Rangers, Eeli Tolvanen closing in on one-year contract

The New York Rangers have spent the offseason adding some offensive punch into their lineup, and general manager Chris Drury has possibly struck again to find more scoring flair.

According to a report from Puckpedia, the Rangers are closing in on a one-year contract with free agent winger Eeli Tolvanen. The deal would come with a price tag of $1.5 million for the Finnish forward who spent the past three-plus seasons as a member of the Seattle Kraken.

Tolvanen, 27, has notched at least 35 points in each of the past three seasons in Seattle. He set a career high in points (41) and assists (25) across 81 games during the 2023-24 campaign, and he followed that up with the best goalscoring output of his career in 2024-25, when he found the back of the net 23 times.

A first-round pick of the Nashville Predators at No. 17 overall in the 2017 NHL Draft, Tolvanen has racked up 92 goals and 98 assists for a total of 190 points in 432 career regular season appearances.

The Rangers are coming off a second consecutive season of missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs after winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2023-24. Drury has been aggressive throughout the offseason in building a roster with a different look, landing talented scorer Pavel Dorofeyev from the Vegas Golden Knights in a draft-day blockbuster.

Drury also sent veteran center Vincent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth in a move to fortify the team’s defense, which was porous at times last season, nabbing Sean Durzi in return. Durzi joins Marcus Pettersson as the other major addition to the Rangers’ blue line.

New York is slated to get the 2026-27 season underway with a visit to the Boston Bruins as part of the NHL’s Opening Night tripleheader on September 29.