Багийн ерөнхийлөгч Крис Друри бүрэлдэхүүнээ шинэчлэх замаар NHL-ийн плей-оффын өрсөлдөөнд эргэн орох зорилт тавилаа.
Нью-Йорк Рейнжерс сүүлийн хоёр улирлын турш амжилтаараа лигтээ сүүл мушгисан нь багийн удирдлагыг эрс шийдвэр гаргахад хүргэв. Багийн ерөнхийлөгч бөгөөд ерөнхий менежер Крис Друри дахин бүтээн байгуулалт хийхээс татгалзаж, хаалгач Игорь Шестеркин болон хамгаалагч Адам Фокс нарыг тойруулан ойрын хугацаанд үр дүн үзүүлэхүйц бүрэлдэхүүнийг бүрдүүлэхээр ажиллаж байна. Энэ хүрээнд Жэй Ти Миллер, Павел Дорофеев, Маркус Петтерссон нарыг багтаа нэгтгэж, Майк Салливаныг дасгалжуулагчаар томилсон нь тус багийн “ялалт байгуулах” зорилгыг тодотгож байна.
Шинэ улирлын өмнө Артемий Панарин, Винсент Трочек нар багаа орхисон ч Габе Перро, Алексис Лафреньер зэрэг залуу тоглогчдод өөрийгөө харуулах боломж нээгдэж байна. Мөн 2026 оны драфтын 5 дахь сонголт Альбертс Смитс болон бусад шинэ тоглогчид NHL-ийн талбайд гараанд гарах магадлалтай байна. Хамгаалалтын бүсээ Шон Дурзи, Маркус Петтерссон нараар хүчирхэгжүүлсэн нь өмнөх улирлын алдааг засах гол хүчин зүйл болох юм.
Гэвч энэхүү бодлого нь томоохон эрсдэлийг дагуулж байгаа бөгөөд хэрэв баг плей-оффын төлөөх өрсөлдөөнд амжилт үзүүлж чадахгүй бол ирээдүйн драфтын эрхүүдээ алдсан нь том гарз болох эрсдэлтэй. Местрополитан дивизонд өрсөлдөөн ширүүн байгаа энэ үед Нью-Йорк Рейнжерс плей-оффын эрхийн төлөө ноцтой өрсөлдөгч гэдгээ батлах шаардлагатай байна. Жэй Ти Миллер, Мика Зибанежад нарын нас ахиж байгаа тул энэ улирал багийн хувьд нэр хүндээ хамгаалах, тогтвортой амжилт үзүүлэх шийдвэрлэх сорилт болж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
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NEW YORK — Over the past two years, as the New York Rangers fell from Presidents’ Trophy winners to the NHL’s third-worst team, team president and general manager Chris Drury has encountered plenty of inflection points.
He could have been precious about New York’s first-round picks this summer and perhaps eyed a more future-minded return for Vincent Trocheck. He could have passed on acquiring J.T. Miller from the Canucks in January, 2025. And, when he sent a memo to fellow GMs in November, 2024 declaring his willingness to trade key veterans — an acknowledgement that he didn’t see New York’s core as good enough to win the Stanley Cup — he could have embarked on a more drastic teardown.
Instead, in each instance, Drury has prioritized maximizing the team’s short- or medium-term potential around star goalie Igor Shesterkin and defenseman Adam Fox.
The Trocheck trade with the Mammoth brought back, in part, defenseman Sean Durzi, who’s likely to play on the Rangers’ second pair behind Fox. Heading into the 2026-27 season, the leadup to which begins in earnest with this week’s team rookie camp, Drury also used quality trade chips to acquire Pavel Dorofeyev and Marcus Pettersson — on top of signing free agents Oliver Bjorkstrand, Eeli Tolvanen and Joe Veleno to round out his forward group.
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Drury not only went full-throttle to trade for the now-33-year-old Miller — a player he long coveted and ultimately gave up what turned into the No. 12 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft to acquire — but named him captain half a year later. He hired coach Mike Sullivan, a two-time Cup winning coach, and signed top free-agent defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov last summer.
These, like with many of the ones Drury made this summer, were win-now moves. As he said in his January letter to fans announcing a retool: “This will not be a rebuild.”
If it’s not a rebuild, results must come soon. The current team lacks the top-end forwards of true championship contenders, but it has enough quality players to be competitive. Thus the 2026-27 season is not about the Rangers playing up to their ceiling. It’s about simple respectability: being a serious hockey club in a Metropolitan Division with playoff spots up for grabs.
On paper, the Rangers are capable of reaching that level. Drury desperately needs them to, having set the stakes with his aggressive moves. If his vision doesn’t come to fruition, the process needs to be called into question — especially as Miller, Mika Zibanejad (33) and Shesterkin (30) get older.
A year like either of the past two won’t cut it. Not for fans, already ornery from the team’s swift descent, and potentially not for owner James Dolan and his son Quentin, who is entering his first year in an expanded role with the organization. The team is less and less the one built by Jeff Gorton and John Davidson, who acquired most of the players on the 2022 and 2024 rosters that made the Eastern Conference final, and more and more Drury’s own. At a certain point, if it’s not pooling as many picks and prospects as possible for the long-term, the team must turn a corner. Drury operated this summer as if he knows that.
Hanging over the current roster are the long-term gambles Drury made to bring it together. The worst place a franchise can be is stuck in the middle: not good enough to contend but hemorrhaging draft capital to remain relevant. So the Rangers trading three first-round picks — Dallas’ 2026 selection and the Rangers’ own in 2028 for Dorofeyev, plus a 2030 first for Pettersson — is risky for a team that, over the past two seasons, has recorded the sixth-fewest points in the league. If New York’s futility continues, those decisions could age disastrously. The 2028 and 2030 first-rounders are top-10 protected picks that become unprotected if conveyed to the following year.
The current Rangers roster has a chance to be much more solid than last season’s disaster, especially if it can avoid some of the injury pitfalls that derailed the 2025-26 club. Shesterkin is elite in net, and the Fox-led group of defensemen in front is much improved with the Durzi and Pettersson additions. The back end should be able to move the puck better and avoid long stretches in their own end, and assuming relative health, other players like Braden Schneider will no longer have to play too high in the lineup.
With Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck gone from last year’s opening night lineup, the forward group has less established skill. But their absences could afford 21-year-old Gabe Perreault and 24-year-old Alexis Lafrenière more opportunity to blossom. Dorofeyev, who scored at least 35 goals each of the past two seasons, figures to add some desperately needed offensive punch.
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On the prospect front, 2026 No. 5 draft pick Alberts Šmits could make an impact as soon as this season. Additionally, players acquired as part of recent trades — Liam Greentree for Panarin and Cole Beaudoin for Trocheck — could start earning NHL minutes.
The division offers reason for hope, too. Carolina, returning most of its Stanley Cup-winning roster, will be a force. But behind the Hurricanes sit plenty of teams with potential but not certainty. The Flyers and Penguins each reached the postseason last season, but neither has a clear-cut playoff roster on paper. The Capitals and Devils made notable forward upgrades, but neither made last year’s playoffs. The Blue Jackets and the Islanders are still looking for breakthroughs, too.
But hope alone isn’t enough for the Rangers to rebound. Drury has repeatedly demurred when asked about the timeline for a return to playoff contention. But that must be the goal this season, especially if the organization wants to eventually add the type of big-name player it will likely need to be a true contender. To become a destination, a team needs more than an Original Six crest or an exciting market. It has to make championships feel possible. A third season without playoffs would not help in that regard.
The Rangers were never going to be able to bridge the gap from lottery dweller to championship ceiling in one offseason. The lack of top-end forward talent and organizational center depth will take longer to fix. But Drury is counting on his moves getting them back in the mix.
It’s a bet he needs to win. The organization’s respectability depends on it.
