The New York Rangers had a record of 34-39-9 for 77 points in 2025-26. That was bad enough to scrape the bottom of the Metropolitan Division, as well as nearly the rest of the National Hockey League. The last time the Blueshirts had seen this low of a point total as a team, besides the COVID-shortened and lockout seasons, was the 2017-18 season that kicked off the Letter 1.0 retool.
President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Chris Drury could feel the pressure this summer and made some calls to try to accelerate this retool 2.0. It is unclear yet if those decisions were the right move.
Pavel Dorofeyev, Marcus Pettersson, Sean Durzi, and Joonas Korpisalo will hopefully add a few more wins in 2026-27. Let us also not forget about the fifth-overall pick of the 2026 NHL Draft, Alberts Smits, patiently awaiting his turn. Gabe Perreault enters his second full season and is a likely candidate for that top line.
But how many more wins can it be, and what place will the Rangers end up at the end of the 84-game season?
Better, but still no playoffs
When the 2026-27 season opens up in a few weeks, the Rangers are going to look a lot better than they did last season. The new pieces will need a week or so to really adjust to their new environment, but overall, it should be an easy transition.
This upcoming season should see a much better run, but it is not as simple as that. The Rangers have one of the harder schedules in the NHL, and the Metropolitan Division got a bit better this offseason. The Washington Capitals, who were not a playoff team in 2025-26, were the biggest aggressor this offseason with additions of Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou.
With that said, the Rangers should beat out Columbus, and that is the only definitive answer thus far. The New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders will be neck and neck with the Rangers this season, and the hope is that the Blueshirts have an answer for both of them after struggling against them in 2025-26.
The Rangers should see an increase from 34 wins, and seeing 40+ is a nice goal to have. If that can be reached, a fifth- or sixth-place finish in the Metropolitan Division is what to expect from this group. Another active offseason and development of key prospects push a different narrative when trying to predict where this team ends up during the 2027-28 campaign.
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