What’s next for Rangers after disappointing 2025-26 season, including NHL Draft Lottery
Despite some inspired play after the Olympic break, there’s no other way to categorize the New York Rangers’ centennial season in 2025-26 than as a huge disappointment. A 34-39-9 record, last-place finish in the Eastern Conference, and second straight season failing to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs is not what Rangers management, first-year coach Mike Sullivan, nor the players envisioned when training camp opened back in September.
Yet, here they are, with Sullivan sharing “mixed” feelings about a season that went off the rails early, only to somewhat feel better about a 12-10-3 finish. Not to diminish some of the good things that took place down the stretch, but it’s difficult not to think it’s akin to putting lipstick on a pig, as the old saying goes.
The Rangers closed out the season with a 4-2 road win in Tampa against the Lightning. And immediately the focus shifted to an incredibly important offseason, one that will, for better or worse, help shape the current retool that began two months ago.
“Retool” is general manager Chris Drury’s word. Not “rebuild.” That means the Rangers expect to turn things around sooner rather than later, which is now at the heart of every move they make moving forward.
With that said, let’s take a look at what’s next for the Rangers, now that the wretched 2025-26 season is officially over.
What’s next for the Rangers in their retool after end of 2025-26 season
Breakup Day
Literally, the first thing on the to-do list is for Drury and Sullivan to oversee breakup day on Friday. They’ll meet with each player on the roster, provide honest critique and a game plan for the summer, seek feedback on what went right and wrong this season, and find out who’s completely bought in to the retool, and who isn’t.
It’ll be quite interesting to hear Drury’s self-evaluation, take on Sullivan’s job perfromance, and what his overarching plan is this summer, among other things, when the GM meets with reporters Friday. Plus, expect many intriguing takeaways when Rangers players speak with the media for the final time this season.
Honest internal assessment
This is something that should — and likely does — take place 24/7/365. But Drury really needs to take a hard look at the scouting and player development departments, and make important upgrades in each — which he did mention when he spoke to the media after the NHL Trade Deadline in March.
To that end, a deep and honest evaluation of Hartford coach Grant Potulny and the entire operation of their American Hockey League affiliate is required too. The Rangers already started on this overall improvement by bringing back Kevin Maxwell as pro scouting director last week.
NHL Draft Lottery
The one perk, for total lack of a better word, for having such a lousy season is that the Rangers have an 11.5 percent chance of winning the NHL Draft Lottery on May 5, per Tankathon. So, they have the third best odds to win the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, far better odds it should be noted then when they won the lottery in 2020 and landed Alexis Lafreniere with the top selection.
Even if they don’t win the lottery, the Rangers should land a cornerstone player in the top half of a deep pool of talent in the first round.
Decide about own free agents
After trading Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings and Carson Soucy to the Islanders ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline this season, and Jonathan Quick’s retirement announcement, the Rangers don’t have many of their own free agents to be concerned about. Veteran forwards Jonny Brodzinski and Conor Sheary are unrestricted free agents, and likely each will sign elsewhere, though there’s a small possibility the Rangers try to bring Brodzinski back as the 13th or 14th forward.
The Rangers do have an important decision to make with Braden Schneider, who’s a restricted free agent with arbitration rights. The 24-year-old defenseman is two years away from UFA status, so will the Rangers try and sign him to a bridge contract, in order to continue evaluating Schneider before making a long-term commitment, or pony up now for a contract that buys out some of his UFA seasons? Or will the Rangers cut the cord and trade him, as they did with K’Andre Miller, who was in a similar situation last summer?
Dylan Garand is also an RFA with arbitration rights, coming off three excellent starts down the stretch for the Rangers and in line it appears to replace Quick as Igor Shesterkin’s backup on Broadway. Defenseman Vincent Iorio is an RFA with little leverage, even if the Rangers want him back next season, which is not a given.
Restricted free agents from the Rangers AHL affiliate in Hartford include forwards Brett Berard and Brendan Brisson, and defenseman Scott Morrow. The key minor league UFAs are Wolf Pack captain Casey Fitzgerald, and defensemen Connor Mackey and Brandon Scanlin.
Trades & Free Agency
As mentioned above, don’t be surprised if Schneider gets moved this summer. And then there’s Vincent Trocheck, who was all but out the door before Drury decided ahead of the deadline that he wasn’t getting the offers the Rangers needed in order to trade one of their most important and respected players. That said, it’d be a surprise if Trocheck isn’t traded this summer to speed up the retool.
The heat to trade Lafreniere cooled down quite a bit, after he flourished down the stretch with 28 points in his final 26 games. But teams will inquire on the former No. 1 overall pick, no doubt.
The Rangers need more high-end talent in their top-six forward group, a solid puck-moving defenseman, and perhaps a veteran No. 3 goalie. Not too mention better depth up and down the organization, young talent, and prospects. The NHL free agent market isn’t flush this offseason, so it’ll be interesting to see how creative Drury gets to fill the holes. That said, Darren Raddysh could be an intriguing free-agent option to consider on defense; and there’s a chance the Rangers look into Buffalo Sabres forward Alex Tuch up front.
NHL Draft
2025 top Rangers pick Malcolm Spence — Photo courtesy @NYRangers
As of today, the Rangers have 11 picks in the 2026 NHL Draft. Seven of those selections are in the first three rounds, including one from the Kings that is a third-rounder, but would bump up to the second round if they win their first-round playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche. New York also has two first-round picks, including a chance to move up to No. 1 overall if they win the draft lottery.
It’s considered a deep draft this year, so the Rangers are in a good position to restock their middling prospect pool. That many picks also affords Drury the option to include some in trades to acquire young NHL talent, or players on the verge of cracking the NHL. Again, that’s why this is a retool, not a complete rebuild, per the GM. And weaponizing his trove of draft picks is a valuable option at Drury’s disposal.
As for the picks they do end up making, it behooves the Rangers to actually hit on as many as possible, as opposed to the well-documented litany of misses over the years which helped land them in this current state they’re in.
The next step after drafting well, is to properly develop their prospects. That’s another area where the Rangers need to be much better moving forward.
