The New York Rangers are creating some additional competition to their ranks, and the newest name joining the fold on a professional tryout has some familiary with head coach Mike Sullivan.
Rangers have signed Conor Sheary to a PTO. He was on Mike Sullivan’s Cup-winning teams in Pittsburgh. He’ll be a depth forward option if he makes the team.
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) July 25, 2025
Sheary spent the majority of the 2024-25 season in the American Hockey League with the Syracuse Crunch, and the former Stanley Cup Champion finished the year with 20 goals, 41 assists, and 61 points in 59 games. He skated just five regular season games for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he failed to record a point.
The 5'8", 182-pound winger has appeared in 593 NHL games to date, and in that span has a line of 124-143-267 while averaging 13:56 a night. His most successful season in recent years came during a stint in Washington as Sheary tallied 43 points in 37 games back in 2021-22, and he followed that up with 37 points in 82 games the season after that.
The 2023-24 campaign was his first with Tampa Bay, and he put up just 15 points in 57 games. The signing of a PTO is very interesting, as the Rangers already have a number of potential names in the mix. There is Adam Edstrom, Matt Rempe, Juuso Parssinen, Taylor Raddysh, and then you have kids like Brett Berard, Brennan Othmann and some potential others who played for Hartford and may try and make a push in training camp.
Teams bring in players on professional tryout agreements all the time, but if Sheary were to earn a spot it would likely mean something went wrong for one of the many options already under contract. It makes sense that the Rangers want to give Sullivan an opportunity to have some of his guys, and maybe it is possible the team is looking to make a trade to cut down on some redundancy.
The full picture isn't completely clear, but Sheary entering the picture at this moment is certainly interesting. Maybe the Rangers feel they will lose Jonny Brodzinski on waivers, and Sheary could be a replacement for that role. There's no way of knowing for sure, but this very much feels like part one of another move yet to be made.