Rangers upgraded roster but crucial deficiency remains 5v5
Even the most vocal Chris Drury critic must admit the New York Rangers hockey czar is having a great offseason so far.
Drury replaced Artemi Panarin by trading for Pavel Dorofeyev, upgraded the team’s defense corps by offloading Will Borgen and trading for Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi, cleared out spare parts and even got a good return for Vincent Trocheck.
“We’re energized with what has transpired in the recent days and the potential of what is in front of us next season,” Drury said at his post-July 1 media availability Thursday. “
Yet, all of that work still could leave the Rangers short of the Stanley Cup Playoffs due to their deficiencies at 5-on-5.
The Rangers, of course, missed the playoffs for the second straight season in 2025-26 despite finishing fifth in the League on the power play (24.7percent).
They scored 235 goals in total last season, which ranked 23rd overall, and had a minus-14 goal differential. Each played a big part in New York’s last-place finish in the Eastern Conference (34-39-9, 77 points).
Rangers still need to improve even-strength scoring
There’ve been years when the Rangers turned a white-hot power play and elite goaltending into a deep Stanley Cup Playoff run.
But Igor Shesterkin and man-advantage goals can only take a team so far, especially in the Eastern Conference, which produced eight of the past 11 Stanley Cup champions.
The Rangers saw that first hand in both 2022 and 2024, when they reached the conference final before falling to a superior even-strength opponent — first the Tampa Bay Lightning and then the eventual-champion Florida Panthers.
The dye was cast early on this past season, when the Rangers were shut out five times in their first seven games on home ice at Madison Square Garden and scored just four 5-on-5 goals in that span. They were shut out a League-high 10 times last season.
The Rangers tied the Seattle Kraken for 23rd in 5v5 goal-scoring (153) and scored 158 goals at even strength. Panarin and Trocheck combined for 29 of those even-strength markers (18 percent), and neither is on the current roster.
In theory, Dorofeyev and veteran wing Oliver Bjorkstrand pick up the slack for those missing goals, since Dorofeyev (37) himself outscored Trocheck, and Panarin in his 52 games before being traded, in 2025-26 (35).
But even though Drury called him “one of the premier goal scorers,” Dorofeyev padded his 2025-26 total with 20 power-play goals last season, and produced only half of his 64 points at 5-on-5.
Bjorkstrand, who signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract with the Rangers on Wednesday, lit the lamp three times at even strength with the Lightning in 2025-26, and only 18 of his 32 points were at 5-on-5.
That’s more good news for New York’s potent power play this coming season. But it adds to concern about even-strength production.
Drury could argue last season’s marks for Dorofeyev and Bjorkstrand were simply an anomaly. Of Bjorkstrand’s 184 goals scored over 11 NHL seasons, 74 percent are at even strength. Dorofeyev scored 35 of his 48 goals at even strength between 2023-25.
But there remains concern for the Rangers, who ranked 27th in 5-on-5 shots-for percentage (47.1) and 20th in Corsi-For percentage at 5-on-5 (48.9 percent) in 2025-26.
Goal suppression may not be enough for Rangers in 2026-27
If the Rangers can’t score enough at 5-on-5, then one would argue they could simply limit their opponents’ scoring.
After all, despite their struggles at scoring at 5-on-5, the Rangers only had a minus-3 goal differential at that strength last season. A full season of top defenseman Adam Fox and Shesterkin, each of whom spent time on long-term injured reserve, and a remade blue line could be enough to push New York into the playoffs.
But that’s a hard way to win the NHL these days, especially since the Rangers traded their best two-way center in Trocheck. He averaged more than 20 minutes per game, played in all situations and ended up tied with captain J.T. Miller for fourth-most points (53).
The addition of solid puck-movers Durzi and Pettersson should help the Rangers’ transition game, which could lead to better offensive production. Durzi, in particular, is a big add in this area on the second defense pair.
The 27-year-old isn’t defensive stud, though, so that needs to be tin the equation. Pettersson is a more steady defensive defenseman, with years of success playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins before moving to the Vancouver Canucks.
However, Pettersson, was minus-19 with a dreadful 39.8 all-situation Corsi-for percentage last season with the last-overall Canucks — albeit while starting 69 percent of his shifts in the defensive zone.
Pettersson is signed at a $5.5 million AAV through 2031, plus Drury sent a conditional 2030 first-round pick to Vancouver in that trade. Though the pick is top-10 protected, it is a heavy price to pay, even if he had success and continuity with Mike Sullivan for parts of seven seasons in Pittsburgh.
Ultimately, all the moves should help the Rangers improve after consecutive non-playoff campaigns, and Drury says the roster isn’t set just yet.
“Certainly not going to sit here and say the job’s done and complete and move on,” he explained. “We’re still tinkering, still looking, and any which way we can help the team between now and opening night. We’re going to keep trying.”
But the at this point, the Rangers still seem destined to go as far as their power play and goaltending will take them in 2026-27.
