The Rangers’ European prospect pipeline is already giving up a mixed bag early in the 2026-27 season. One player is piling up minutes in the KHL, another has quickly settled back into the Slovak grind, a third just earned a return to Sweden’s second tier, and one young winger is still waiting on his first game because of an injury.
Tomáš Chrenko’s week was a test of stamina, and he answered it the way the Rangers would want. After back-to-back rookie games against Flyers prospects, the 18-year-old forward was on an early flight back to Slovakia Monday night. He landed early Tuesday morning, wanted to head straight to Nitra’s practice, and was sent home so he’d be fresh for that night’s game.
In an interview with Dennik Sport, Chrenko said, “I felt the fatigue quite a bit because I only arrived at eight in the morning. I went to play right away because I wanted to. I played well”.
That sort of eagerness fits the profile. Chrenko is now back with Nitra full-time, with his attention on the Slovak Extraliga and the Champions Hockey League. He is also expected to represent Slovakia at the 2027 World Junior Championship in December and January, where he made his mark a year ago with five goals and eight points in five games.
Last week, he logged heavy usage, averaging 18:22 of ice time in three games and ranking among Nitra’s top three in shots on goal. He picked up an assist Sunday, but Nitra dropped all three contests and has stumbled out of the gate.
Chrenko also came away from his brief North American stretch with a positive takeaway. Speaking about Rangers rookie camp and the Rookie Series against Philadelphia, he said, “I am glad I was there.
I was with Adam [Sýkora] nonstop. He helped me a lot and it was nice having a fellow Slovak with me.”
Nitra has two games coming up this week, starting Friday against Vlci Žilina and then Sunday against Banska Bystrica.
In Russia, Ivan Patrikhayev is beginning to carve out a real role with CSKA Moscow. The Rangers’ seventh-round pick is skating on the third pair for one of the KHL’s stronger teams, and Friday night brought his first point, an assist on a Nikolai Kovalenko goal. Kovalenko, of course, is the former Colorado Avalanche forward.
Patrikhayev played in two games over the past week, logged 24 minutes of ice time, and helped CSKA to two wins. That pushed the club to three victories in its last four games. He has appeared in four of CSKA’s seven games so far.
If he can hold down that third-pair spot at age 20, it would be a major step. He is the youngest defenseman on the roster, and he has already shown he understands the fight for ice time.
“Nobody is simply going to hand you a place in the lineup.”, he said in an interview with the KHL this past summer.
CSKA’s next stretch includes games against Admiral Vladivostok on Monday, Amur Khabarovsk on Wednesday and Lada Togliatti on Friday.
Mikkel Eriksen’s situation in Sweden remains a little more complicated, but there is now a clearer path to playing time. The Norwegian center prospect started the year with Färjestad BK, where the depth chart makes it hard to crack into meaningful SHL minutes. For now, he had been skating with the club’s u20 team in SuperElit, Sweden’s junior circuit.
Eriksen produced there, too, with three goals and five assists in six games. Over the weekend he added one assist, fired six shots on goal and finished plus-2 in two games. Still, the team’s firepower has been obvious, with four wins and a 28-11 scoring edge in those victories.
A loan move had been expected, and on Tuesday morning it became official: Mora IK announced Eriksen’s return. He is expected to play for Norway again at the World Juniors in December, with his country having retained a spot in the top division for the first time since 1989.
Mora has three games on the schedule this week: Wednesday against MoDo, Friday against Västerås and Sunday against AIK.
Rico Gredig is off to the cleanest start of the bunch. The 2024 sixth-round pick opened his third full season in Switzerland’s National League with EV Zug after spending six years with HC Davos. Zug has won both of its first two games, including a 6-2 result against Gredig’s former club.
The 21-year-old winger didn’t get on the scoresheet, but he did put seven shots on goal across those two games. His pace and forechecking were part of what helped Zug recover in key moments.
The only prospect in this group still sidelined is Samuel Jung. The 19-year-old winger from Czechia, who has played in Finland since he was 16, has not yet appeared for KalPa this season after taking an undisclosed injury on a hit from Leo Lööf a month ago. There is no timetable for his return.
In Other News...
Rangers Opener Brought One Bigger Concern Than The Final Score
The Rangers preseason opener ended with a 3-2 loss to the Devils, but the final score was only part of the concern. New Jersey got the winner late in the third period from Jack Hughes and controlled the shot count 31-18, while the Rangers spent much of the night trying to find their footing in a game that had the feel of an early test more than a finished product.
Adam Sykoras night ended early with a lower-body injury, and there was more unease afterward when Vincent Iorio was also being evaluated postgame. For a team still sorting out its depth and lineup options this time of year, those are the kinds of details that can matter more than a September result, especially with the season still weeks away and the injury picture not yet fully clear. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Suddenly Have A Goalie Decision They Can't Easily Dodge
Dylan Garand got the first long look of the preseason for the Rangers, and he made it count in the most basic way a young goalie can. He handled the entire opener against the Devils and stopped 28 shots in a 3-2 loss, giving the club a clean early look at a netminder it has been developing while the bigger roster decisions around him begin to sharpen.
Now the issue is no longer just about one preseason outing, but about how New York sorts out its goaltending depth behind Igor Shesterkin. The offseason addition of Joonas Korpisalo complicates the picture, and the Rangers have to decide whether Garand is ready to stay in the fold or whether the risk of putting him on waivers changes the math. Garand, for his part, is focused on controlling what he can and competing, while the organization keeps weighing the present against what it wants that position to look like going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Preseason Debut Puts New Faces Under Immediate Pressure
The Rangers are wasting no time giving their new-look roster a real test in preseason action against the Islanders, and the first lineup of the fall already says plenty about where the pressure points are. Top-six forwards are in the mix, the full defense group is dressed, and Igor Shesterkin is in goal, a clear sign the club wants a close look at how its regular pieces and newcomers fit together before the games start counting.
Several players will get their first crack in a Rangers sweater, including Pavel Dorofeyev, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen, while the rest of the lineup offers an early glimpse at how the coaching staff is sorting through combinations. There are still roster spots up for grabs, especially among the forwards, and the battle for those final openings is already underway with the preseason barely beginning. [Read more 🡒]