Carson Soucy's days as a New York Ranger are numbered, and he's being held out of tonight's game against the Boston Bruins.
Chris Drury recently announced to fans in the Letter 2.0 that a retool is coming, and Soucy looks to be the first domino to fall as the Rangers look toward the future.
Rangers scratch Soucy as they work to finalize trade
The Rangers are currently trying to finalize a trade with the New York Islanders, first reported by Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic, and therefore he will not be available at all on Monday. The Rangers have since assigned Anton Blidh to Hartford and recalled Connor Mackey, and Mackey will draw in in the event someone is sick or gets injured in warmups.
UPDATE: Connor Mackey has been recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack and Anton Blidh has been assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack.
— NY Rangers PR (@NYR_PR) January 26, 2026
Soucy trade would be first of several moves to be made
The Rangers acquired Soucy last season around the deadline to bolster the defense with a veteran presence, and it appears he's being acquired by the Islanders to serve a similar purpose. Soucy joined the Rangers from the Vancouver Canucks, and it made sense to start with him considering he's a pending free agent that wasn't going to be brought back.
Once Soucy's deal is finalized, the Rangers will need to shift their focus to players of consequence. There remain tons of rumors for players such as Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Braden Schneider, and Alexis Lafrenière among others.
Some of the above will be moved, others will remain, and there's a chance that players fans aren't even thinking about could be shown the door as the Rangers waive the white flag on this season in the hopes they can come back stronger next year.
Rangers don't have much time left
The Rangers will faceoff against the Boston Bruins tonight at Madison Square Garden, and after that there will be four more games until the Olympic break. Ideally the Rangers will get most of their business done before the break, as they don't want to risk losing a player to injury during the Olympics and then be in a position in which they can't trade them.
These final games before the break could be quite important, as it will be an opportunity for other teams to evaluate how some of the players on the roster are performing, and whether or not they are worth acquiring. This is more the case for fringe players such as Taylor Raddysh, and less so about Panarin and Trocheck. In any case, the beginning of the retool is almost here, and hopefully Chris Drury is able to maximize returns he gets on players being jettisoned from the roster.