The bar for the Rangers is not exactly high heading into 2026-27. After finishing last in the Eastern Conference a year ago, simply climbing out of the cellar would count as progress.
That does not make them a playoff lock, and it sure does not make them a Stanley Cup contender. But with a busier offseason, a healthier roster and a deeper group of young players, the Rangers look more like a middle-of-the-pack team than a repeat basement dweller.
A healthier season would be a big part of that. Last year’s collapse got even worse when Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox were injured in the same game on Jan.
- The Rangers won just two of 13 games without those two in the lineup, and whatever slim hope they had of making a push went out the window.
As former Rangers coach Michel Bergeron was fond of saying, Tout finis.
The roster also looks different now. Pavel Dorofeyev joins the mix as a sharpshooter, Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson reshape the second defense pair, and the prospect pipeline is stronger, led by 2026 No. 5 overall pick Alberts Smits. Even with the July 1 trade of Vincent Trocheck, the Rangers still have enough pieces to avoid being the East’s worst team again.
Trocheck’s departure matters. The Rangers will miss his versatility at center, and replacing that production is part of the challenge next season. But the bigger picture still points to a team that should be better than it was a year ago.
Of course, the Rangers cannot do it alone. Escaping the bottom means not just improving their own play, but also getting some help from the rest of the conference. At least one other team has to slide.
Toronto and Florida are the obvious clubs to watch. The Maple Leafs finished one point ahead of the Rangers despite a minus-46 goal differential, and they were held back by Auston Matthews’ rough season. Even so, Toronto revamped its roster and is expected to be better.
Florida, meanwhile, was hammered by injuries in 2025-26 after winning two straight Stanley Cup championships and reaching the Cup Final three years in a row. The Panthers lost more than 500 man-games to injury, including a season-long absence from captain Aleksander Barkov. Now healthy, rested and with Brady Tkachuk added, they are again among the favorites.
If Toronto and Florida stay ahead of the Rangers, then the teams most likely to fall are the ones that looked shaky last season: Detroit, Boston, Ottawa and maybe the Islanders. Boston was a 100-point playoff team, so a last-place finish feels unlikely, but some regression is possible.
Detroit, though, looks especially unstable. Dylan Larkin has asked for a trade, and the club still does not have a general manager after Steve Yzerman’s uninspiring run. Columbus has its own issues, with Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko making it known they do not want to remain long term with the Blue Jackets.
The Islanders also have warning signs. They seem like an aging team that is fading, even with a decent prospect pool, 19-year-old wonderkid Matthew Schaefer in his second NHL season, and Ilya Sorokin still playing at an elite level.
Ottawa is another team to monitor, especially if Brady Tkachuk is absent and Drake Batherson does not land a long-term contract before the season begins.
So the Rangers still need to earn it, and they still need some things to break their way. But after everything that happened last season, finishing last in the Eastern Conference again should not be the expectation.
In Other News...
Tye Kartye Is Giving The Rangers A Real Bottom Six Debate
Tye Kartye arrived in New York as a waiver pickup from Seattle and quickly made himself part of the conversation in the bottom six. Since joining the Rangers, he has brought some needed energy and versatility, giving the staff another forward who can chip in offensively while also taking shifts on the penalty kill.
Kartyes early run has been enough to raise a real lineup question for the stretch ahead, especially for a club always looking to balance production with trust in its depth pieces. Whether that turns into a longer-term role or something more, his presence has added a layer of competition the Rangers could use as they sort out what their forward group looks like next. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Face A Harsh Reality About Their Cup Ceiling Down The Middle
The latest NHL Network center rankings offered a blunt reminder of where the Rangers stand down the middle. In a league that still leans heavily on elite pivot play, New York did not place a center among the top 10 or even the top 20, a sobering snapshot for a team that has spent recent seasons trying to build a contender around veteran talent and high-end skill.
Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller remain important pieces, but the bigger point is harder to ignore: the Rangers do not currently have the kind of top-line center who changes the shape of a Cup race. If they are going to raise their ceiling, the path probably runs through a major upgrade, the sort of pursuit that would at least put names like Jack Hughes, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid on the wishlist, even if most of those ideas live more in fantasy than realistic roster planning. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Fans Already Split On How Fast Alberts Smits Should Arrive
The Rangers first-round decision on Alberts Smits has already spilled into the fan base, and it is easy to see why. Taken fifth overall in the recent draft, the defenseman arrives with a reputation that has many scouts viewing him as NHL-ready, but Chris Drury has made it clear the organization does not plan to force the issue if it does not need to.
That caution is showing up in how supporters are thinking about the opening night blue line. A fan poll leaned heavily toward Matthew Robertson as the safer sixth defenseman choice, with Smits emerging as the next option behind him, a sign that even with all the buzz around the new pick, plenty of Rangers fans would rather see a slower rollout than a quick leap into a full-time role. [Read more 🡒]