Jaroslav Chmelař is ready to hunt for a permanent roster spot

The New York Rangers' 2025-26 season ended this week, and while the year featured plenty of frustrating moments that led to a 30th-place finish, fans should be encouraged by stories of success like Jaroslav Chmelař. Following the season finale, players meet with the media on breakup day, and the 6'4" winger made it clear that his 26-game audition was only the beginning.

"I'm as hungry as I've ever been," Chmelař told reporters during his exit interview. "I'm going to put a lot of things on my vision board in the summer and hopefully it will come true. I'm going to work my ass off to get here next year."

A big physical presence with developing offensive game

Chmelař is an interesting prospect that has never been known for his offense, but at 226 pounds, he plays with a level of pugnacity that the Rangers' bottom six has sorely lacked. While four goals and two assists in 26 games won't win him a Calder Trophy, those numbers carry significant weight when you consider his trajectory.

After posting 25 points in 46 games for Hartford earlier this year, he was already trending toward a career-best professional season before his March recall. To that point, his production in the AHL was better than anything he did in college, and his immediate production at the NHL level certainly turned some heads.

The important thing to acknowledge, however, is his 17.4% shooting percentage while averaging just 9:09 of ice time. While these small samples shouldn't be used to project his performance for next season, his limited underlying metrics suggest he is more than holding his own.

According to Evolving-Hockey, Chmelař logged 229 minutes at 5v5 with a 48.31 CF% and a massive 53.68 xGF%. Essentially, when Chmelař was on the ice, the Rangers possessed the puck and generated high-quality chances. The fact that his actual GF% (43.86) trailed his expected numbers is likely a byproduct of playing on a revolving-door fourth line with limited finishers.

The "Kid Line" blueprint

Alexis Lafrenière, Filip Chytil, and Kaapo Kakko once soared to great heights are a trio of youngsters that was affectionately known as the "Kid Line." It is possible that the Rangers have another one that could produce for the organization in a slightly different way. Late in the season, Mike Sullivan experimented with a trio featuring Adam Sýkora and Noah Laba alongside Chmelař, and the results were an infectious breath of fresh air. In their limited 55 minutes together at 5v5, the trio posted a 60 GF%, proving that their speed and spark can actually translate to the scoreboard.

What makes the trio fun to watch is the enthusiasm and energy they bring, specifically on the forecheck and tracking down loose pucks just how Sullivan wants his forwards to do so. In an offseason where Chris Drury and Sullivan have both emphasized the need for a "tenacious" bottom six, this homegrown trio offers a cost-effective and identity-defining solution that has already shown a potential in doing the job.

A vision board for 2026-27

Chmelař’s mention of a vision board might sound casual, but for a player who fought his way from a fifth-round pick to a legitimate NHL contributor, it signals a level of intentionality that the organization needs. With the Rangers heading into a summer of deep dives and roster reshuffling, Chmelař has done enough to be penciled in as a front-runner for a bottom-six role.

If Chmelař truly spends the summer "working his ass off" to improve his skating and finishing, the Rangers might just have found the physical identity they’ve been searching for since the start of the retool. The 2026-27 season will be about accountability, and if Chmelař has his way, his name will be the first one Drury sees when he looks at the depth chart this September.

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