The Rangers didn’t make a seven-year, $77 million commitment to Pavel Dorofeyev just to hope for the best. That kind of investment comes with a clear expectation: the 25-year-old has to keep climbing, push past his career highs and turn into a 40-goal scorer.
But talent alone won’t get him there. Dorofeyev needs the right setup around him, and the biggest piece of that puzzle is a center who can create for him. Without that kind of playmaking support, the fit gets a lot trickier.
For a while, it looked as if Vincent Trocheck might be part of that answer. Instead, he was traded to the Utah Mammoth, leaving Mika Zibanejad as the most likely option to skate alongside Dorofeyev.
Zibanejad is still a strong candidate, but the Rangers need the 33-year-old to get back to the level that once made him a top-line center. If he and Dorofeyev don’t click, Chris Drury is going to have a problem on his hands.
At that point, the Rangers would probably have to chase a playmaking center, and that’s easier said than done. They’d be competing with almost everyone else in the league, because just about every NHL team is looking for a top-six center who can drive offense.
If that search comes up empty, New York may have to get creative elsewhere.
One possible answer is to put a capable winger on Dorofeyev’s line. A winger with some imagination could help manufacture the kind of chances Dorofeyev had in Vegas with Jack Eichel. That connection matters, because Dorofeyev’s best work came with Eichel feeding him looks.
Eichel isn’t walking through the door in New York, no matter how much Rangers fans might wish otherwise. That reality raises the risk of a dip in Dorofeyev’s production if the club can’t find the right partner for him.
So the pressure is on to sort out the fit before the season gets rolling. Mike Sullivan is expected to test plenty of combinations at training camp this fall, and if one of them clicks, the Rangers will have solved a major early headache.
In Other News...
Rangers Suddenly Have A Goalie Problem Fans Were Not Expecting
The Rangers added another wrinkle to their goaltending picture on July 1, bringing in veteran Joonas Korpisalo from the Bruins as they continue sorting out life behind Igor Shesterkin. It is the kind of move that looks straightforward on paper, since Korpisalo arrives with two years left on his deal and is expected to enter the mix for the backup job, but it also changes the way the team has to think about its depth chart and roster construction.
Dylan Garand suddenly finds himself in a tougher spot, because the Rangers now have a more crowded path to the role he had been chasing. And with both Garand and Korpisalo needing waivers before any assignment to Hartford, the team may have to carry extra goaltending insurance longer than planned before the situation settles into something cleaner. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Fans Have Seen This Ruthless Offer Sheet Movie Before
The latest offer-sheet drama around Leo Carlsson has a familiar ring for Rangers fans, because this kind of aggressive move has been part of the leagues playbook before. The Flyers took a big swing, and Anaheim answered by matching, turning what looked like a bold outside bid into a costly retention decision for the Ducks and another reminder that these deals are as much about leverage and structure as they are about talent.
For New York, the comparison inevitably drifts back to the 1997 Joe Sakic episode, when the Rangers tried to use the same ruthless tactic to pry away a star. The names and numbers change, but the lesson is the same: an offer sheet can force a contender to make an uncomfortable financial choice, and it can leave the team making the bid staring at the risk of having spent all that effort for nothing. [Read more 🡒]