With training camp still about two months away, the Rangers’ summer overhaul has pushed plenty of names to the front of the conversation. Pavel Dorofeyev, Alberts Smits, Marcus Pettersson, Sean Durzi, Liam Greentree, Cole Beaudoin, Jacob Battaglia - there’s been no shortage of new pieces to dissect. Vincent Trocheck’s move to the Utah Mammoth on July 1 only added to the churn.
But in all that noise, a few Rangers have slipped into the background.
That doesn’t mean they’re irrelevant. It just means they’re no longer the center of the summer conversation. And for a team that has reshaped parts of its roster, these four players still have paths back into the picture.
Matt Rempe is the clearest example of how fast things can change. A year ago, he was everywhere, with his offseason work and push toward becoming a regular NHLer getting picked apart online.
This summer, the spotlight has moved elsewhere. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for the 6-foot-9 forward, who spent 2025-26 earning coach Mike Sullivan’s trust right away and held down a fourth-line role through the preseason and the first nine games of the regular season.
Rempe’s game was starting to show more layers. He used better skating, his size, and a commitment to being more than just an enforcer to make an impact, especially on the forecheck.
Then came the fight with Ryan Reaves of the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 23, the only one he had all season, and the thumb injury that followed. Surgery ended his momentum, and a second surgery later came after he looked like a shell of himself when he returned in mid-December.
If that second procedure gets him back on track, the Rangers could again have the aggressive bottom-six presence he was becoming. Even with Jaroslav Chmelar and Adam Sykora among the other fourth-line options, Rempe should get a real shot to reclaim his spot in camp.
Juuso Parssinen is in a different kind of fight. His 2025-26 season never really got off the ground.
He opened the year as an extra forward, but in the first five games he played, he still managed three points - two goals and an assist - which stood out given the Rangers’ scoring issues and his limited minutes. Still, Sullivan never seemed willing to give him much more than a bottom-six role, and by late November he was sent to Hartford.
In the AHL, injuries kept piling up, and he managed only 15 games there, finishing with seven points. After the Olympic break, he came back up for six March games, but again the ice time was sparse and the points never came.
He ended the season with three points in 20 NHL games. At 25, with experience at both center and wing and 157 NHL games on his resume, Parssinen has a chance to step into the 13th-forward role left behind by Jonny Brodzinski’s departure in free agency.
The key is whether the coaching staff trusts him enough to use him.
Scott Morrow’s stock has cooled too. Last year, he was ranked No. 2 in the Rangers organization.
Now, the picture is murkier. The right-shot defenseman came over from the Carolina Hurricanes in the K’Andre Miller trade last summer and fits the mold of the puck-moving, offense-first blue liner Sullivan said the Rangers needed.
On paper, that should have made him a clean fit.
In practice, he didn’t do enough to force the issue. Morrow played 29 games with the Rangers and finished with six assists, but he never really locked down a role.
Even when Adam Fox missed 27 games across two injury absences, Morrow wasn’t trusted to run the top power play, which is supposed to be his calling card. He also played 34 games in Hartford and put up 19 points, but that stint was mostly ordinary as well.
With Fox, Durzi, and Braden Schneider seemingly set on the right side, Morrow may be headed back to Hartford to start. Unless injury opens a door - or the Rangers do something unexpected with Schneider - his best chance is to make enough noise to force his way back into the long-term plan.
Urho Vaakanainen is another player who has quietly drifted from prominent to overlooked. Just nine months ago, he was in the Rangers’ Opening Night lineup after the team moved quickly the previous offseason to sign him to a two-year, $3.1 million contract. He stayed in the mix early, playing in the first seven games and 14 of the first 19 before losing his place in the top six on defense to rookie Matthew Robertson.
Vaakanainen finished with six assists in 34 games and averaged 13:51 of ice time. That usage tells the story.
He was useful, but not essential. Still, there’s a chance he can push back into a bottom-pair role if he has a strong camp.
The 27-year-old has a resume that includes being a first-round pick by the Boston Bruins in the 2017 NHL Draft, and he also helped Finland finish first at the 2026 IIHF World Championship. But the Rangers have added Pettersson on the left side, Robertson is still around, Smits is expected to get every chance to prove he belongs in the NHL at 18, and Drew Fortescue can’t be dismissed after his solid nine-game cameo to close out 2025-26.
That leaves Vaakanainen in a crowded race, even if he’s still a viable option.
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