The New York Rangers have to have a bounce-back year following last season's train wreck. It was a year of disappointment, and there is no one true person or thing to blame for why it went so sour.
With that said, there are three players who have to really step it up in 2025-26, or else it could be their last with this organization. They spoiled legendary broadcaster Sam Rosen's retirement tour, so the goal should be not to let the celebration of 100 years of Rangers hockey go to waste.
Artemi Panarin
The 2025-26 season is the final year of Artemi Panarin's seven-year deal that he signed when he came over from Columbus. Over that time, he has appeared in 430 games with the Blueshirts, scoring 186 goals and adding 364 assists for 550 points.
It is safe to say that up to this point, he has earned every penny of his $81.5 million contract, but there is still one more year remaining to prove how good of an investment he is.
Last season was one of the worst of his career, with a career-low in plus-minus with minus-9, which was the first time being in the negative. Additionally, he had a 31-point drop-off from the 2023-24 season, which was on par with the rest of this team.
It has been speculated that this was going to be the last go-around for Panarin and the Rangers, and if he cannot step it up in 2025-26, it absolutely should be his last with the Rangers.
Braden Schneider
The pairing of Braden Schneider and Zac Jones was supposed to be the second pairing of the future for the Rangers. With Jones already gone to Buffalo, it also might be time for Schenieder to put up or shut up in 2025-26.
It has been widely known that Schneider is trying to be an offensive threat from the blue line, and there have been flashes of that. But, the mistakes on the defensive side of his game have left many Rangers fans shaking their heads as to why he wasn't moved in the offseason, along with K'Andre Miller.
In 2025-26, in the final year of his two-year deal worth $2.2 million AAV, he has to have a career year or else face the music of possibly joining another team before the season ends.
Mika Zibanejad
Following Chris Kreider's exit from the Rangers, many wondered if his best friend, Mika Zibanejad, would also be joining him in Anaheim as a suitable fit. The offseason still rolls on, and the focus now is on the Rangers trying to fix this shaky relationship with the 32-year-old center.
The Rangers made some moves last season to secure another top-six center in J.T. Miller, pushing Zibanejad down the depth chart to the 3C behind Vinny Trocheck. In a more limited role, No. 93 is going to have a tougher time then usual to try and make a splash in 2025-26, but in order to continue on as a member of this team, he has to.
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