A Quiet Summer Is On The Horizon For The Rangers With Their Eyes On 2026 Offseason

You should expect a quiet offseason in The Big Apple for the New York Rangers. 

After the Rangers floundered and missed the playoffs this past season, some significant changes seemed to be on the horizon, and that was partly true with the firing of Peter Laviolette and the hiring of Mike Sullivan.

However, in terms of roster changes, there shouldn’t be all that many drastic changes at least made during the summer. 

The Rangers don’t have much cap flexibility and even if they are willing to trade away Chris Kreider without retaining much or any of his contract, the team still has to extend both Will Cuylle and K’Andre Miller. 

It’s also highly unlikely Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury trades any of the team’s big-time veterans including Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, J.T. Miller, Mika Zibanejad, and Adam Fox who are all still under contract. 

Plus, this free agency class is relatively weak with a lack of star talent, so it would be wise for Drury to be patient and not get stuck into a long-term contract that could bite the Rangers down the road. 

In the summer of 2026 when Artemi Pamarin’s seven-year, $81.5 million contract expires, there will be an abundance of high-level free agents potentially on the market the likes of Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, Jack Eichel, and Jason Robertson.

While all these players likely won’t be free agents, there will certainly be a much deeper free agency class in 2026 compared to this upcoming offseason and that may be the right time for the Rangers to cash in. 

We’ll see what actually ends up transpiring in New York, but don’t expect a ton of action from Drury and company.