The center Rangers let slip away might be key to their 2025 success

The New York Rangers were one of the NHL's most active teams during the beginning of the free agency frenzy, and they even spiced things up by making a significant trade with a division rival. The signings already made would suggest the Rangers are done, but I can't help but think of a scene from the beginning of Ocean's Eleven. "Ten oughta do it, don't' you think? You think we need one more? You think we need one more. All right, we'll get one more." That one more is a free agent who the Rangers let slip away, and just had the type of season that would raise the overall floor of the 2025-26 squad.

That player is Jack Roslovic of the Carolina Hurricanes, and he offers the exact versatility the Rangers are looking for. He's a forward who can line up at center, he won 192 draws this season (54.1%), and is also comfortable on the wing. Roslovic scored 22 goals and added 17 assists for 39 points in 81 games, and he averaged 13:49 per night. It was his third-most successful season as a pro player, and he has the skillset that would take the Rangers' third line to another level.

As things stand, there are two options for the Rangers when it comes to their forward lineup for the upcoming season. One lineup involves Mika Zibanejad at right wing, and another has him at center. Here's what things could look like with the Rangers' alternate captain on the wing.

This lineup feels incomplete, and it is hinges on some youngsters like Brett Berard and Gabe Perreault to contribute right away, and also features a bottom-six with Parssinen and Carrick down the middle which doesn't inspire a ton of confidence. This lineup has Matt Rempe pencilled in as a possible 13th forward because he's no longer eligible to pass through waivers. Brennan Othmann was the odd man out in this configuration, but it just as easily could be him here instead of Beard.

Here's the next configuration with Zibanejad at center.

This configuration leaves the team a little deeper down the middle, since Trocheck moves down to line three, but the wing depth takes a hit. Lafrenière slides up to line one, Perreault gets a golden opportunity on line two, Raddysh slots in on line three, and Parssinen is assigned to the fourth line. It's still not an ideal mix, and just feels off.

Here's a hypothetical which would have more balance and put the team in a situation where they could better matchup with a team like the Florida Panthers than they do now.

In this configuration the Rangers run back a top line that skated 668 minute together at 5v5 last year and generated a 56.58 GF%, a 55.94 CF%, and a 51.99 xGF%. The second line skated 129 minutes together and generated a 49.33 GF%, a 54.44 CF%, and a 52.95 xGF%.

Line three would be center by Roslovic, a veteran 40-point center who can win faceoffs, score goals and setup his teammates, and he'd be the ideal pivot to try and help a pair of younger wingers looking to generate offense. The fourth line would include a duo of Edstrom and Carrick that skated together last season, and would feature a newcomer in Raddysh who was signed for the third line, but could be even more effective one line down.

If Roslovic were signed to a contract of $3 million for one season, going on the high end here to prove a point, the Rangers would have 21 skaters and $372,976 in cap space left. In this experiment their defense would include Vladislav Gavrikov and Adam Fox, Carson Soucy and Will Borgen, and Urho Vaakanainen and Braden Schneider on the third pair. Scott Morrow would start the season in the AHL under this example. If the Rangers were to find a taker for Soucy, they'd have more flexibility and could swap the defense pairings around differently.

This would also involve assigning Jonny Brodzinski and Parssinen to the AHL, and would put them at risk of being claimed on waivers, something they should be willing to consider. I recognize this isn't the most realistic projection, and the signing of Raddysh could be looked at as their last NHL move of the summer barring a surprise.

The best lineup is one where the Rangers have flexibility, and Roslovic's ability to play multiple positions is an asset for a team that doesn't quite know where they want Zibanejad to play for the entirety of the season.

At some point soon the Rangers will also need to get a better sense of how they want to go about rounding out the bottom of their roster, because as constructed they don't current matchup well against team likes Florida. Edstrom is a young forward developing, Carrick is a journeyman forward coming off a career year, and Rempe is still very raw as a player. There is time for them to develop, but the lineup they are likely to enter the 2025-26 season with is built on a bunch of if's and hopes.

If I were Chris Drury, I'd look at my roster and see where I can shed some salary, and which players have the least amount of potential going forward. Even if they don't add a player, it might be better to create opportunities for someone like Noah Laba ($870,000) try and make an impact this season. The hiring of Mike Sullivan was a good start, and he will spend this season evaluating what the roster is capable of. The sooner they identify and move on from weak links, the better off they will be, but right now they still feel a player short. Whether they add another one remains to be seen, but clearing the space for Roslovic is worth investigating.