The New York Rangers’ offseason looked busy enough to suggest a team trying to climb back into the picture. But the latest preseason power rankings aren’t buying the hype just yet.
In Bleacher Report’s newest list, veteran NHL analyst Lyle Richardson slotted the Rangers at No. 27 overall, putting them near the bottom of the league heading into the 2026-27 season. For a team that has already missed the playoffs in consecutive years, the ranking reflects what Richardson sees as a roster still carrying too many question marks.
The Rangers’ slide last season helped set that tone. New York was already buried in the Metro Division before trading Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings last February, shortly before the 2026 Olympic break.
At that point, the Rangers were sitting in last place in the division, eight points behind their Hudson River rivals in New Jersey. They were also in the middle of a four-game losing streak and had gone 2-8-0 over their previous 10 games.
Things only got worse from there. By season’s end, New York finished 10 points behind New Jersey and well outside the Eastern Conference wild card race. The final line told the story: 34-39-9, which ranked as the sixth-worst record in the NHL.
That’s a big part of why the preseason respect is limited. Power rankings are driven largely by what teams did on the ice last season, along with factors like weekly and monthly form, goaltending, injuries and other performance markers. On that front, the Rangers simply don’t have much of a case to be placed much higher after a season that left them stuck in the rebuild.
Still, the 27th spot does feel harsh when you look at how much the Rangers added. They were active in free agency, bringing in Oliver Bjorkstrand, Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson. They also landed Pavel Dorofeyev, the 37-goal scorer from the Vegas Golden Knights, in one of the summer trade deadline’s biggest moves as the replacement for Panarin.
The core is still there, too. Adam Fox remains one of the league’s top young defensemen, and Igor Shesterkin is now into the first full season of the eight-year, $92 million extension he signed last December. That deal made him the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history, and he’ll be asked to carry a huge load again at age 30.
There’s also a younger wave coming behind them. Fifth overall pick Alberts Smits is part of the mix, along with prospects EJ Emery and Nathan Aspinall, who had a standout season in the Ontario Hockey League.
Even with all of that, the Rangers are still going to have to prove it when the season opens. They’ll face some early tests right away, and if things go sideways quickly, this could turn into another long year for a team that reached the Eastern Conference Finals just three seasons ago.
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Rangers Have Elite Stars But This Ranking Raises A Bigger Roster Debate
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What makes the list more interesting for New York is the company those two keep further down the board. Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller were among the Rangers grouped into the Support tier, the kind of placement that underscores how much of the roster is built around excellent contributors rather than a long line of true drivers. For a team with championship expectations, that gap between star power and supporting cast is the part worth watching. [Read more 🡒]