Taylor Raddysh arrived in New York with a job description, and last season he did exactly what the Rangers asked. He lived in the bottom six, handled penalty-kill duty, and generally gave the team a steady, no-drama option on a two-year, $3 million deal.
On its own, that contract made sense. Even with the salary cap rising, it still does in a vacuum.
The problem is that the Rangers aren’t operating in a vacuum. They signed Raddysh expecting one kind of team and got another: a club that finished last season as one of the worst in the NHL.
That changes the equation fast. A depth winger like Raddysh fits much better on a roster pointing toward the postseason than on one trying to dig itself out of the league’s basement.
The only reason he remained with the Rangers after last season’s trade deadline was tragedy, specifically the passing of his father from pancreatic cancer around that time.
So the real question heading into 2026 is simple: does Taylor Raddysh still have a place here?
Last season, he landed almost exactly where the projection had him. The forecast called for a 10-15-25 line, and he finished at 9-10-19. He was defensively sound, worked well on the penalty kill, and had one memorable flash when he scored a hat trick against the San Jose Sharks in a game most people would probably rather forget.
The broader verdict on his game hasn’t changed much, either. As was written in his 2006 Rangers Report Card:
I though he'd be fine. And, he was fine. Defensively responsible, but not much in the way of offense.
That really sums up Raddysh. He’s reliable, predictable, and not especially flashy.
The issue isn’t that he hurts you. It’s that his spot on the roster may be better used by someone younger and cheaper.
And the Rangers do have options. A lot of them.
Jaroslav Chmelar, Will Cuylle, Tye Kartye, Noah Laba, Taylor Raddysh, Matt Rempe, Adam Sykora, and Joe Veleno are all in the mix for bottom-six roles. Cole Beaudoin, Liam Greentree, and Juuso Parssinen also belong on the list, though the most likely outcome is that those three begin the year in Hartford, or in Parssinen’s case, on the moon, for all we care.
Among the names already in the organization, Veleno and Laba are the centers. That leaves six wingers competing for four spots on the bottom two lines.
Waiver rules matter here, too. Adam Sykora can be sent to the AHL without going through waivers, and the same is true for Chmelar.
Others will either need to stay on the roster or clear waivers to go to the Wolf Pack.
Matt Rempe is the most interesting case in that group. He can’t be sent down without waivers, and there’s a better-than-average chance another team would grab him.
Size still gets attention around the NHL, and you can’t teach it. But that’s a separate discussion for another preview.
For Raddysh, the outlook is more straightforward. He should be on the roster, and the most likely spot is the third line with Noah Laba and Will Cuylle.
The prediction here is 60 games played, 7 goals, 10 assists, and 17 points.
And beyond that? A trade.
I don’t expect Taylor Raddysh to finish the 2026-27 season in New York. The only scenario where that changes is one where the Rangers are suddenly in the President’s Trophy conversation and nobody wants to mess with the good juju. That doesn’t sound like a problem this team is likely to have.
He’s the kind of player who becomes movable because he checks every box a contender likes in a depth piece: affordable, veteran, useful in a grinder role, and replaceable by younger internal options. His contract is expiring, and he’ll make $1.5 million AAV this year.
That makes him even easier to move if the Rangers decide to cash him in. And while the team should be better this season, the presence of all those younger alternatives makes Raddysh feel more like trade currency than a long-term fit.
That was true when his signing drew a collective “huh?” from the fan base, and it’s even truer now.
Even then, the fit felt a little redundant. The appeal was that he was a safer bet than some of the other options and could jump right onto the penalty kill.
That likely explains why Chris Drury and company liked him.
But if he’s still here when the final horn sounds on the last game of this season, that would be a surprise. From this point on, Taylor Raddysh may be best remembered for one thing: his usefulness in Puckdoku.
In Other News...
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The Rangers have largely wrapped up their offseason business, but one of the more interesting decisions on the horizon involves Gabe Perreault and when the team should lock him in on a new deal. Perreault is heading toward restricted free agency, and with New York already thinking ahead on extensions for its young core, his next contract has become part of a broader long-term puzzle.
Pittsburghs recent extension for Ville Koivunen only sharpened the attention around these kinds of deals, especially with the market about to shift. For the Rangers, the real question may be whether there is value in waiting, giving Perreault a chance to build on his stock with a strong upcoming season before talks get serious. For now, it remains one of those situations that feels inevitable without being close to settled. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Still Have One Big Question About Their Next Elite Scorer
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Right now, there is no obvious Ranger poised to chase that number, which is part of what makes the conversation so important. Pavel Dorofeyev is a recent addition worth watching, and Mika Zibanejad has shown he can get close after scoring 41 goals in 2019-20, but the bigger issue is whether the roster has a player who can turn strong production into something historic, or if that answer is still waiting to emerge. [Read more 🡒]