August has turned the NHL into a holding pattern, but the Rangers still have unfinished business. Braden Schneider’s future has grabbed most of the attention, yet the bigger question might be why Scott Morrow and Vincent Iorio still haven’t been re-signed. Outside of a major trade, those are the two remaining items on the summer checklist, and at some point the Rangers will have to decide where both defensemen fit going forward.
Iorio looks like the easier call. His time with the Rangers went poorly, and the biggest issue was skating, which doesn’t exactly line up with the kind of blue-line profile the team seems to want.
He was his third team in one season for a reason. He brings size, but not much else.
Even if handedness is ignored, Iorio doesn’t project as more than an 9D for this roster right now. The Rangers already have their current top six, including Schneider, along with Urho Vaakanainen at the NHL level. Morrow remains in the organization, Alberts Smits making the NHL isn’t guaranteed, and Drew Fortescue or William Trudeau could even get a look before Iorio does.
If handedness is taken into account, the path gets even tighter. Iorio would likely be fifth on the right side behind Adam Fox, Sean Durzi, Braden Schneider, Urho Vaakanainen, and Scott Morrow. That leaves no real urgency to bring him back beyond pure depth, especially if Schneider or Morrow are moved.
Morrow is the tougher case, and the Rangers’ handling of him has been strange. He got 29 games last season, but 28 of them came before the Artemi Panarin trade and the vibe shift that followed it and the Olympic break.
That timing matters. Morrow spent most of his run in the November-to-January stretch when the Rangers were barely showing up half the time, even if the team’s defensive play as a whole wasn’t falling apart.
That’s why the next step with Morrow should matter so much. The Rangers need to find out what he actually is on a team with better energy and a more mobile defense.
He is not Adam Fox, and nobody is pretending otherwise. But if he can move the puck well, the Rangers could pair him with a more defense-first partner like Vlad Gavrikov or Marcus Pettersson and create a much cleaner balance on the back end.
There is always the chance Morrow simply isn’t an NHL defenseman. That happens with prospects.
The problem is the Rangers still haven’t really given him a fair shot. Twenty-nine games in what the article describes as last year’s train wreck is not enough to make a final judgment, and it’s the kind of situation where a player can get buried before he ever gets a real chance.
That’s what makes the unsigned status so odd. Maybe it’s just the Rangers being the Rangers, since this has been their pattern for a while and bridge-deal RFAs often get pushed into September.
Maybe Chris Drury is waiting to see whether a Braden Schneider trade comes together before locking in Morrow for at least another season. Morrow shouldn’t be expensive, which only adds to the confusion.
At this point, Morrow feels like the priority, apart from whatever happens with Schneider. The Rangers need a direction with him.
They can move on before his trade value gets damaged, or they can give him a real opportunity in New York. Either route carries risk, but at least it would be a plan.
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The real question is who eventually claims it. Will Cuylle brings the edge of an established NHL player who already showed he can help, even if his work in the top six has been uneven at times, while Liam Greentree offers the kind of offensive upside and physical game that could force his way into the conversation sooner than expected. For the Rangers, the season may end up being one long audition for that role, with the winner determined by who proves most reliable as the year unfolds. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Just Made A Hartford Move Prospects Will Feel Fast
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Rangers Face A Brutal Question Heading Into 2026-27
The Rangers have spent the offseason trying to reshape a roster that has missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, adding Pavel Dorofeyev, Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson as part of the effort to get back on track. Even with those moves, the pressure still sits on the players already in place, especially Alexis Lafreniere and Gabe Perreault, whose next step matters just as much as any external addition if New York is going to look like a true contender again.
Injuries have already complicated the picture and remain part of the conversation as the club heads toward the 2026-27 season. The bigger issue is whether this group can finally sustain the kind of performance that has been too inconsistent over the last two years, because a quick return to the postseason will require more than a few upgrades and a healthier lineup. [Read more 🡒]