio had the shape of a heavy, useful line.
Now Tolvanen has taken that spot with Laba and Cuylle, pushing Kartye to the fourth line and making veteran Taylor Raddysh more of an extra forward. It also leaves Adam Sykora as the likely odd man out, with Hartford of the American Hockey League a likely starting point.
Sullivan sees the ripple effect as a positive.
“I think it strengthens the depth of our bottom six, it gives us more options, it makes our bottom six better with a player like that that (Tolvanen) we can plug into the lineup,” Sullivan explained Friday. “Right now we’ve plugged him in with ‘Labs’ and Will Cuylle. And whatever that fourth line might look like, it makes that line stronger.”
Tolvanen’s resume backs that up. He scored 23 goals two years ago and has posted at least 31 points in each of the past four seasons, including a career-best 41 in 2023-24. For the Rangers, it was a useful and inexpensive addition.
As for Kartye, the line number doesn’t seem to change the job description. He spent three seasons moving up and down Seattle’s bottom six after joining the Kraken as an undrafted free agent, and he’s built for this kind of role: hard, fast, physical, relentless.
And there’s another layer here, too. Kartye is in the final season of his two-year, $2.5 million contract, which means he can become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer.
Unrestricted free agency comes the offseason after that in 2028. That gives him plenty to skate for.
Then again, Kartye has never looked like a player who needs much extra motivation.
In Other News...
Rangers Face An Early Blue Line Decision They Can't Rush
Alberts mits has already made himself part of the conversation at Rangers training camp, earning strong reviews from the coaching staff as the club sorts through its blue-line options. Head coach Mike Sullivan has seen enough to believe the defenseman looks physically ready for the NHL, which is no small compliment at this stage of camp, especially with roster spots still up for grabs and the back end under close watch.
Still, the Rangers are not in a hurry to force the issue. Sullivan has made it clear the organization wants to keep the bigger picture in mind as it weighs mits next step, and the competition on defense remains tight with Matthew Robertson among the players chasing a place on the opening-night roster. For a team trying to balance immediate needs with long-term development, the decision on the last left-side spot could be one of camps more delicate calls. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Camp Has An Unexpected Defenseman Turning Heads Fast
Marc Del Gaizo arrived at Rangers training camp as one of the quieter additions on the roster, but he wasted little time making an impression on the first day. The defenseman, who has prior NHL experience and spent his college years at UMass Amherst as a key contributor and alternate captain, jumped into the early camp skates with a competitive edge that stood out in a setting where everyone is trying to carve out a role.
The energy around Del Gaizo picked up during scrimmages, where his compete level was hard to miss and his exchanges with Matt Rempe added some edge to the morning. For a player trying to establish himself in a crowded camp, those moments can matter, especially when coaches are sorting through the details of how hard guys are willing to push in the gray areas of practice. [Read more 🡒]
Chris Drury May Soon Face Two Tough Rangers Trade Calls
The Rangers are in the middle of a transition, and that puts Chris Drury in a familiar but uncomfortable spot: trying to sort out which young pieces fit long term and which ones might be better used as currency. Will Cuylle and Braden Schneider both have NHL mileage, both have value to a team trying to stay competitive, and both come with the kind of contract questions that can force a front office to weigh cost against impact.
Schneider has drawn the more obvious trade attention because of where he stands contract-wise, but Cuylle is part of the same larger conversation even if he is not always the first name mentioned. If the Rangers decide they need a more dangerous scoring piece to support their next step, either player could become part of that calculation, which is exactly what makes this stretch so tricky for Drury and the rest of the decision-makers. [Read more 🡒]