The New York Rangers face more than their fair share of pressure to upgrade wherever they can. This offseason, President and GM Chris Drury has managed to pull off a retool on the fly. The additions to the blue line and the forward group could pay off in droves.
And that’s precisely why the Rangers are better standing pat for now.
Yes, there’s an argument for bold moves. If someone like Connor McDavid were to suddenly become available, it would behoove the Rangers to look into it.
But that’s a bit of wishful thinking.
The bottom line is that the Rangers have no business making huge splashes right now until they’re sure of what they’ve got.
There’s no real gauge of how the offseason moves have worked out at the moment. Pavel Dorofeyev is a bit of a wild card. Meanwhile, Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi look good on paper, but are not yet a certainty.
That’s why making bold moves, as tempting as they may be, just don’t make sense at this point for the Rangers. Standing pat right now is akin to a poker player with a great hand. Sometimes, it’s just better to trust the other players don’t have the same cards.
Rangers need to evaluate their current roster
The Rangers are nearing the perfect time to evaluate their current roster. Training camp offers a unique opportunity to determine which players will fit into the team and which ones might not.
From there, the club can make much more informed decisions about the path forward.
That thought may seem like an evident no-brainer. Unfortunately, plenty of GMs commit one cardinal sin: They speculate about what they have without really knowing what’s what.
Making lineups on paper is easy. But actually putting a team together on the ice is another ballgame.
That’s why you hear that some teams win the offseason, but fail during the actual season.
Drury and the Rangers are betting that won’t be the case in 2026-27. If anything, the bet will be that the team can coalesce under Mike Sullivan’s tutelage.
What happens if Blueshirts struggle?
All right, so there’s a very real possibility that the Rangers could still struggle despite the notable offseason changes.
If that’s the case, then the conversation regarding potential changes should kick up. Once the season has begun and there has been a sufficiently long sample size, Drury can go ahead and figure out the next moves.
Otherwise, why make changes for the sake it?
Once the organization is clear on which pieces could use changing, the Rangers would be in an ideal spot to make the best possible changes.
As for what those changes could be, it’s tough to fathom that at this point. What is clear is that this team deserves a chance to show what it can do. And once it does, it will be clear whether the Rangers have the legs to make the postseason in 2026-27.
Ultimately, the worst thing the organization could do is delay decisions. But that’s a discussion for another day.
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