The New York Rangers got the immediate help they needed in the Vincent Trocheck trade this summer when Sean Durzi arrived to bolster the blue line. But if you’re looking for the piece that could matter most over the long haul, the conversation keeps circling back to Cole Beaudoin.
Durzi is the known quantity. He’s 27, has already played 302 NHL games for the Mammoth, Arizona Coyotes, and Los Angeles Kings, and is expected to step right into New York’s second defense pair as a puck-moving partner for Marcus Pettersson. That part of the deal makes sense now.
Beaudoin is the swing for the fences.
The 20-year-old center has not played a professional game yet, and he’s heading into his first pro season after Utah moved up to take him with the No. 24 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. He’ll arrive at training camp in Westchester this fall, with most or all of his season likely coming in the American Hockey League with Hartford.
That’s why the present and the future are two very different conversations here. For now, Durzi is the more visible piece. But Sportsology’s Russ Cohen, who discusses prospects on Sirius/XM’s NHL Network Radio, thinks Beaudoin is the real prize.
“That’s the part of the deal that I like better,” Cohen told Forever Blueshirts on the Rink Rap podcast. “Durzi’s fine.
He’s fine as a puck mover, he’s a power-play 2 guy, but he’s not a big point guy (career-best 41 points in 2023-24). So, OK, you improve that part of it, and there’s something to be said about it, you have the puck and you’re moving up the ice, the other team doesn’t have it.
OK. But this is for Trocheck.
“So, I think on the prospect front is where they hit the home run. I think with Durzi, he fills in fine.
But does he transform that defense? No.”
Cohen isn’t calling Beaudoin a sure thing, but he clearly likes the package. At 6-foot-2 and 209 pounds, Beaudoin brings size, physicality, and the kind of 200-foot commitment teams love to project into a future NHL center. He also has some offense in him: 33 goals and 88 points in 54 games for Barrie of the OHL last season, plus seven points - three goals and four assists - in seven games for Canada at the 2026 World Junior Championship, where he helped win bronze.
The appeal goes beyond the numbers. Beaudoin’s game has the sort of grit and net-front presence that can translate even if he never becomes a flashy scorer. Around the league, plenty of people see him as a future third-line anchor, though there’s also a path where his work ethic pushes him into top-six territory.
“Beaudoin is actually a really good prospect,” Cohen explained. “He’s kind of Chris Kreider-light because he can live in the crease. He doesn’t have the hands Kreider has, he doesn’t have the speed Kreider has, but he can be a presence in front of the net.”
For the Rangers, the center part matters just as much as the player profile. The organization is thin at the position, and moving Trocheck creates another gap down the middle.
Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller are locked in as the top-six centers, both 33 years old.
Noah Laba impressed as a hard-working two-way center in his rookie season and is projected as the 3C, though Cohen views him more as a natural fit on the fourth line. Joe Veleno, the free-agent addition, is on the fourth line this season as well.
After that, the depth chart gets thin in a hurry. Juuso Parssinen has disappointed.
Justin Dowling is 35. In Hartford, the options include Brody Lamb, Dylan Roobroeck, and Carey Terrance.
Jacob Battaglia is another name to watch if he doesn’t move back to wing.
That’s the opening Beaudoin could eventually step into, even if it won’t happen right away. The Rangers are betting that his size, motor, and two-way habits can grow into something more meaningful over time.
The skating questions are part of the discussion, but Cohen doesn’t think they should define him.
“I think sometimes people get carried away with speed. I don’t think his skating is bad.
I don’t think it’s going to hold him back,” Cohen answered. “Would it hold him back if he was a top-six guy?
Maybe. But that’s not really what’s built into his DNA.
“His grittiness, and the fact that he’s a physical freak will help. I think you have to play to a player’s strengths.
You always can improve skating to some degree, and I think his straight-line will be OK. It’s the other parts [that stand out].”
Durzi comes with a clearer timeline and a $6 million salary-cap hit for at least two years before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2028. Beaudoin is the one who starts making his case now, with the Rangers hoping the future payoff is bigger than the immediate one.
Time will tell whether he really turns out to be the “home run” in the trade.
In Other News...
Rangers May Have Found The Young Defense Piece They Needed
Among the nine players the Rangers added in the 2026 NHL Draft, one of the more intriguing swings came on the blue line with Ben Macbeath, a Calgary Hitmen defenseman taken 64th overall. He arrived with the kind of profile teams like to circle on day two: a player several scouting outlets had rated higher, a strong 2025-26 season in junior, and a track record that included a turn with Team Canada at the U-18 World Juniors.
What makes Macbeath worth watching from here is how the Rangers view his upside relative to where he was available. He was coming off a productive season and had built a reputation as a mobile, puck-moving defenseman with a responsible two-way game, the sort of prospect who can potentially fill different roles as he climbs the ladder. If New York did indeed get him at a discount, the next step is seeing whether that draft-day value translates into a real piece for the future. [Read more 🡒]
Jackson Blake Is Starting To Feel Like A Hurricanes Core Piece
For the Rangers, the contract conversation always circles back to Adam Fox, because his deal has quietly become one of the more team-friendly ones on the roster. The defenseman is locked in long term at a high-end cap hit that still looks manageable for a player who drives so much of New Yorks blue-line play, and the difference when he is not available has been impossible to ignore.
That is part of why the broader league piece lands with Rangers fans, even though it is centered on Carolina and Jackson Blake. The Hurricanes winger is being cast as the kind of young player who can grow into a core piece while still giving a contender real value, and his playoff run only sharpened that impression. For a Rangers team trying to keep its own core intact and efficient, it is another reminder of how much the right contract can shape the margins. [Read more 🡒]