Where Rangers stand after deadline for extending qualifying offers in NHL
For the New York Rangers, deciding which players did, and didn’t, receive qualifying offers was pretty standard business Monday. The Rangers qualified defensemen Braden Schneider, Scott Morrow, Vincent Iorio, and William Trudeau, and forward Pavel Dorofeyev. They didn’t extend offers to minor league goalies Talyn Boyko and Hugo Ollas, nor forwards Brendan Brisson and Massimo Rizzo.
Dorofeyev reportedly agreed to a seven-year, $77 million contract after the Rangers acquired him in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights last week. If the contract isn’t officially signed, the Rangers needed to extend a qualifying offer to the pending restricted free-agent forward.
Schneider and Trudeau are arbitration-eligible; Morrow and Iorio are not. Schneider’s name continues to pop up in trade rumors this offseason, and any possible deal involving him directly affects Morrow and Iorio, each a right-shot defenseman behind Schneider on the depth chart.
The Rangers acquired Trudeau last week, when they traded Brett Berard to the Montreal Canadiens. He’s a left-shot defenseman entering his fifth pro season, and yet to play in the NHL.
The biggest name among those not tendered a qualifying offer by the Rangers is Brisson, son of Vincent Trocheck’s new agent, Pat Brisson. Last season, the younger Brisson finished second on Hartford of the American Hockey League with 19 goals and 37 points, and led the team with eight power-play goals, though he also was a team-worst minus-32. The 24-year-old, a 2020 first-round pick by Vegas, played three games with the Rangers last season and had one assist.
Rangers could target non-tendered players in free agency
As to be expected, there aren’t a lot of sexy names among those players not qualified around the League by Monday’s deadline. And perhaps the most intriguing one — 25-year-old bottom-six forward Jonatan Berggren — is expected to re-sign with the St. Louis Blues, the team which didn’t extend him a QO on Monday.
Most of the players who played in the NHL last season and were not qualified are in the 24-26 age range. Several of the minor leaguers who didn’t receive QOs are even younger. That means there’s a fresh group of young unrestricted free agents on the open market beginning Wednesday. Since the Rangers want to get younger, faster, and better, perhaps they will target a player or two here, should their scouts and development staffs see untapped upside.
If not at the NHL level, then certainly for their AHL affiliate in Hartford. Since their goalie pipeline is so thin and they didn’t qualify Boyko nor Ollas, the Rangers could seek a younger minor league goaltender in free agency, or a veteran with NHL experience that played in the AHL last season.
Three forwards should draw interest around the League on Wednesday. Bobby Brink wasn’t qualified by his hometown Minnesota Wild, after scoring a career-high 15 goals last season. Brink is 5-foot-8 and turns 25 on July 8.
Matias Maccelli is also a UFA now, three years removed from a 17-goal, 57-point season with the Arizona Coyotes. The 25-year-old scored 14 goals with the Toronto Maple Leafs a year ago.
And Paul Cotter wasn’t qualified by the New Jersey Devils. He’s a tough bottom-six forward, who can play center and scored 16 goals two seasons ago. However, his effort, physical play, and offensive production cratered in 2025-26.
