Chris Drury has already done plenty of heavy lifting this offseason, but the Rangers still have one obvious hole to patch: more scoring depth up front.
The good news is that the roster looks sturdier than it did earlier in the summer. New York has built enviable depth in goal and on the blue line, and the trade for Pavel Dorofeyev gave the club the kind of pure finishing touch it has been missing. The bad news is that the cap room is tight - just $2.4 million - so any final move has to be a careful one.
That leaves Drury shopping in a pretty specific aisle. There are still free agents available who could help, but each comes with a different kind of risk.
Some are familiar faces. Some are skill bets.
Some are the sort of swing that could either solve a problem or create a new one.
Patrick Kane is the biggest name on the board. He’ll turn 38 later this year, but he still produced 57 points in 67 games for Detroit last season.
He doesn’t bring the speed the Rangers have long wanted, but he does bring craft, vision and the sort of offensive feel that could help replace some of what Artemi Panarin once provided. Kane also has Broadway experience, having spent a half-season with the Rangers in 2023 and put up 12 points in 19 games.
Vladimir Tarasenko is another player who has already worn a Rangers sweater. The 34-year-old is no longer flying up and down the ice, but he remains a dangerous scorer and a hard player to handle.
Last season with Minnesota, he scored 23 goals and finished with 47 points. The concern is that his game doesn’t line up neatly with Mike Sullivan’s system, since Tarasenko isn’t much of a defensive or forechecking force.
There are also tampering allegations hanging over him.
Then there’s Patrick Laine, the classic boom-or-bust option. The 28-year-old winger’s last contract carried an $8.7 million cap hit, but any new deal would come in well below that.
Laine played only five games for Montreal before stepping away from the game again, and his mental health issues are well documented. Still, the upside is obvious.
In the season before that, he scored 20 goals and had 33 points in 52 games, and 15 of those goals came on the power play. At his best, he’s a powerful skater with a massive one-timer and the strength to hold his ground in traffic.
A make-good deal in New York could be exactly the kind of restart he needs.
Eeli Tolvanen fits the age range Drury seems to be targeting, and he has shown a steady scoring touch since landing in Seattle in 2023. The 27-year-old has been a consistent half-point-per-game player with the Kraken, using a quick release to create chaos around the net.
At the same time, his production has never fully matched the talent. That has been true in both Seattle and Nashville.
He needs a big year, and while a crowded Rangers middle six might not be the cleanest landing spot, New York’s spotlight could also give him the kind of season that leads to a better contract next summer.
Michael Bunting rounds out the list. He was a disappointment after arriving in Dallas in a mid-season trade from Nashville, but he still profiles as a player who usually lands in the 40-45 point range.
Bunting also knows Sullivan’s system, having played for him in Pittsburgh for parts of two seasons and posting 48 points in 70 appearances. The fit, though, is not perfect.
He can be shaky defensively, and a big chunk of his offense comes on the power play - an area where the Rangers are already strong, especially when Adam Fox is healthy.
In Other News...
Tom Wilson Set The Rangers On A Path Fans Still Hate
The memory of May 3, 2021 still hangs over the Rangers, because the fallout from that night did not stop with one chaotic game against Washington. Artemi Panarin was injured in the aftermath, and the organizations frustration spilled into the open when owner James Dolan publicly blasted the NHLs Department of Player Safety. What followed was more than a reaction to a single incident. It became a signal that the Rangers were ready to rethink how they wanted to look and play.
Chris Drurys rise to general manager and team president came in the same stretch of change, and the roster soon reflected a harder edge. New York brought in players such as Ryan Reaves and Sammy Blais, moves that fit the mood of a team trying to answer a bruising moment with more muscle. Even now, the sequence still matters because it helped set the tone for a franchise that was no longer willing to treat that kind of night as just another bad break. [Read more 🡒]
Why The Rangers May Be Better Off Without Panarin
The Rangers have spent much of this stretch trying to sharpen their roster around younger, cheaper pieces, and Artemi Panarins departure fits neatly into that plan. Moving on from a high-priced veteran gives the front office more room to keep building, while also preserving the flexibility it needs as the next wave of roster decisions comes due.
That matters because the club is already looking ahead to a cluster of restricted free agents who will need new contracts after next season. For a team trying to stay competitive without boxing itself into long-term salary constraints, letting Panarin walk was less about a single player and more about protecting the path forward. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Could Be Losing Ground On A Young Trade Target
The Rangers have already added Pavel Dorofeyev and Oliver Bjorkstrand, but the work in the middle six may not be finished. Shane Wright remains a name worth watching for New York as a young center who could fit a longer-term plan, especially with the club still looking for more punch and balance in its forward group after those additions.
Wright is still in Seattle, and the interest around him has not been limited to one team. The Kraken are believed to be listening, but the price attached to a deal is shaping up to be a major hurdle, which is why the Rangers have not been able to treat him as a simple fallback option. For a team trying to keep pace while also planning ahead, that kind of market can turn a promising target into a difficult one to land. [Read more 🡒]