New York Rangers 2025 NHL free agency tracker: Latest signings, analysis, trades, rumors

Jim Cerny Updated: Jul 4, 2025

For a team hungry to alter the look of its roster, the New York Rangers have had a pretty quiet offseason, so far. They did trade popular veteran Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks to free up $6.5 million in salary-cap space and have been involved in plenty of trade talks and rumors. But to date, one significant move is it.

Perhaps Chris Drury and Co. are taking a patient approach here. Or the Rangers are working around the edges with their eyes firmly set on next offseason, when the cap rises even more significantly, Artemi Panarin’s $11.64 million cap hit comes off the books, and — at least for now — they can dream on Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel heading up a star-studded group of NHL free agents.

Then there’s the fact that the Rangers had a bit more than $13 million in cap space, even after the Kreider trade when NHL free agency officially began at noon ET on Tuesday.

We’ll follow it all here with updates and analysis on each of the Rangers moves, as well as where Blueshirt UFAs like Zac Jones and Arthur Kaliyev end up.

Zac Jones, Arthur Kaliyev find new homes

The Rangers did not extend qualifying offers to defenseman Zac Jones nor forward Arthur Kaliyev so each player became an unrestricted free agent Tuesday. Jones landed a one-year, two-way contract with the Buffalo Sabres. It’s not ideal, considering the Sabres have three left-shots ahead of him on the depth chart (Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson). That is unless the Sabres plan to move Jones or someone else to his off-side as they did with Bowen Byram last season. Byram, a restricted free agent, is still on the Sabres roster, though they’ve been exploring trades for him. Elliotte Friedman reported Wednesday that Kaliyev agreed to terms with the Ottawa Senators, though no contract details have been mentioned yet.

Rangers add veterans Taylor Raddysh, Derrick Pouliot

Before Chris Drury called it a day, he signed two more veteran players as depth pieces. Taylor Raddysh signed a two-year, $3 million contract and will look to fill a bottom-six role on Broadway after he appeared in 80 games with the Washington Capitals last season. Derrick Pouliot, a former first-round pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins, signed a two-year, two-way contract. The 31-year-old defenseman likely will play with Hartford of the American Hockey League until and unless the Rangers are in need of his help at the NHL level.

Rangers finalize massive trade with Hurricanes for K’Andre Miller

The Rangers capped a huge first day of NHL free agency with a major trade that involved a Metropolitan Division rival. The Blueshirts traded defenseman K’Andre Miller, who was an RFA with arbitration rights, to the Hurricanes for right-shot defenseman Scott Morrow plus a conditional 1st-round pick and a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. That’s quite a haul for a player the Rangers were actively shopping after five inconsistent seasons in New York. The Hurricanes wasted no time signing Miller to an eight-year, $60 million contract ($7.5 million average annual value).

Rangers re-up Will Cuylle, sign depth forward Justin Dowling

The Rangers locked down a pair of forwards not long after signing the top available free-agent defenseman. They re-signed Will Cuylle, who scored 20 goals last season and tied for third in the NHL with 301 hits. The 23-year-old agreed to a two-year, $7.8 million contract ($3.9 million AAV). New York also signed Justin Dowling to a two-year deal, after he played a career-high 52 games with the New Jersey Devils as a fourth-liner last season. These moves followed the Rangers landing defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov on a seven-year, $49 million contract.

Canadiens sign ex-Ranger F Sammy Blais, Hartford F Alex Belzile

The Montreal Canadiens signed former Rangers forward Sammy Blais to a one-year contract and welcomed back 33-year-old forward Alex Belzile after he spent two seasons with the Hartford Wolf Pack, the Rangers’ AHL affiliate. He got a one-year, two-way contract.

Blais did not play in the NHL last season after spending seven seasons with the St. Louis Blues and the Rangers. He had 14 goals and 40 points in 51 games for the Abbotsford Canucks, then put up six goals and 19 points in the AHL playoffs to help Abbotsford win the Calder Cup. The Rangers acquired Blais in the trade that sent Pavel Buchnevich to the Blues on July 23, 2021, then sent him back to St. Louis on Feb. 9, 2023, as part of the package that brought Vladimir Tarasenko to New York. He had nine points, all assists, in 56 games on Broadway.

Belzile led the Wolf Pack in scoring this season with 56 points (19 goals, 37 assists) and was tops on the team with 119 penalty minutes. He represented Hartford at the AHL All-Star Weekend. Before coming to the Rangers, Belzile spent five years in the Canadiens’ organization, playing 44 NHL games – but none since 2022-23.

Ex-Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren signs with Kraken

Defenseman Ryan Lindgren, traded by the Rangers to the Colorado Avalanche on March 1, signed a four-year contract with the Seattle Kraken, The AAV of $4.5 million equals what the 27-year-old was earning under his previous contract with the Rangers. He’ll be joining a former Rangers teammate, forward Kaapo Kakko, who was traded to Seattle in early December and is a restricted free agent.

Islanders re-sign ex-Rangers d-man Tony DeAngelo, F Simon Holmstrom, add goalie David Rittich, F Jonathan Drouin

The New York Islanders had a busy day, beginning when re-signed pending UFA defenseman Tony DeAngelo to a one-year, $1.75 million contract roughly an hour before the market opened, then signed forward Jonathan Drouin to a two-year contract with an AAV of $4 million, veteran backup goalie David Rittich to a one-year, $1 million deal and re-upped forward Simon Holmstrom to a two-year contract with an AAV of $3.625 million. The controversial ex-Ranger resurrected his NHL career with the Islanders last season, averaging a career-high 23:21 TOI over 35 games after signing in late January — shortly after the 29-year-old mutually terminated his contract in the KHL. DeAngelo had 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) for the Islanders, and a put up a career-high 53 points (15 goals, 38 assists) with the Rangers in 2019-20. Drouin had 37 points (11 goals, 26 assists) in 43 games with the Colorado Avalanche last season. Rittich gives the Isles some protection behind starter Ilya Sorokin after Semyon Varlamov missed most of last season because of injury. Holmstrom, their 2019 first-round pick, had 20 goals and

Devils add F Connor Brown on 4-year deal

Connor Brown is joining the New Jersey Devils. Sportsnet reports that his four-year contract has an AAV of $3 million. Brown is a useful bottom-six forward who helped the Edmonton Oilers make back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final — he had five goals and nine points in 20 games during the 2025 playoffs after scoring 13 goals and finishing with 30 points in 82 games during the regular season.

Rangers land defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov

Pierre LeBrun reported at roughly 12:50 p.m. ET that the Rangers and Vladislav Gavrikov had agreed to terms on a seven-year, $49 million contract. The Rangers confirmed the deal about six hours later. This feels like a steal for the Rangers, especially after the Blue Jackets re-upped another left-shot, top-four defenseman, Ivan Provorov, for $8.5 million annually on Monday. Gavrikov will be a major upgrade on New York’s back end next season, though we’ll see how this deal ages since the Russian veteran will be 36 when it’s over.

Former Rangers forward re-ups with Stars, who announce new coach as well

Colin Blackwell re-upped with the Dallas Stars on a two-year, $1.5 million contract. The former Rangers forward, who scored a career-high 12 goals and 22 points on Broadway in 2021-22, had 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in 62 games last season with the Stars, averaging 11:34 TOI. He scored two short-handed goals. The Stars also officially named Glen Gulutzan as their new coach, replacing Peter DeBoer, who was fired after the Western Conference Final loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

Christian Dvorak, Dan Vladar land with Rangers’ division rival

Christian Dvorak signed a one-year, $5.4 million contract with the Philadelphia Flyers to kickstart the official free agency period Tuesday. The 29-year-old would’ve been a nice fit as the 3C with the Rangers, but was too expensive an option for them. Dvorak won 55.8 percent of his face-offs with the Montreal Canadiens last season, scored 12 goals, had 33 points, and played all 82 games. The Flyers also agreed to terms with goalie Dan Vladar on a two-year contract with an AAV of $3.35 million. Vladar was 12-11-6 with a 2.80 goals-against average and .898 save percentage with the Calgary Flames last season.

Hurricanes lock up Logan Stankoven

Logan Stankoven, the key piece the Hurricanes received when they sent Mikko Rantanen to the Dallas Stars in March, is staying with the Rangers’ Metropolitan Division rival. The 22-year-old forward signed an eight-year, $48 million extension ($6 million AAV). He is under contract for $814,167 next season before the extension kicks in for 2026-27. Stankoven played 19 games for the Hurricanes after the trade, scoring five goals and adding four assists. He had eight points (five goals, three assists) in 15 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Devils re-sign Jake Allen, top free-agent goalie available

A weak goalie market got weaker just before free agency opened when Jake Allen re-signed with the New Jersey Devils. The contract is for five years with an average annual value of $1.8 million. The 34-year-old is coming off an excellent season as the backup to Jacob Markstrom. He was 13-16-1 but had a 2.66 goals-against average, .908 save percentage and four shutouts in 31 appearances (29 starts), and filled in admirably when Markstrom was out with an injury.

Zac Jones tops list of Rangers UFAs

The Rangers have nine unrestricted free agents within the organization. That list is topped by defenseman Zac Jones and forward Arthur Kaliyev, each of whom was not extended a qualifying offer by the 5 p.m. ET deadline Monday. Veteran defenseman Calvin de Haan and 2022 Stanley Cup champion Nicolas Aube-Kubel are also UFAs. From Hartford of the American Hockey League, goalie Louis Domingue, defensemen Chad Ruhwedel and Ben Harpur, and forwards Jake Leschyshyn, Riley Nash, Alex Belzile, Bo Groulx and Lucas Edmonds are unrestricted free agents.

Pius Suter to hit market after flurry of spending by Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks did a flurry of spending before the UFA market began Tuesday, re-signing forward Brock Boeser to a seven-year, $50.75 million contract, inking goalie Thatcher Demko to a three-year, $25.5 million extension, and agreeing with forward Connor Garland on a six-year, $36 million contract. The recent moves mean UFA center Pius Suter will hit the open market. Suter, who scored a career-high 25 goals last season, is a 29-year-old who could be of interest to the Rangers IF his price tag doesn’t get too high. A middle-six center, Suter had never scored more than 15 goals previously, and reached 14 three times.

Vladislav Gavrikov ‘heading to market’

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman confirmed that Gavrikov is “heading to market” after rejecting the Kings latest offer. Makes sense. He’s one of the most attractive names remaining among unrestricted NHL free agents, regardless of position, and what team doesn’t need a top-four, left-shot d-man? The Rangers will face a lot of competition here for Gavrikov, unless — as been rumored — the player badly wants to play on Broadway. Stay tuned.

Will Cuylle likely taking note of Matthew Knies’ contract with Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs have approximately $5.8 million in salary cap space, this after picking up Nicolas Roy from the Vegas Golden Knights when the traded the rights to Marner, and re-signing forward Matthew Knies to a six-year, $46.5 million contract Tuesday. Knies, 22, was an RFA, and received a whopping raise. His contract should get Cuylle’s attention, since the Rangers RFA broke out with 20 goals, 45 points and 301 hits (tied for third in the NHL) last season.