The New York Rangers haven't made it to the playoffs since 2024, where they were two wins against the Florida Panthers away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final. Last season, they managed to have an even worse campaign than their one in 2024-25, finishing in dead-last place in the entire Eastern Conference. It doesn't get any lower than that.
This offseason, the Rangers brought in a new top scoring forward in Pavel Dorofeyev, while shoring up their defense with the additions of Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson. The hope is that these moves, along with the signings of Oliver Bjorkstrand, Eeli Tolvanen, and Joe Veleno, will be enough to get them back into playoff contention.
First things first, they'll have to see how they stack up in the preseason when they play two rivals who also missed out on the playoffs — the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders.
Rangers can determine standings among Metropolitan Division rivals who also missed out on playoffs last year
Last season, the Rangers quickly found out that they were not going to make it into the playoffs out of the Metropolitan Division.
The Devils, despite a hot start, eventually saw their chances decline, especially with Jack Hughes missing 21 games due to a hand injury. As for the Islanders, they looked to be in the driver's seat for a playofff spot throughout the season, but a late season collapse allowed the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers to clinch the second and third spots in the division, ultimately leading to the firing of head coach Patrick Roy.
The Rangers will be facing off against both of these teams twice in the preseason, beginning on Sep. 21. This will allow the Rangers, and their fanbase, to see if they made the right moves to determine the pecking order of all three teams entering the season in terms of their playoff chances.
The Devils made a variety of moves this offseason, such as signing the likes of Anthony Mantha, Evan Rodrigues, and Jesper Boqvist, while also trading for high-upside forward Luke Evangelista. However, goaltending is their huge question mark, as they traded Jacob Markstrom to the Panthers, while seemingly moving forward with the trio of Jake Allen, David Rittich, and Nico Daws. Look, finding top-tier goaltending is difficult, the Devils know just that, but general manager Sunny Mehta is taking a gamble at that spot.
Meanwhile, the Islanders should be better off this year than last. They brought in Peter DeBoer late in the season to be their new head coach moving forward. While he may not have the Stanley Cup title on his resume, he knows how to take his teams on deep playoff runs, rather consistently. Besides that, they have one of the best goalies in the game in Ilya Sorokin and potentially the next big NHL star in defenseman Matthew Schaefer. We'll see if their decision to allow Anders Lee to leave in free agency and effectively replacing him with Brayden Schenn pays off.
Rangers have a lot of pressure facing them entering season
Considering how poorly the Rangers played last season and how quickly they settled into the basement of the division, a rebuild appeared to be on the table. Perhaps that may have been the right direction to head down, as it would allow them to stack their prospect pool and ensure they have a solid core for the foreseeable future, like the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers did.
Instead, general manager Chris Drury opted to go for a "retool," looking to both add some top prospects to their farm system while also bringing in players who could help them win-now. Usually, the half-measure approach rarely works. Not to mention, Drury gave up a variety of high draft picks over the next few years, including three first-rounders. So, these are gambles.
Drury needs these moves to pan out. If they don't, it could set the Rangers back even further, and it could very well lead to the exits of some of their top players like Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad, or Igor Shesterkin. That would be disastrous for the Rangers.
Rangers fans will without a doubt take in the four preseason games to get an idea of what they can expect heading into next season.
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