The 2026 NHL season is over, and the best we can say for the New York Rangers is that it happened. They scuffled their way through 82 games, with very few real highlights and mostly painful nights watching them, especially at home. This loyal and passionate fan base was treated to one of the worst seasons since the early 2000’s dark ages, as a 20-year window of contention slammed shut on their hands. 14 wins under the pin wheel ceiling is just about as bad as things can get in this league, especially when you consider the fact that this team finished a game over .500 on the road, a feature of teams that typically compete for a playoff spot.

But unfortunately, that record only tells a small part of the story of this year’s mess. There were nightmare losses like a Saturday afternoon in Boston where the Rangers were thumped 10-2 back in January, or the following Monday night against the Senators where they fell 8-4 at home. Sure, a host of injuries affected them with Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin both missing significant time, and while that affected the results for sure, it wasn’t like they performed so well with them in the lineup either.

But I don’t think any other player better represented the letdown that this team was more than it’s captain, JT Miller. Now I’ll be the first to admit I was excited about a full year of Miller leading the way for this roster after his solid stretch run last spring, so much so that I purchased the new centennial jersey with his name on the back. I expected offensive dynamism and physical play to antagonize the opposition…sadly we got anything but that from him from the jump this year.

"We had a great start, drew a penalty, scored on a penalty, it's funny how the game works sometimes. All of a sudden it's 3-0 and they're booing again"

J.T. Miller talks about how momentum shifted after the second period tonight vs. Columbus pic.twitter.com/I3C4O0bTvH

— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) March 3, 2026

His 51 points (17 goals and 34 assists) in 67 games seems palatable enough, but his -30 rating helps to illustrate the dreadful all around play he put on display all season long. There were turnovers a plenty, lazy sequences in his own end and an even worse attitude off the ice. The only thing he did consistently was attack the fan base for being too negative while they watched this group get embarrassed on home ice time and again this season. And his reward for this brutal play and miserable attitude was…the Rod Gilbert Mr. Ranger Award? And yes, before you yell at me, I know the award recognizes charitable donations made by the player and Miller made a very significant one to the Garden of Dreams fund. I certainly applaud him for doing that, but it also highlights on and off ice leadership, and Miller pales in comparison to Gilbert on that front.

I certainly understand wanting the fans at your back and there is a ton of value in a rowdy home ice advantage, just ask the Sabres as they make their return to the playoffs this spring. I have often felt this fan base is far too negative at times, especially when this team was competing for championships and one regular season loss would throw off the morale during a Presidents Trophy campaign. But when the performance is like it was this year, then fans negativity is justified. I could go on and on, but I think Red Wings coach Todd McClellan summed it up pretty well when reacting to Red Wings booing the team off the ice after their second half collapse.

“And this outside noise stuff or whatever, that’s inside noise. Those are our fans in our building, and they pay to watch us play, and we get paid well to perform for them. And they’re fully entitled to their opinion, and we deserve their opinion. Like, there’s no other way to sugarcoat it. That, that’s what we earned.” – Todd McClellan

While there is plenty more to be negative about, I want to switch gears and talk about some of the positives of the season. Let’s start with head coach Mike Sullivan who aside from continuously playing son in law Connor Sheary, did about as good a job as one can while finishing under .500. At times this group played with more defensive structure than they have in a few years and skated north and south far more often. He connected with both young players and veterans alike, and the teams post-Olympic break performance is a testament to his building of a new culture. Hopefully they can build on that as we head into 26-27, but “momentum” is an odd beast in between seasons.

There were a fair share of improved player performances this season after letdowns in 25-26. Mika Zibanejad played in his 1,000th NHL game, returned to his usually strong three zone game, and won the Steven MacDonald award in the process. Will Cuylle had another twenty-goal season, and Alexis Lafreniere did the same after a strong stretch of games post Olympics. Vincent Trocheck only appeared in 66 games but had another strong season as an all-around player and leader off the ice. When healthy Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov formed a formidable top pair at both ends of the rink. And last but not least, Igor Shesterkin who was top ten in both save percentage and goals against average while ignoring Chris Drury’s letter to the fans and impending rebuilding plans.

Now you may be asking yourself how did the Rangers get these solid performances and still manage to be so disappointing? The truth is that outside of a few of the names above (Mika, the d-men, & Igor) those performances were keyed by some emerging young talents that entered the lineup throughout the season or occurred after the Olympics. Gabe Perreault headlines the rookie class with his 26 points in 48 games, showing some real skill and maturity as the season progressed. Noah Laba showed that he could stick as full time bottom six centerman in this league, working well with Adam Sykora and Jaroslav Chmelar who showed some fun flashes down the stretch. Matthew Robertson had a solid first full season the league, putting up a -3 in 71 games (an achievement considering some of the ugly nights), while local boy Drew Fortescue’s late season cameo showed some promise. Even goaltender Dylan Garand made some nice appearances as he looks to compete to be Shesterkin’s backup next year.

There were plenty of other faces on the roster this season, like Will Borgen, the king of just existing, not to be outdone by Braden Schneider who had another mixed bag of a season. Johnny Brodzinksi and Tye Kartye were the best of the rotational veterans while a few others mixed in and put out mostly underwhelming performances. So, with all that said, the paramount question is, how do the Rangers get better from here?

The answer begins and ends with general manager Chris Drury, who is charged with repairing damage that he has mostly done himself. It was a tough year for Drury, who much like his team earned plenty of boos from the crowd. He even heard the boo birds when he was honored for helping Team USA win the Gold Medal, but that’s New York for you. Somehow, we made it this far into this piece and have yet to discuss his trade of Artemi Panarin to the Kings, who the Breadman dragged to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The return of prospect Liam Greentree and a couple of picks was underwhelming at the time, and likely won’t materialize into something until next season should Greentree actually make it on the big club at some point or be traded for another piece.

Speaking of draft picks, the first important checkpoint along the offseason road this summer is the NHL Draft Lottery, where the Rangers will find out where their first-round pick lands. Drury smartly gave the Penguins the Rangers first rounder in last year’s draft so the Blueshirts will stay in the lottery for college star Gavin McKenna. The young winger put up 51 points in 35 collegiate games this season and would be the type of prospect that would inject life back into this team. Should they be unlucky and don’t land the pick, which they’ll have the fourth best odds to do, it will be interesting to see how Drury makes his next move. The Rangers cupboard is bare so perhaps a trade down the board is in order to get more capital, or perhaps he’ll get more aggressive in search of a big acquisition and flip the lottery pick for a player. Regardless Tuesday May 5th will be an important night in “Rangerstown.”

Then there is the matter of whether or not Drury will look to unload more of his roster players to continue a sale he began by moving Panarin pre-deadline. The most likely outgoing name at this time remains Vincent Trocheck, who was nearly dealt at the trade deadline and had a number of potential suitors. That market will likely intensify as draft night approaches, and while trading the reliable centerman doesn’t really make sense in conjunction with improving next season, it feels like that saga was too far down the road to turn back now. Moving Trocheck and perhaps d-man Braden Schneider, whom I don’t think the Rangers want to commit to long term, would help reload the system and give them an even bigger mountain of cap space.

All those factors aside, Drury and the front office need to get back to making strong NHL acquisitions and evaluating players better on a consistent basis. This was a strength of the organization for a long time and one of the individuals who helped make that possible is back with the front office, as Kevin Maxwell has returned as pro scouting director. Maxwell assisted Glen Sather, Jeff Gorton and Drury, playing a part in a number of trades, most notably the deals to acquire Zibanejad, Ryan McDonagh, and Rick Nash. Nothing is guaranteed, and Maxwell is no more of a genius than any other club employee, but the hire feels interesting considering the Rangers recent struggles to win deals and identify good players to add.

Now let’s talk players to target this summer, one’s that could be worth the Rangers vast cap space, or at least in my humble opinion that is. Well’s let’s start with the obvious, the Rangers will be heavily linked to and will go after disgruntled Ottawa Senators star Brady Tkachuk. Drury has long coveted “the other brother” and with good reason as Tkachuk continues to mature into a better and better player in this league. The trouble with that is that short of trading their lottery pick, it feels unlikely that the Rangers would have enough assets that interest Ottawa enough to get a deal done. There will also be plenty of competition for Tkachuk’s services, which will only drive the price up.

I’d circle Jason Robertson’s name as another potential trade candidate, especially if the Stars crash out of the playoffs early and “Robo” struggles in the postseason as he has before, but similar to Tkachuk I don’t think the Rangers have enough to get it done. If anything, I expect them to be major players in the free agent market, as they will have around 30 million in available cap space. The only problem with that is…there isn’t really a collection of attractive free agents. The slideshow above represents the players I’d be the most interested in and could see as potential fits on Broadway, as the Rangers will likely try to close the gap on returning to contention with a host of moves.

Regardless of who the Rangers try to add to solve their problems from the outside, there is no path back to winning without Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox. Now I’m less worried about Shesterkin asking to leave the team due to the rebuild, as he’s laughed off the idea of the letter to the fans and scoffed at the idea of this not being his team. But Fox is the larger concern as in the wake of the Olympics, he said he needed to assess his future here in the offseason, insinuating he doesn’t want to sit through the work Drury will be doing. Simply put, there is no way to win a trade where you sell off Adam Fox to another team. Any player you get back likely won’t be equal to his talents and you’d be hoping any future asset develops into him…which is highly unlikely. Drury, Sullivan and his teammates must convince Fox this summer that this will turn around quickly and they can move forward with him here.

One player the Rangers won’t be continuing forward with next season is backup netminder Jonathan Quick, who is retiring with the season drawing to a close. Quick came here with a lot of the fan base hesitant to accept him because of him being on the winning end of the 2014 Cup Final and his less than stellar play as he exited LA, Vegas, and arrived here in the preseason. But the local boy made good with everyone as he played some critically important games in the 2024 season when Shesterkin struggled and was a strong performer in 25 and 26 in spite of the team’s obvious warts. He was a consummate professional on and off the ice who represented the organization with class everyday…which is a lot more than some of his teammates can say. Vinny Trocheck paid a wonderful tribute to number 32 in the quote below. A salute to you Quickie from all of us Ranger fans, you were a pleasure to have!

“He’s as good a teammate as you can find. There’s an infinite amount of positive things you can say about him. He’s the best teammate, unbelievable guy. He’s the definition of a glue guy. He’s a hall of famer.” – Vincent Trocheck on Jonathan Quick

In the end, the only thing we know for sure this offseason is that it will be anything but dull, which is an improvement on the season. Sure, players on the team had statistically solid years, though for some that was cosmetic, and in some cases brought on by the late season youth movement. Very few Rangers can put their head down at night say, “I gave it my all every night I played,” this season, which speaks to just how much work there is still to do, even if all these young players work out. Whether or not they can improve in 26-27, let alone become exponentially better, will be reliant on luck and some crafty executive work. Unfortunately based on their history they’re short on luck, and based on Drury’s history, they’re short on crafty work.

But I know I’m not alone when I say I hope it gets better quickly. This team, like all of you, has been a massive part of my life since I started following them 16 seasons ago. My family bonds over them, I have forged lifelong friendships because of them, we have all spent countless nights in that building or on never ending text chains breaking down the games. Usually when the marathon campaign is over, we are depressed and miss the team instantly. But that’s where this season was different, as it was such a slog I think we all couldn’t wait for it to end. We fans deserve far better treatment and hopefully they give it to us next season on and off the ice. Hopefully they build positivity with the moves they make in the summer. Hope is dangerous thing because it’s the hope that kills ya…but it’s all we got. So LGR, and may next year be a whole hell of a lot better than this one!

On twitter you can find Mike @Mike_Sheerin, Tyler @TMon_19 and Sean @SeanMartinNFL. Subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Our podcasts are available on Spotify. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon.