5 things Rangers must do after Olympic break, including maximize trade returns
The Olympic break is a nice respite for the New York Rangers, after a terribly disappointing 22-29-6 start to the 2025-26 NHL season.
The last-place Rangers resume play Feb. 26 against the Philadelphia Flyers, kicking off a span of 25 games in 49 days. More importantly, the NHL roster freeze ends Feb. 23, which means the sprint to the March 6 trade deadline is on from there.
Facing a second straight season missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Rangers are in a retool, though it sure feels like a complete rebuild is needed to get the entire organization back on its feet. Already, the Rangers traded Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings for forward prospect Liam Greentree and a pair of conditional draft picks. They also sent defenseman Carson Soucy to the New York Islanders for a third-round pick in this year’s draft.
General manager Chris Drury has plenty more work to do after the Olympic break, though.
Here are five things they need to figure out between now and April 15, when their season inevitably ends in Tampa.
5. Get healthy and play the kids
The Rangers have two superstar players, top-pair defenseman Adam Fox and No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin, eligible to come off long-term injured reserve once the break ends. There’s no reason to rush either back for this lost season, though each should play if he is healthy.
Fox practiced with the Rangers right before the break and could be good to go Feb. 26, coming off a lower-body injury (which followed a month-long absence because of an upper-body injury).
Shesterkin skated on his own before the break and it’s less clear where he’s at six weeks after sustaining a lower-body injury.
It’s stating the obvious that the returns of Fox and Shesterkin will stabilize things for the Rangers, who lost 12 of 14 games since each was injured in the same game on Jan. 5.
Getting these veterans back is important. But so is giving playing time to younger players, both for experience and evaluation.
The Rangers are maligned for their inability to develop young talent. Now is the time to call up and run out youngsters like Brett Berard, Adam Sykora or Jaroslav Chmelar — and obviously any of the young NHL-ready players they acquire while selling — to start the youth movement.
Plus, the more Gabe Perreault, Scott Morrow, Noah Laba — and even Vincent Iorio and Brennan Othmann — play, the better.
4. Find out what they have in Dylan Garand
Shesterkin’s lower-body injury turned out to be a death knell to the Rangers season. But it also opened an opportunity for New York to see what they have in top goalie prospect Dylan Garand.
The only problem, so far, is that Garand’s remained in the minors during Shesterkin’s absence. Not to mention the season cratered due, in large part, to subpar goaltending by 40-year-old Jonathan Quick and journeyman Spencer Martin with Shesterkin sidelined.
At this point, neither of those veterans should block Garand, who is four months away from his 24th birthday. Though he’s not been his best this season, Garand was an AHL All-Star last season, and had 20 wins, three shutouts and a .913 save percentage in 39 starts with Hartford of the American Hockey League.
There’s no sense in him toiling away on a bad team in Hartford the rest of this season. This is likely Quick’s final NHL season, and there’s not other logical option within the organization to back up Shesterkin in 2026-27 and beyond, outside of Garand.
Perhaps signing a more experienced NHL goalie to be the No. 2 is Drury’s plan this offseason. But it doesn’t make any sense to waste this opportunity to get a look at Garand in the NHL.
3. Try to convince players to waive no-move clauses
We obviously appreciate that players and agents negotiate no-movement clauses for valuable protection. Look how it worked out for Panarin. He called the shots when the Rangers decided to trade him.
But Drury must find out if Mika Zibanejad and Quick might reconsider their desire to remain in New York and waive their NMCs. It’s hard to imagine Quick, a Connecticut native, wants to play anywhere else in what’s likely the final days of his NHL career. Plus, his market probably isn’t so great considering his poor play the past month.
Still, Drury must find out what the options are with Quick.
Zibanejad also wants to stay. But maybe playing for Sweden in the highly-competitive 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics whets his appetite to play for a real Cup contender. Drury must broach the trade topic again after the break, and, if need be, this offseason. Zibanejad’s been the Rangers best player this season, so his trade value may never be higher, especially since he turns 33 next season.
It’s time for Drury to convince these veterans that the grass is greener elsewhere, and get them to waive their no-trade clauses.
2. Get max value for their tradeable players
This is the most obvious and important thing to do after the break, yet it may also be the most difficult. Drury’s track record making trades is spotty, for sure.
With Vincent Trocheck, Braden Schneider and, Brennan Othmann the obvious players on the block, and who knows what else happening behind the scenes with Alexis Lafreniere and others, the Rangers must max out their return in every trade to supercharge this reload.
Drury got the Kings top prospect in Greentree, a 2024 first-round draft pick who’s ready to turn pro once his OHL season ends. That’s the type player the Rangers must keep targeting. Young, skilled, and either in the NHL already or knocking on the door. Future draft picks are nice, but targeting and landing quality NHL-ready talent helps make this a quicker retool as opposed to a full-scale rebuild.
Proper player development is also important here, and not exactly a Rangers strong suit over the years.
1. Enjoy the last Centennial Celebration Night
This one is more for the fans. This centennial season’s been a nightmare and likely will be remembered as the one that set the Rangers back even further and forced them to reload after a period of excellence between 2021-24.
Those centennial uniforms are sweet. But the Rangers inability to win when wearing them, especially at Madison Square Garde, is maddening. However, there’s still the Modern Era celebration March 5 at MSG ahead of an Original 6 matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Garden.
So, one last chance to get it right in front of the fans in one of the most disappointing seasons among the 100 in franchise history.
Sure, it’s been a season to forget for the Rangers. But the Blueshirt Faithful get the chance to see the recent past on March 5 come alive again and provide a glimmer of hope of what can still be in the Rangers near future.
