The New York Rangers struggles this season have ben notable, which is why they were among the most prominent teams attempting to trade away players at the deadline. One of the reasons for their struggles is their bad luck on home ice.
Usually, playing in a historic venue in Madison Square Garden would motivate a team to win games. For the Rangers this season, MSG has been an area of bad luck. After Tuesday's loss to the Los Angeles Kings, the Rangers are 9-16-6 at home this season. Their regulation win at home over the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 5, that was their first since late November.
As if the Rangers' home struggles weren't bad enough, there is now a new, unique stat that will only sting further for Rangers fans.
The Athletic's Vince Mercogliano notes that with their loss to the Kings, this is now the fifth time this season in which the Rangers lost to a former player making their first return to Madison Square Garden on the visiting team.
Unless I'm forgetting someone, I believe the #NYR are 0-5 this season in games with former players returning to MSG for the first time. They've lost to Anaheim (Kreider and Trouba), Seattle (Kakko and Lindgren), Carolina (K. Miller), Islanders (Soucy) and now L.A. (Panarin).
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) March 17, 2026
Rangers keeping losing at home to former players making their return to Madison Square Garden
That is not a great statistic for Rangers fans to see. But it is a common theme — former Rangers players performing better on their new teams. The former players they have lost to in their first games back at MSG include Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba with the Anaheim Ducks, Kaapo Kakko and Ryan Lindgren with the Seattle Kraken, K'Andre Miller with the Carolina Hurricanes, Carson Soucy with the Islanders, and Panarin with the Kings.
Let's look at the results for each game and how many points former players scored.
- Dec. 15 vs. Ducks: Rangers lost 4-1 (Jacob Trouba recorded an assist, Chris Kreider didn't register a point)
- Jan. 12 vs. Kraken: Rangers lost 4-2 (Kaapo Kakko and Ryan Lindgren each recorded an assist)
- Jan. 29 vs. Islanders: Rangers lost 2-1 (Carson Soucy scored a goal)
- Feb. 5 vs. Hurricanes: Rangers lost 2-0 (K'Andre Miller didn't record a point)
- March 16 vs. Kings: Rangers lost 4-1 (Artemi Panarin recorded an assist)
So the only players who didn't record a point in their first games back were Kreider and Miller. Other than that, Trouba, Kakko, Lindgren, Soucy, and Panarin each recorded one point in their returns to MSG.
To make matters even worse. in those five games, the Rangers were outscored 16-5.
The Rangers can take solace in the fact that they have been playing better as of late, carrying a four-game winning streak heading into Tuesday's nights game (one of those games were at home). Since their return from the Olympic break, the Rangers have gone 7-3. Besides the lackluster performance on Tuesday against the Kings, they have been playing better.
The Rangers are far from done with their retool. Vincent Trocheck was floated at the trade deadline but ultimately decided to keep him after not getting an offer they deemed to be strong enough. There is also the possibility they could explore dealing other players, like Braden Schneider and potentially Adam Fox. If any of these players were to be traded to other teams in the offseason, their eventual return games will be circled on Rangers fans calendars. Based on recent history, it could very well be a loss with the former player recording a point at minimum.