The Rangers’ offense has been too up-and-down lately to ignore, and that’s why a familiar name has started to make sense as a possible fix. With Luke Glendening’s PTO news still fresh, the bigger question is whether New York should be looking beyond internal shuffling and aiming at a low-cost scorer who can help right away.
That brings Vladimir Tarasenko back into the picture.
Tarasenko is still unsigned after recently firing his agent, which has made his market look even stranger. He has two Stanley Cups to his name, and he has long carried the reputation of a player who can settle in quickly and put pucks in the net. If the right fit is out there, he may simply be waiting for it.
For the Rangers, that fit would be pretty easy to understand. They sit at 7-3-1, which makes them the strongest of Tarasenko’s former teams at the moment. If New York can’t make a move for a goaltender and has to ride with Garand and, once healthy, Korpisalo the rest of the way, then adding cheap offensive help starts to look a lot more appealing.
That need for depth has been on display as the injuries and lineup hiccups keep piling up. The Rangers have already had to deal with the usual wear and tear that can hit a roster over the course of a season, and they can’t afford to keep hoping the next internal adjustment solves everything. With a team that belongs in the contender conversation, the focus should be on winning now, not waiting around for development to catch up.
The latest example came in the 5-2 win over Anaheim, when Mika Zibanejad took a high-stick to the face and went down the tunnel for a bit. He came back and finished the game, but it was another reminder that things can change fast. Depth matters because these moments happen, and they happen often.
There is also the matter of who is producing and who is not. Alexis Lafrenière, Tye Kartye, Mika Zibanejad, and J.T.
Miller have all chipped in well this season, but the rest of the offense has been uneven enough to keep the issue alive. Pavel Dorofeyev’s recent move off the first power-play unit in favor of Gabe Perreault, done for accountability reasons, only underscores that point.
Tarasenko would not be the flashiest move, but that is kind of the point. He would give the Rangers a proven scorer without forcing them to pay premium price. Compared with players like Matt Rempe or Taylor Raddysh, he would be the more valuable offensive bet for this roster.
And while it may not be the most likely transaction, it is easy to see why fans would want it. A reunion with Tarasenko would deepen the forward group, strengthen the third line, and potentially push Eeli Tolvanen down to the fourth line over Raddysh. For a team trying to score more than it did last season, that kind of low-risk, high-reward move is exactly the sort of swing worth considering.
In Other News...
Rangers Suddenly Have A Tye Kartye Decision They Didn't Expect
Tye Kartye arrived in New York as a waiver claim from Seattle, the kind of low-risk pickup teams make to deepen a roster and see if a hard-working winger can carve out a niche. Instead, the undrafted left winger has quickly turned into much more than depth, earning trust with the Rangers for the way he competes, handles his defensive responsibilities and helps steady the kind of line that can tilt a game.
What makes the situation interesting is how quickly Kartye has moved from hopeful addition to someone the staff has to keep in a meaningful role. His fit with the clubs top offensive players has already changed the conversation around what the Rangers thought they were getting, and now the bigger question is whether this early stretch is a real sign of staying power or simply the latest surprise in a season that is still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]
Sean Durzi Solves One Rangers Need While Exposing Another
Sean Durzi has already given the Rangers what they hoped to get when they brought him in over the summer: a steadier blue line and a presence that seems to fit naturally in the room. The comparison to Vincent Trocheck is obvious enough for anyone around the team. Both are similar in build, both play with a similar edge, and both come with the kind of workmanlike reputation that tends to travel well in New York. Durzi has also brought a little of the same personality and energy that made Trocheck so useful to the Rangers beyond the stat sheet.
What the move has also done, though, is shine a brighter light on the other side of the ledger. Trochecks departure left a hole down the middle, and the Rangers are feeling the effects in their center depth as the season goes along. Durzis past injury history is part of the broader picture too, because the Rangers know the upside is real but the margin for error is thin when a player has had to battle through health issues before. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Hot Start Still Hasnt Solved One Bigger Problem
The Rangers strong start has done plenty to build optimism in New York, but it has not yet changed the way star players view the organization when bigger decisions come up. Dylan Larkin has reportedly widened his trade wishlist from three teams to 10, and the club on Broadway still is not on it, a reminder that early-season momentum does not automatically make a team a destination for elite talent.
The latest list apparently does include several familiar Eastern Conference names, with the Hurricanes, Devils and Capitals among the teams Larkin is open to. For the Rangers, that leaves a familiar kind of frustration: they can look like a contender on the ice and still find themselves on the outside when the leagues top names start narrowing their options. [Read more 🡒]