The New York Rangers have spent the offseason with a familiar kind of target in mind: a true difference-maker. According to Michael Rupp, the idea inside the organization was to position themselves for a big swing this summer, but the market never really gave them the opening they expected.
Rupp said the Rangers were aiming to go big, but the wave of marquee free agents many thought would hit the market never materialized the way they had hoped. A lot of the biggest names ended up staying with their current teams, and that left the class thinner than anticipated.
That has not changed the way the Rangers view the top of the board, though. Rupp said the team has “always had an eye on Connor McDavid” and has been monitoring that situation. The bigger picture, as he laid it out, is that New York knows it needs a dominant player - not just someone who helps on the ice, but someone who can also help attract others.
“I think that, I think we’re in a spot here where I think Chris Drury and management was looking towards this past summer, dating back when, it was supposed to be the big summer. I think they were trying to position themselves in a way to go big.
And whatever that meant, the big, big name players that were out there that we saw get absorbed by their current teams in a lot of situations. And, and it didn’t really make for a very lucrative free agency class this summer.
I also think that they have always had an eye on Connor McDavid in that situation and monitoring that.
So I think there’s probably a plan to do something big, it just hasn’t come to fruition up to this point. Because I think they realize you’ve got to have, not just for luring other players in to to play with them, like you just mentioned with, with Artemi Panarin, but they, they need to have a dominant guy like that.
So I think they’re always planning and maybe scheming for that. It just hasn’t really presented itself up to this point.
On the Penguins side, Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now noted in a mailbag that there has been no trade buzz this offseason around 39-year-old defenseman Erik Karlsson.
He also pointed out that even before the Penguins extended center Tommy Novak for years, a trade for Seattle Kraken center Shane Wright looked very unlikely. The Kraken were reportedly believed to have asked the Vancouver Canucks for Tom Willander or Zeev Buium in a Wright deal, and Kingerski said Pittsburgh does not have anything in that range. He added that if Seattle lowered its asking price or had interest in one of the Penguins’ veterans, the picture could change.
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Rangers Deadline Gamble Still Stings For One Brutal Reason
At the 2023 trade deadline, the Rangers went all-in on a push they believed could carry them deeper into the spring, adding Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola, Tyler Motte and Patrick Kane to load up a roster that already looked built to contend. The moves gave New York a burst of star power and added depth for the stretch run, and for a while it seemed like the kind of aggressive deadline swing that can define a season.
Instead, the payoff never arrived in the one place it mattered most. New Yorks strong finish still ended with a first-round loss to the Devils, and the fallout was immediate: Gerard Gallant was out after the series, and the deadline additions were gone by the next offseason. Thats the part that still cuts hardest for the Rangers, because the franchise paid the price for a win-now gamble without ever getting the playoff result it was chasing. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Still Have One Clear Roster Need Before Opening Night
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The timing matters because the Rangers are not alone in wanting to squeeze a little more out of the final stretch before camp breaks and rosters settle. Edmonton and Chicago are also looking at possible additions, while the Blackhawks will have to open without Connor Bedard after shoulder surgery, a blow to their scoring outlook. For the Rangers, the attention is still on finding the right fit rather than simply making a move for the sake of making one. [Read more 🡒]