Should the Rangers commit to a retool or rebuild?
The New York Rangers followed up one nightmarish season with another.
After parting ways with Peter Laviolette and hiring Mike Sullivan after a disastrous 2024-25 campaign, the Rangers won just 34 games with the two-time Stanley Cup champion behind the bench, and now it’s on general manager Chris Drury to find a path forward.
With star goalie Igor Shesterkin and defenseman Adam Fox in their primes, and captain J.T. Miller and fellow key forward Mika Zibanejad likely on the wrong side of theirs, the hopes of contending for a Stanley Cup soon would require masterful moves from Drury. Alternatively, he could prioritize youth and forward-looking assets to build the group into one that could get back into the mix in the next few years.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed what should be next on Drury’s agenda as he looks to guide the Rangers back to contention.
Tyler Yaremchuk: As we work our way through the standings, it’s the New York Rangers, Hutts. When you look at this Rangers team, like the number one thing they must do this summer, I think it’s they need to find a direction here. You have a lot of guys in their early 30s, and I think you need to decide are we gonna try to quickly turn this thing around and you know try to compete in a year or two when Zibanejad and Miller still have some gas left in the tank, or are you fully ripping this thing down to the studs this summer? I don’t think that’s the direction they’ll go, but regardless, they have to make a decision here. That’s kind of my take on the Rangers. What’s one thing you want to see the Rangers do this summer?
Carter Hutton: Well, I think they need to get younger right? I think that’s gonna be a big factor. You start looking at this team, I think they need a top-six wing or someone who can play on that side. Obviously the Panarin situation, him being gone, there’s a lot of question marks, but what I’m worried about now is as I look at these divisions and these teams growing, like I think this window is kind of closed. It feels like I don’t even know if it’s a total rebuild or where you go from here because of the situation that you put yourself in that like the Flyers have gotten a lot better, right? The Devils potentially can get better pretty quickly with some of their youth, and then the fact of like these teams that they’re gonna be dealing with, I think that’s the biggest concern of if you start to bring it back, they need to get younger, and I don’t know how you do that through free agency. Maybe a trade or some prospects, maybe promoting some players, but right now it feels like the end is near for this little run of trying to push to win, Ty.
Tyler Yaremchuk: The end has come for them. I won’t even say it’s near. The end has come for the New York Rangers. They won 34 hockey games last year, and there’s no Artemi Panarin in free agency for them to go scoop up and get. Like, trading Panarin was the telltale sign that that this run and this era is over, so I think they’ve just got to make some hard decisions.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…