The Rangers have built their roster around paying the right people, and that’s why a few of their biggest contracts already look like real value. With the salary cap climbing and the team leaning on stars up top while filling out the rest of the lineup with cheaper pieces, New York is in a better spot than it has been in the past.
At the top of the list is Adam Fox, and it’s not hard to see why. His seven-year deal carries a $9.5 million cap hit, and he’s in Year 5 of it now.
Fox missed significant time last season because of two separate injuries and was limited to 55 games, but he still put up nine goals and 53 points. More important than the box score, though, is everything he does that doesn’t always show up there.
He remains the Rangers’ best defenseman on both sides of the puck, and his hockey IQ drives the way he exits the zone and creates offense. Even with the criticism he’s taken over the past two seasons, the impact was obvious when he wasn’t on the ice.
Vladislav Gavrikov comes next, and his contract may already be one of the cleaner bargains in the league. The Rangers signed him last offseason for seven years at $7 million per season, and many expected a bigger number, especially after Ivan Provorov landed $8.5 million annually for seven years with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Gavrikov was brought in to be a top-pairing left-shot defenseman and a shutdown presence, but he gave New York more offense than anyone probably projected. He had never scored more than six goals or totaled more than 33 points in a season before last year, then went out and posted 14 goals and 35 points in 82 games.
He did that without spending much of the year beside his expected defensive partner, who was injured for a good portion of the season.
Alexis Lafreniere rounds out the group at No. 3, and his deal could end up looking a whole lot better if last season was the start of a real jump. The first overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft has not fully matched the expectations that came with that selection, but he’s now in Year 2 of a seven-year contract that pays him $7.45 million annually.
Through 462 career games, he has 116 goals and 250 points. That’s not the kind of line you want from a player taken first overall, but his early development was affected by being used by three different coaches.
Last season, though, he took a clear step forward. In 82 games, he scored 24 goals and had 57 points, matching his career high.
Once Artemi Panarin was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, Lafreniere became one of the team’s most dangerous offensive players, getting top-line minutes and first-unit power-play time on a regular basis. He clicked with Mika Zibanejad and Gabe Perreault, and that line looked like one of the league’s best in the second half of the season.
The Rangers are trying to bounce back in 2026-27, and these three contracts sit right at the center of that push. If Fox, Gavrikov and Lafreniere perform at the level New York needs, the deals will look even better as the cap rises. If they don’t, the Rangers could slide right back into trouble.
In Other News...
Tom Wilson Set The Rangers On A Path Fans Still Hate
The memory of May 3, 2021 still hangs over the Rangers, because the fallout from that night did not stop with one chaotic game against Washington. Artemi Panarin was injured in the aftermath, and the organizations frustration spilled into the open when owner James Dolan publicly blasted the NHLs Department of Player Safety. What followed was more than a reaction to a single incident. It became a signal that the Rangers were ready to rethink how they wanted to look and play.
Chris Drurys rise to general manager and team president came in the same stretch of change, and the roster soon reflected a harder edge. New York brought in players such as Ryan Reaves and Sammy Blais, moves that fit the mood of a team trying to answer a bruising moment with more muscle. Even now, the sequence still matters because it helped set the tone for a franchise that was no longer willing to treat that kind of night as just another bad break. [Read more 🡒]
Why The Rangers May Be Better Off Without Panarin
The Rangers have spent much of this stretch trying to sharpen their roster around younger, cheaper pieces, and Artemi Panarins departure fits neatly into that plan. Moving on from a high-priced veteran gives the front office more room to keep building, while also preserving the flexibility it needs as the next wave of roster decisions comes due.
That matters because the club is already looking ahead to a cluster of restricted free agents who will need new contracts after next season. For a team trying to stay competitive without boxing itself into long-term salary constraints, letting Panarin walk was less about a single player and more about protecting the path forward. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Could Be Losing Ground On A Young Trade Target
The Rangers have already added Pavel Dorofeyev and Oliver Bjorkstrand, but the work in the middle six may not be finished. Shane Wright remains a name worth watching for New York as a young center who could fit a longer-term plan, especially with the club still looking for more punch and balance in its forward group after those additions.
Wright is still in Seattle, and the interest around him has not been limited to one team. The Kraken are believed to be listening, but the price attached to a deal is shaping up to be a major hurdle, which is why the Rangers have not been able to treat him as a simple fallback option. For a team trying to keep pace while also planning ahead, that kind of market can turn a promising target into a difficult one to land. [Read more 🡒]