Rangers ‘not going to win Stanley Cup next year,’ should trade these players
Despite winning five of their past seven games and finishing strong in what was an otherwise grossly disappointing season, the New York Rangers have some serious work to do in their retool this coming offseason.
An absolute must is to nail their lottery draft pick early in the first round, no matter if that’s first overall or wherever it lands after the lottery. After that, the Rangers have 10 more selections to make in the 2026 NHL Draft, including another late in the first round. They must choose wisely and develop properly since this is the backbone of any retool.
But general manager Chris Drury has major decisions to make on the futures of several Rangers players. And Jonny Lazarus of Daily Faceoff believes that two regulars in the Rangers lineup should be traded this offseason.
“Let’s not kid ourselves, this team is not winning a Stanley Cup next year. It’s not,” Lazarus told Forever Blueshirts on the Rink Rap podcast. “They have to find a way to build out this roster. And even Adam Fox is a conversation with his contract coming up (in 2029). So, there’s a lot of things to figure out, but the one thing we know is the Rangers are not going to win the Stanley Cup next year.”
With that in mind, Lazarus believes center Vincent Trocheck and defenseman Braden Schenider should be moved for legit prospects and/or young NHL — or NHL-ready — players, in line with Drury’s stated desire when he announced the retool back in January. It’s a similar strategy as with the Artemi Panarin trade, minus the player holding full control of the situation with a complete no-move clause in his contract.
The Rangers acquired former first-round pick Liam Greentree, the top prospect in the Los Angeles Kings organization, as the key return in the Panarin trade. They tried to deal Trocheck before the NHL Trade Deadline to further boost their talent pool and prospect pipeline, but Drury didn’t like the options presented to the Rangers, and held on to the 32-year-old center.
But even though Martin Biron recently made the case to Forever Bluieshirts that New York could hold on to Trocheck this summer, Lazarus believes the center should and will be traded, for a slew of reasons.
“He knows where he stands within the organization, where they weren’t going to give him up for what they thought was lower value in return. So, that is kind of complimentary. But when it is so out in the open that they want to move him and everyone is kind of in agreement that the best thing for the organization is to get younger players and move off from him … it’s hard not to imagine yourself elsewhere,” Lazarus explained.
“So, I think in Vinny’s mind, and Vinny’s family’s mind, they probably already went through that emotion of picturing yourself somewhere else. And in the summer, it’s so much easier to move your family, find schools and all those things that are outside the hockey factors that play into it. So, I do think that in the summer Vinny Trocheck will be moved because he doesn’t want to go through this again in the regular season next year when the writing seems to be on the wall.”
Rangers trading Vincent Trocheck feels inevitable, right thing to do
This certainly is not any indictment on Trocheck as a player or leader. The Rangers will miss him as soon as they trade him. But he’s probably the one veteran player the Rangers are able to move that should bring back a decent return to help restock the roster and push this retool forward.
The fear for the Rangers is that the 2026 trade deadline was, perhaps, their best chance to maximize a return for Trocheck, who was fresh off helping the United States win gold at the Milan Cortina Olympics, and had, at that time, four playoff runs in his contractual window. This is Drury’s gamble, that he can get a better return this summer.
We’ll see. But the right thing to do for the organization and player is to move him this summer, and not drag this out to another trade deadline, when, it needs to be pointed out, he’ll also be another year older.
Trocheck, who scored 20+ goals in each of his first three seasons on Broadway and had a career-high 77 points in 2023-24, remains a good soldier, even after the trade deadline passed. Though he spoke openly about wanting to go to a Stanley Cup contender and knew without a doubt that the Rangers wished to move on from him, Trocheck played hard down the stretch and is fourth on the Rangers with 53 points (16 goals, 37 assists) in 64 games. He’s also won 56.8 percent of his face-offs, and is a force on each of the special teams units.
But he’s also less available for postgame interviews and practice scrums with the media. It just feels like that he’s one foot out the door and ready for his next NHL chapter. It’s up to Drury to make that happen, in the best possible way for the Rangers, of course.
Rangers need for another offensive-minded defenseman could lead to Braden Schneider trade
As for Schneider, he’s a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this offseason. And he really hasn’t proved worthy of a big-money extension, though he remains two years away from unrestricted free agency.
This isn’t dissimilar to the K’Andre Miller situation last summer. And you know how that ended up; the Rangers traded Miller to the Carolina Hurricanes on July 1.
“Schneider’s just the kind of guy a lot of teams would take a chance on. Right-handed shot defenseman, he’s strong, usually pretty reliable defensively,” Lazarus explained. “The offensive upside, I think two years ago people would’ve said there’s a lot of it. Right now, I don’t know people are as confident in his upside offensively. … These defensemen that haven’t necessarily thrived in their first environment always seem to be the fringe guys that get moved in the summers, like this one coming up. I lean more to 75-25 that Schneider gets moved.”
The 24-year-old averages a career-high 20:31 TOI this season, and played quite a bit on the top defense pair with Vladislav Gavrikov when Fox missed 27 games over two extended injury absences. Schneider didn’t exactly shine in that role, though been better on the second and third pairs, and as a key member of the penalty killing unit.
He’s young, durable, physical, and already played six seasons in the NHL But his underlying metrics are once again not pretty. His expected goal share is a ghastly 43.64 percent, per Natural Stat Trick. And as Lazaus points out, he doesn’t generate nearly enough offense to counter own-zone issues.
“If the Rangers moved on from [Schneider], I’d be like fine, bring up Scott Morrow. Honestly, I don’t think it’s that much of a difference. I just don’t think Schneider’s turned into what most people would’ve hoped for at this point — not to say he can’t do it through out his career — but the Rangers do need more offensively-minded defensemen,” Lazarus said. “I think outside of Adam Fox, and I know Gavrikov’s had a pretty strong year, who’s their next best offensive defenseman? To me, it’s Matthew Robertson. As far as pure skill and offensive instincts, I think it’s him. So, the Rangers do need a stronger player in that sense. And Morrow could be that. Obviously now he’s still a project. I don’t know if they’ll choose him over Schneider next season, we’ll have to see what happens in the summer.”
The Rangers are set with Fox and Will Borgen on the right side. If Schneider is traded, perhaps a right-shot defenseman is part of the return. Or the Rangers could acquire another d-man to play on the right side. They also have Morrow and Vincent Iorio waiting in the wings. And 2024 first-round pick EJ Emery, who’s more of a shut-down defenseman, should factor into the mix down the road.
Lazarus certainly has his eyes on Morrow, the 23-year-old who had an uninspiring first season in the organization split between the Rangers and Hartford of the American Hockey League, after he was acquired in the Miller trade.
“I watched him play for three years at UMass. That kid is a stud when he gets all that confidence.”
