The New York Rangers are one day away from opening the 2025-26 National Hockey League season against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden as part of a triple header on ESPN, but before they can take the ice they have a major roster call to make with a looming deadline. The Blueshirts currently do not have a compliant roster. and today is the day they need to make a decision by 5 p.m. today.
Rangers need to cut their roster by one
Right now the Rangers have their roster pretty much set, and assuming that J.T. Miller and Artemi Panarin are both healthy enough for opening night, they need to remove someone from the roster. The options they have include assigning Brett Berard or Noah Laba to the Hartford Wolf Pack as they are exempt from waivers, or they need to release Conor Sheary from his professional tryout offer.
They technically could send Jonny Brodzinski down too, but he is waivers eligible. It would have made more sense for him to be put on waivers on Sunday to lessen the odds of him being claimed. For that reason it seems unlikely he will be waived at this time.
The easiest decision would be sending down one of Laba or Berard given that they can be assigned right away. Laba had a very strong camp, and did just about everything the Rangers asked of him. Berard still has developing to do as a player, and given that he recovered from a torn labrum over the summer, it might not be the worst thing in the world to have him restablish his game with the Wolf Pack.
Sheary would be the simplest break, because he doesn't have a contract, but the Rangers offered him a PTO early on for a reason. He is a veteran player who won a Stanley Cup playing for Mike Sullivan, and can be a valuable veteran resource. If anything, the Rangers could maximize their roster depth and flexibility by sending one of the kids down and signing Sheary to a one-year deal around the minimum, and then waive him later on if things don't work out as planned.
The Rangers are practicing at the University of Rhode Island after enjoying some off-ice bonding after their preseason game in Boston over the weekend, and we certainly should have more clarity on their pending decision once practice concludes. It's been a long time coming for Rangers fans after a very early start to the offseason, but regular season hockey for the Blueshirts is just a day away.