The New York Rangers have had a very busy offseason to date between hiring a new coach, making impactful trades and signing new players in NHL free agency. Most of the team's business is done, and now begins a time of speculation in which fans try and put together the pieces of the puzzle. Mike Sullivan is rejoining the organization and likely has ideas of his own, but he also may try and evaluate some tried and true combinations. With that said, here's the current state of the depth chart as of July 5, 2025.
Left Wing
- Artemi Panarin
- Will Cuylle
- Brett Berard/Brennan Othmann
- Adam Edstrom
Panarin has led the team in scoring every season he's been part of the New York Rangers, and he remains the team's most important offensive player. He is in the final year of a seven-year contract inked in the summer of 2019, and enters the season looking to prove that his dip in 2024-25 was just a blip on the radar.
Cuylle just signed a two-year extension that counts $3.9 million against the salary cap for the next two seasons, and is fresh of a breakout season in which he scored 20 goals and tallied 45 points. The Blueshirts believe in his upside and feel that he's a budding power forward who can one day live up to the Tom Wilson comparisons from draft day, but it is possible that he's got more skill in his game than the Washington Capitals' villain.
This spot is up for grabs, and was occupied at times by Brett Berard and Brennan Othmann down the stretch. Both should get an opportunity to earn this job in training camp, and the Rangers need to be able to get some production out of a player on an entry-level contract. They are going to be pretty close up against the salary cap, and if they can have one of these youngsters flirt with 40 or so points, that would be a development win.
Edstrom is another forward who signed a contract extension recently, and is a work in progress for the Rangers. He's a behemoth of a man, and has more polish this game than Matt Rempe. He has shown some spurts of brilliance offensively, and he skates pretty well for a man of his stature. If the Rangers want to compete with teams such as the Florida Panthers, having a big and skilled forward on a minimal contract like Edstrom would go a long way.
Center
- J.T. Miller
- Vincent Trocheck
- Juuso Parssinen
- Sam Carrick
The Blueshirts re-acquired their 2011 first-round draft pick back in January, and hope to enjoy the development of his game that flourished after he was jettisoned from the organization. Miller appeared in 32 games with the Blueshirts last season and posted a line of 13-22-35 which matched his output with the Vancouver Canucks in eight fewer games played.
Trocheck was sensational for the Rangers during his first two seasons on Broadway as he put up 64 and 77-point campaigns skating 19:19 and 21:27 a night respectively. Last season was a down year in which he finished with 26 goals and 59 points in 82 games played. The hope is that his drop in assists was a byproduct of the team scoring fewer goals and just being in a funk for a good portion of the season. Him bouncing back would be huge for the Rangers.
Parssinen was acquired around the trade deadline and appeared in 11 games in which he scored 2 goals and added 3 assists for 5 points. This was an improvement from the 6 points in 22 games he tallied with Colorado, and the 5 points in 15 games he had with Nashville. It is possible the Rangers see something more to his game, but he remains a weak link in the lineup.
Carrick finds himself here because that's where the Rangers played him last season. He was sensational for the team finishing with a line of 6-14-20 in 80 games which was a career year for the Markham, Ontario native. He has two years left on his contract at $1 million per season and has been a bargain so far for the Blueshirts.
Right Wing
- Mika Zibanejad
- Alexis Lafrenière
- Gabe Perreault
- Taylor Raddysh
Zibanejad ended last season with just 26 goals and 72 points in 81 games, and the hope was it was a slight blip in the road, and not the beginning of a decline from a player entering his 30s. For most of this season the dip continued, his overall game struggled, and fans were rightfully frustrated. Zibanejad struggled for most of the year, but adapted nicely to a position change following the acquisition of J.T. Miller, and ended the season strongly with 33 points in his final 32 games. If that continues next season, the Rangers will be in great shape.
Lafrenière finished with a line of 17-28-45 in 82 games which was a decline of 11 goals and 12 points from his breakout 2023-24 campaign. From a deployment standpoint, Lafrenière started out in the top-six again with Trocheck and Panarin. The line logged 668 minutes together at 5v5 and it had a collective slash line which included a 56.58 goals for percentage, a 55.94 Corsi for percentage, and a 51.99 expected goals for percentage per Evolving-Hockey. Lafrenière clearly knows what he is supposed to do, and during the 2023-24 playoffs he was one of the Rangers' best players when he scored 8 goals and added 6 assists for 14 points in 16 games. The hope is a summer of rest and a new voice in Sullivan will help him get back on track.
Perreault joined the Rangers for five games after concluding his NCAA career at Boston College. The former Eagle skated in 73 games and scored 35 goals while adding 73 assists for 108 points. He's an immensely talented player with great vision and offensive instincts, and that was evident during his small sample with the Rangers. He will get every opportunity to prove himself this season, and could be the ultimate X-factor
Raddysh has been in the NHL for four years, and has appeared in 305 NHL games. This past season he was a member of the Washington Capitals and he finished with seven goals and 20 assists for 27 points in 80 games skating 12:22 per night. In terms of underlying numbers, he posted a 45.74 GF%, a 52.41 CF%, and a 55.54 xGF%per Evolving-Hockey. His deal with the Rangers is for two years at $1.5 million per season, and the expectation is he will occupy a spot on the team's third or fourth line this upcoming season.