It’s been an eventful offseason for the New York Rangers as they try to thread a needle so small that every move had to be perfect. Chris Drury traded three first round draft picks away to acquire the Marcus Pettersson and Pavel Dorofeyev. He did not replenish those picks through the Vincent Trocheck trade, opting to get a top four defenseman and a solid but not can’t miss center prospect. The Rangers got younger, a key part of threading this needle, but took significant risk on a “win in the next three years” approach that has very low odds of hitting.
Gone are impact players such as Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, joining Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba from prior years. In are prospects Liam Greentree and Cole Beaudoin, neither top of the lineup talent but both solid prospects regardless. One would think for a retooling team, adding young players in exchange for aging players is always a win. To some extent, I agree with this premise. The Rangers got younger, but it doesn’t look like they got better. At least not yet.
The 2026 NHL Draft also helped, with Alberts Smits as a dark horse to have a big impact this coming season. Tomas Chrenko was perhaps the best value pick in the draft too. The Rangers got younger and definitely better in the prospect pool as well.
Of the kids that could play in the NHL this season, Smits projects to be a potential first pairing defenseman. Greentree is more of a middle six winger. Beaudoin, who has an easier path to a quick NHL look because he’s a center, likely projects as a 3C who can fake it as a 2C in small bursts.
Depth players are valuable, especially for the teams looking to save money as they pay their more expensive, superstar players. Just take a look at how valuable Will Cuylle and his cheap contract has been. It’s easy to criticize these trades, but the Rangers got younger and added value in secondary and tertiary scoring. That does matter, but we still haven’t accounted for all the scoring that has left the organization in the last two years.
The hope is New York can replace that primary scoring from Panarin, Kreider, and Trocheck with major steps forward form Gabe Perreault and Alexis Lafreniere, whom they hope will be those star forwards. Beyond that, the roster is filled with aging forwards who are on the wrong side of their careers. The hope is Mika Zibanejad continues to fit with Perreault and Lafreniere, while JT Miller can rebound significantly with Pavel Dorofeyev and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
That brings me back to my original thought. The Rangers got younger and have arguably gotten faster and more skilled. This is at both the NHL level and in the farm system. They deserve praise for this. But what worries me most is the lack of upside in the prospects they’ve acquired. I (and the talent evaluators I lean on) could certainly be wrong, and Greentree and Beaudoin could become Hall of Famers for all I know! However, if Greentree and Beaudoin become the players they’re expected to be, they will not be the leaders in the next Rangers core.
Perhaps this is unfairly picking on Greentree and Beaudoin as the two most likely forward prospects to hit the NHL this year. But outside of Tomas Chrenko, there isn’t much top of the lineup potential among forwards in the farm system. Smits looks like the real deal, for what it’s worth.
Eventually, the Rangers need to find those core stars, but New York has traded their most valuable, tradable NHL pieces. Short of trading Adam Fox or Igor Shesterkin, the Rangers don’t have the pieces to bring back the key pieces that could take over the roster for years to come.
Though the Rangers got younger and more talented and have some prospects to look forward to, I do fear that the future is not as bright as many seem to believe. New York has to continue to search for young talent who are in their prime or haven’t reached their prime yet. If depth players are the best that’s to come, this will be quite a long retool. But hey, maybe the vibes will finally change?
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