The Rangers’ roster picture beyond 2026-27 is starting to take shape, and the biggest takeaway is simple: the defense looks far more settled than the forward group.
New York’s 2027-28 outlook currently includes only 11 sure NHL players under contract, with those deals carrying a combined cap hit of $78.593 million. If the cap rises to the projected $113.5 million that season, the Rangers would have about $34.9 million to work with. That sounds healthy on paper, but it can disappear fast once half a roster still needs to be built.
Up front, the uncertainty is the real story. The Rangers have just four NHL forwards locked in beyond this season: Pavel Dorofeyev, Mika Zibanejad, J.T.
Miller and Alexis Lafrenière. All four are expected to matter in the top six, and each is signed for at least four more years.
But Zibanejad and Miller will both be 34 by the end of 2026-27, which makes finding a future No. 1 center one of the organization’s biggest tasks.
That challenge sits squarely in Team President Chris Drury’s lap, and it comes with a lot of moving parts. The Rangers will need some young players to grab jobs on entry-level deals, with Nathan Aspinall, Cole Beaudoin and Liam Greentree among the names to watch. At least a few of them need to become real lineup pieces by 2027-28 for the math to work.
Next summer will also bring a stack of restricted free agents. The headliners are Will Cuylle, Noah Laba and Gabe Perreault, all of whom finished last season in the top nine.
Their next contracts are hard to forecast if Drury waits too long, which is why an early extension push makes sense. Perreault is the one who stands out most here; if there’s a chance to get ahead on a deal, the Rangers should take it.
Of course, Perreault and agent Pat Brisson also know that patience could pay off if the 21-year-old winger puts up the kind of points he’s capable of this season.
There are more RFAs lurking lower on the depth chart, too. Jaroslav Chmelař, Tye Kartye and Adam Sýkora should come cheaper to keep, but they’re still headed toward RFA status and still add to the pile of decisions New York must sort through.
The UFA picture is cleaner. The only current NHL forwards on expiring deals are Oliver Bjorkstrand, Taylor Raddysh and Joe Veleno, and any of them could be moved before they ever reach free agency.
If New York looks outside the organization, the market should have no shortage of firepower on the wing. Alex DeBrincat, Jason Robertson and reigning Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov headline that group.
The center pool is much thinner, with Kirby Dach, Barrett Hayton and Casey Mittelstadt among the names to watch. That’s assuming a 40-year-old Sidney Crosby isn’t leaving Pittsburgh.
On defense, the situation is much more comfortable. Five-sixths of the blue line is already accounted for, led by Adam Fox, Vladislav Gavrikov, Sean Durzi, Marcus Pettersson and Alberts Šmits.
Fox carries a $9.5 million cap hit, followed by Gavrikov at $7 million, Durzi at $6 million, Pettersson at $5.5 million and Šmits at $1.075 million. The Rangers are excited about the stability that group gives them, especially with a new top four in place. Durzi is under contract through 2028, and Fox through 2029, so that core can stay together for a while.
Šmits is expected to be part of the picture for much longer, too. The No. 5 pick in the 2026 draft may arrive even sooner than 2027-28.
The one defender who could change the equation is Braden Schneider. The Rangers’ choice to keep his recent extension to just one year at $5.5 million said plenty.
They still like him and value him as a person, but they also seem to understand that a long-term deal may not make sense for a defenseman who is now No. 6 on the depth chart. Schneider turns 25 next month, and it’s tough to see how the Rangers would fit him in when they also have RFAs to pay and a continuing search for more offense up front.
Schneider is now heading into what amounts to his final RFA summer, which could serve as a deadline of sorts. A trade for forward help remains a logical possibility, especially with the organization adding a new wave of defensemen to the pipeline.
In goal, the biggest money belongs to Igor Shesterkin, as it should. He remains the backbone of the team and the player the Rangers will ride as far as he can take them.
The 30-year-old has seven years left on the contract that once looked massive, but should become easier to live with every season. His cap percentage is projected to fall to about 9.4 percent in 2028-29, when the ceiling is expected to be close to $123 million, and keep dropping after that.
The other goaltending angle is more about savings than drama. New York could trim a bit by moving on from Joonas Korpisalo and turning to Dylan Garand, who is younger, cheaper and under contract through 2027-28 at an $875,000 cap hit. Beyond that, there isn’t much else to untangle in net.
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