Brad Penner-Imagn ImagesThere's a similar feeling entering New York Rangers training camp this week as there was just one year ago: Uncertainty.
After a disastrous 2024-25 season in which the Rangers missed the playoffs while also dealing with internal issues, Chris Drury doubled down on his core of players, hiring Mike Sullivan as the head coach and adding veteran defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov in free agency.
With a new voice in Sullivan, the Rangers had high hopes of rediscovering their identity from the 2023-24 campaign, a season where the team won the Presidents’ Trophy and reached the Eastern Conference Final.
There was uncertainty about whether the Rangers would become a playoff-caliber team again or follow suit from the previous year and continue to regress.
Ultimately, the Rangers were unable to bounce back, as the team finished with a 34-39-9 record and 77 points, which slotted them in last place in the Eastern Conference standings.
In the midst of this frustrating season in The Big Apple, Drury released a letter to fans outlining the Rangers’ plan to “retool” the roster.
Since that letter was released, the Blueshirts have traded Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Sam Carrick, Will Borgen, and Carson Soucy.
Despite a supposed shift in philosophy with the retool in place and the departure of some veteran players, Drury once again took steps over the offseason to become a more competitive team in the immediate future, acquiring Pavel Dorofeyev, Sean Durzi, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Marcus Pettersson.
“We’re excited with the moves we made,” Drury said on Wednesday. “We looked at a lot of different things, my staff, Sully’s staff, and feel like we're in a pretty good spot to get off to a good start. A lot of changes, a lot of excitement in the building. I’m excited about what we’ve done and where we are at.”
After two years of missing the playoffs and completely revamping the nucleus of the team around players like Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, and Mika Zibanejad in the process, what are expectations for the Blueshirts?
At least in the minds of Sullivan and Drury, the Rangers are in a better position to be competitive compared to where they were sitting one year ago.
Sullivan and Drury opened up training camp with a joint press conference on Wednesday, both speaking with an optimistic tone about the season ahead despite the uncertainty that still surrounds the organization.
“My expectation is that we are going to compete,” Sullivan said. “I think we have, as Chris alluded to, we have more depth than we had a year ago. I think we've addressed some of the priorities that we felt were important to help us become more competitive…
“My expectation as the head coach is that we're going to compete. Is that we're going to be a competitive group with an expectation that we're going to compete every night and give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs and see where it goes.”
The uncertainty going into 2026-27 lies in the answer to one simple question: Are the Rangers actually an improved team compared to last year?
It would take a drastic change for the Rangers to transform from last-place team in the Eastern Conference to a legitimately competitive playoff team.
From a defensive standpoint, the Blueshirts certainly look stronger with the additions of Pettersson and Durzi, who will likely make up the team’s second pairing.
Offensively, it’s unclear if the additions of Dorofeyev and Bjorkstrand as well as the continuous emergence of Gabe Perreault will make up for the loss of Panarin and Trocheck.
Drury pointed to the Rangers’ depth as a reason for their downfall last season and an aspect of the team that has improved.
“There’s a lot of things we were trying to check. I feel like we checked most of them, if not all of them. Certainly one of them would be depth,” Drury said. “ I think when we were healthy last year, our record was pretty good and when we weren’t healthy, it was not good. We just didn’t have the depth to support missing those big pieces in the lineup.
“When you lose those big pieces, Fox and Shesterkin for big chunks, it’s gonna hurt you. I think we've addressed a lot of things all over the organization, Hartford and in New York and (I’m) excited to get going.”
Even after all of the Rangers’ attempts to become a younger team since the retool plan was made public in January, the organization is still clinging to the hope of staying competitive under the tandem of Sullivan and Drury.
“It's a daily endeavor, and so we're not going to get ahead of ourselves by any stretch,” Sullivan said. “We're going to just take the day right in front of us, and we're going to try to maximize that opportunity to become the best version of ourselves. We'll see where it takes us.”
Sullivan and Drury’s optimistic tones don’t erase the uncertainty of a season that will be critical in determining the future direction of the franchise.
