The New York Rangers didn’t just get better this offseason - according to The Athletic’s latest expert ranking, they got better more than any other team in the Eastern Conference.
Dom Luszczyszyn ranked all 32 NHL teams by the change in Net Rating from their current roster to the group that finished the 2025-26 season, including deadline additions. On that scale, the Rangers landed at plus-26, which put them second leaguewide behind only the Nashville Predators at plus-27. The Washington Capitals, another Metropolitan Division club, checked in third at plus-23.
The biggest swing came from a roster makeover that changed both ends of the ice. New York moved on from Vincent Trocheck, a two-way center and a respected voice in the room, but Luszczyszyn said the loss is outweighed by what the Rangers brought in. The headliner was Pavel Dorofeyev, acquired in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights.
Dorofeyev arrives with real scoring punch. He put up 35 goals and then 37 goals over the past two seasons, and last year he buried 20 power-play goals for Vegas.
That kind of finishing should give an already dangerous man advantage another layer, while also helping at 5-on-5. The Rangers scored 153 goals at 5-on-5 last season, a total that tied the Seattle Kraken for 23rd in the league.
Oliver Bjorkstrand is another piece meant to raise the offense in the middle of the lineup. Luszczyszyn pointed out that the 31-year-old managed only 12 goals in 80 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2025-26, with just three coming at 5-on-5, but he also noted that Bjorkstrand had reached 20 goals in each of the previous four seasons.
He is expected to begin the season on a line with Dorofeyev and J.T. Miller, a spot that could help him bounce back.
For a lot of Rangers fans, though, the most obvious upgrade is on defense.
The trade that sent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth brought back Sean Durzi, a right-shot defenseman who can move the puck and run the second power-play unit. General manager Chris Drury also added Marcus Pettersson from the Vancouver Canucks. Mike Sullivan knows Pettersson well from their seven seasons together with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pettersson and Durzi are projected to make up the second pair behind Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov. That would push Braden Schneider and Matthew Robertson into smaller roles, or possibly make them trade candidates.
Drury also used the June 26-27 draft to add five defensemen, including first-round pick Alberts Smits, who was viewed as the most NHL-ready defenseman in the class. Smits signed Wednesday and could see action with the Rangers this season.
None of those upgrades came at a small cost. Dorofeyev cost New York first-round picks in 2026, at No. 26, and 2028, along with a third-round pick this year at No.
- Pettersson cost a top-10 protected first-round pick in 2030.
Still, Luszczyszyn argued the Rangers may have had to pay that kind of price. Igor Shesterkin is already 30 and has six seasons left on a contract with an average annual value of more than $11.5 million. Adam Fox is 28 and has three seasons remaining on his deal, which carries a $9.5 million AAV.
That’s the tension at the heart of the Rangers’ offseason: the future picks are gone, and the risk is real. But with Shesterkin and Fox still in their prime years, the front office chose to push hard now.
“There’s real blow-up potential given what the Rangers paid to make all that happen with several future firsts on the line,” he said. “But it’s a price the team probably had to pay with Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin on the roster; two elite players worth trying to contend with even if the odds of contention are slight.
“The Rangers did enough to get back in the playoff mix next season. Time will tell if they can go beyond that.”
In Other News...
These Former Rangers Defensemen Vanished Faster Than Fans Ever Expected
A few former Rangers defensemen once looked like the kind of prospect pipeline that could quietly pay off for years, only to disappear from the NHL picture far sooner than anyone around the team expected. Michael Sauer had the look of a steady blue-line piece before his career was derailed, while Yegor Rykov and Libor Hjek each arrived with enough intrigue to make their names worth tracking, even if the long-term fit never quite came together in New York.
Rykovs path back overseas after his lone North American season and Hjeks inability to lock down a permanent role both speak to how quickly defensemen can slide from promising depth to organizational afterthought. For the Rangers, it is a reminder that not every bet on size, pedigree or upside turns into a lasting NHL answer, and in each case the early promise ended with a lot more questions than the team ever got to answer. [Read more 🡒]
Vincent Trochecks Rangers Goodbye Just Hit Fans Right In The Heart
Vincent Trochecks exit from New York lands with extra weight because his Rangers chapter was about more than just production on the ice. Over four seasons, he became a central part of the lineup after signing a seven-year deal in 2022, and his impact stretched beyond the usual box score markers. The family settled in, the team leaned on him in big moments, and his time with the club came to feel like one of those stretches that leaves a real imprint on both sides.
Thats why the reflections from his family have resonated so strongly with fans, who saw not just a dependable center but a player whose life in New York became intertwined with the teams own recent run. Trochecks best season in a Rangers sweater came with an All-Star nod and a major role in a 55-win, 114-point campaign, the kind of year that deepens the connection between player and city. Now the organization and its supporters are left sorting through what his departure means, and how much of that era goes with him. [Read more 🡒]
Ducks Could Get Pulled Into An Unsettling Rangers Rumor
The Rangers are still working through the same offseason question that has hovered over them for weeks: how to add forward depth without boxing themselves in. Around the league, Columbus is sorting out its own restricted free agent business with Adam Fantilli, while New York keeps scanning the market for help through trades or signings, with names like Patrik Laine, Michael Bunting, Jonathan Drouin and Frank Vatrano all part of the conversation.
What makes the picture more interesting is the price range New York seems able to operate in, which points to a player who can fit in the middle of the lineup rather than a major splash. If the Rangers want to make that kind of move, they may have to clear room with waiver-eligible depth pieces, and that is where the rumor mill starts to widen beyond the obvious targets and into the kind of possibilities that can pull another team into the discussion. [Read more 🡒]