The New York Rangers will head into the 2026-2027 season with a renewed roster and plenty of additions and subtractions. The roster has been reshaped, for the most part, especially on defense. We don’t yet know if the Rangers are a playoff team, but the Rangers positions have all been improved. That’s at least progress, especially with how Chris Drury approached the offseason. There is still no trust, but at least he saw how the Rangers positions groups all needed improvements, and he did just that. Baby steps, right?
Center
As of this writing, the Rangers have decent depth down the middle with Mika Zibanejad, JT Miller, Noah Laba, and Joe Veleno. Zibanejad is coming off a fantastic rebound season, winning the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award and at least showing he has some gas left in the tank. The same can’t be said for Miller, who had a horrible season following concerns about his age and effectiveness. Laba was a fine rookie, and Veleno replaces Sam Carrick as the Rangers hope he can be as effective.
The issue is skill. Zibanejad is a first line center, but definitely a lower-tier one. Miller could be a strong second-line center if he returns to his career norms, but he’s shown zero signs of doing that in New York. Laba is young, but that’s about the only thing exciting about him right now. Joe Veleno is a fine fourth line center.
Due to the lack of excitement at the position and the relatively low ceiling, I give the center position a C+.
Wingers
The Rangers added Pavel Dorofeyev and Oliver Bjorkstrand to join Gabe Perreault, Alexis Lafreniere, Will Cuylle, Tye Kartye, Jaro Chmelar, Matt Rempe, and Adam Sykora. There are some wild cards in there, but this is the group expected to make the Rangers, Taylor Raddysh notwithstanding.
I’m not as bullish as others as the Rangers are counting on a lot to go right. Perreault needs to continue to grow. Lafreniere needs to prove he can be a true first-line winger. Cuylle needs to prove last year’s down season was a fluke. Bjorkstrand needs a bounce back season. And most importantly, Dorofeyev needing to prove he can produce without superstars on his line.
Moving toward the back half of the roster, Kartye needs to show that his impressive stint was a trend and not a fluke. There’s a reason he was available on waivers. Hopefully he can prove to be a longer term fit, but I don’t want to get excited too early. Caution is probably best, given how the Rangers have burned us in the past. Adam Sykora plays a similar style and has just a touch more offense, but he has the same questions as Kartye.
Rempe and Chmelar are low cost fourt line wingers. Rempe is essentially a known entity at this point, but like Sykora, Chmelar is a bit of an unknown after an impressive call up. Chmelar is a guarantee for a fourth line role, possibly higher if he can score a goal or two. Rempe is, at this point, still the team mascot.
This Rangers positions group has potential, but isn’t about to be one of the best in the league. If the Rangers are an average scoring team, I’d consider it a big win.
The wingers get a very wary B from me.
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