With the 2026-27 NHL season just a few weeks away, the latest preseason power rankings have been unveiled, and the New York Rangers are in a much lower spot than some may have predicted. Despite having a pretty busy offseason, there are still some who are quite down on the Blueshirts. With that said, let us take a look at where they've been ranked, and the factors contributing to that ranking.
Veteran NHL analyst isn't high on Rangers heading into season
Lyle Richardson has been covering the NHL for many years, and one of the places you can find his work is Bleacher Report. In his latest rankings, he was pretty down on the Rangers.
At No. 27 overall, Richardson puts them almost in the bottom five of the league, which does make a bit of sense after consecutive seasons of missing the playoffs. But how exactly did they nearly get put among the worst teams in the league? The answer is rather complicated.
Trading Artemi Panarin
Even before dealing the Breadman to the Los Angeles Kings last February, shortly before the 2026 Olympic break, the Rangers were already in a not-so-great spot, already well in last place in the Metro Division, a full eight points back from their Hudson River rivals in New Jersey. Not only that, but at that time the team was on a four game skid and held a record of 2-8-0 in their previous 10 contests to that date.
By the end of the regular season, New York would be another game behind New Jersey, 10 points behind and well out of even an Eastern Conference wild card playoff spot. Trading away Artemi Panarin was just the final nail in the coffin on a 34-39-9 season, and the Rangers had been eliminated from playoff contention well before that.
Their overall record at end of last season
The Rangers finished just outside the top five worst teams in the NHL last season with that 34-39-9 record, which was, in fact, the sixth worst in the league standings. Being still well and truly stuck in their rebuild doesn't exactly equal a reasonably high power ranking for the upcoming season, as such rankings are generally determined mainly by on-ice performance, among other statistics such as weekly and monthly records, goaltending performance, any major injuries, and more.
A lot of factors rank each of the 32 NHL teams all the way, and considering the Rangers had several holes in those individual statistics, it's not completely inaccurate to place them near the basement. Another thing to consider was how aggressive the Rangers were during this year's draft, trading away three first round picks' worth to have a higher selection this year. We'll see how well it goes this season, but if 2026-27 is another letdown, the Rangers won't be as fortunate to land another top 10 pick like they did this summer, unless they make some serious trades next March.
But why might you think 27th is super low for this team? They also made several headlines during free agency, picking up key pieces like Oliver Bjorkstrand, Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson. And let's not forget they managed to land one of the best left wingers in the game to replace Panarin: Pavel Dorofeyev, the 37-goal-scoring machine from the Vegas Golden Knights, in one of the summer trade deadline's biggest moves.
Not to mention the Rangers also still retained Adam Fox, one of the game's best young defensemen, and at goaltender Igor Shesterkin, they have a player who just started an eight year, $92 million extension he signed last December. This upcoming season will be the first full season he's playing on the highest-paying goaltender contract in NHL history. Hopefully it connects for the now 30-year-old netminder.
And we haven't even gotten to the Rangers' improved youth core, which features players looking to make it big at The Garden. fifth overall pick, Alberts Smits, alongside prospects EJ Emery and Nathan Aspinall, a standout from the Ontario Hockey League last season, are also in the queue to maybe one day make their NHL debuts.
All of this still means the Rangers will have to be as aggressive as they were in the summer when the start of the season rolls around. A few key matchups early on gives the team a bit of an early test, and if the wheels come loose early, it might be another long campaign for a team that made the Eastern Conference Finals just three seasons ago.
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