NY Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan introduced in Tarrytown
Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan is introduced during a press conference at the MSG Training Center in Tarrytown, New York, May 8, 2025.
How should the Rangers proceed following one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history?
Team president and general manager Chris Drury already crossed off an important box by locking up a premier head coach in Mike Sullivan, but that was only step one in this daunting reclamation project.
Let’s take a closer look at the remaining items on New York’s lengthy to-do list heading into a long summer:
Fill out the coaching staff
Drury landed the coach he covets, but now he and Sullivan must fill out a nimble, trustworthy staff.
The new bench boss is going to have a lot on his plate, which is why it will be critical to choose the right assistants to run a power play that sagged all the way to 27th in the NHL last season and a defense that also ranked among the league’s worst.
It’s unclear how deep the Rangers are into the process, but we know that two holdovers from Peter Laviolette’s staff − Dan Muse and Michael Peca − are expected to interview, if they haven’t already. Muse is considered likeliest to stay, according to a league source, but nothing has been confirmed by the team.
It’s also unclear if Sullivan will bring over any of his assistants from Pittsburgh. It sounds like a no go for former Blueshirts coach David Quinn, but Ty Hennes and Mike Vellucci could be possibilities, assuming they don’t stick around with the Penguins.
There will be under-the-radar candidates considered, as well. The only guarantees are Christian Hmura returning as skills coach and Jeff Malcolm staying on to oversee the goalies.
Decide what to do with draft pick
The Rangers have until June 25 to decide whether they’re going to keep the No. 12 pick in this year’s draft and send an unprotected 2026 first-rounder to Pittsburgh or vice versa.
The narrow consensus is they’ll take the former approach, betting on the 2025-26 team to play better and pick later. But it’s not a no-brainer. There are compelling cases to be made both ways.
If they keep the ’25 pick and send the ’26, it sends a clear message that they’re going for it. They can use the 12th pick to add a quality prospect to their system, with the expectation it’ll be their highest pick for a while, or trade it before the draft to add a win-now piece to the current roster.
On the other hand, if they ditch the ’25 pick and keep the ’26, the Rangers will hold a valuable asset for another calendar year. It could be used to offer sheet a restricted free agent this summer or flipped to fortify their lineup around next year’s trade deadline, and if the season goes sideways again, it eliminates the risk of losing an unprotected first in what most scouts consider a better draft class.
Decisions, decisions…
Manage RFAs
The Rangers have two key RFAs of their own in forward Will Cuylle and defenseman K’Andre Miller, both of whom are positioned for raises this summer.
Cuylle is coming off a standout sophomore season in which he scored 20 goals, broke the franchise record for hits and won the prestigious Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award. He’s exactly the type of player Drury wants more of − gritty in the all the right ways, defensively responsible and plenty skilled − and can’t afford to lose. Other teams surely feel the same way, which makes the 23-year-old the most vulnerable Ranger to an offer sheet.
Miller is a trickier situation because A) He’s been less consistent; and B) He’s going to cost more. But New York would be hard-pressed to let him go given the heavy workload he handles and his status as the clear No. 1 on a thin left-handed D depth chart. The 25-year-old recently underwent surgery for an upper-body injury, which probably increases the chances of him staying on a short-term deal. Don’t be surprised to see a two-year pact that takes him to his first UFA summer in 2027.
That pair could combine for $8 million or more in average annual value, with a host of other RFAs to consider, as well. That list includes forwards Brendan Brisson, Adam Edström, Arthur Kaliyev and Matt Rempe and defensemen Zac Jones and Matthew Robertson.
Clear salary
I’m working on a detailed salary cap breakdown that should publish in the next week or so, but the narrative that the Rangers have all this space to work with is very much overblown.
If you include all the players who finished this season on the roster and are under contract for 2025-26, they’re looking at less than $8.5 million in available cap space. Cuylle and Miller could eat that up by themselves, leaving no room for outside additions.
Drury can shave a little by sending young players to the AHL, which is likely. But he’ll need to clear sizable chunks of salary if he wants to upgrade this roster − and that won’t be easy. (Imagine if the Rangers were still carrying Jacob Trouba at an $8 million AAV?)
Have hard conversations with veterans
Which brings us to our next item.
It’s hard to imagine Drury standing pat with this core, which puts a few familiar faces directly in the crosshairs. That process started during the season with the ousters of Trouba, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko and others, but more surgery will be required to create sufficient roster flexibility.
Chris Kreider is the obvious one. As lohud.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported back in February, multiple league sources believe the Blueshirts and their longest-tenured player are heading for a divorce this summer. Not only has the relationship between player and management seemingly soured, particularly since Drury blindsided the 34-year-old winger by shopping him to other GMs in late-November, but it’s a practical solution from a depth-chart standpoint. New York’s deepest position is left wing, where Cuylle, Brett Berard, Brennan Othmann and top prospect Gabe Perreault are vying for more ice time and Alexis Lafrenière offers yet another alternative after switching to his off-hand side two seasons ago.
If the Rangers can work around Kreider’s 15-team no-trade list and clear his full $6.5 million AAV − big ifs, I know − it would push their available cap space to around $15 million. That should be enough to pay their RFAs and bring in an impact addition, but it won’t be enough to change the overall complexion of the roster.
In order to do that, Drury will have to get creative − and that may require having hard, delicate conversations with established veterans who control their own fates.
Will he approach Artemi Panarin ($11.643 million AAV) or Mika Zibanejad ($8.5 million AAV) about waiving their no-movement clauses? (If he hasn’t already.) And if neither are agreeable to a trade, which most believe to be the case, will he consider moving young pieces such as Lafrenière, Miller or Braden Schneider?
Selling low on any of those former first-round picks would be a tough look and draw warranted criticism, but the alternative may be accepting a net loss on someone like Carson Soucy. Drury surrendered a third-round pick to acquire the 6-foot-5 defenseman in March and may be forced to sweeten the pot to convince another team to take that $3.25 million AAV off his hands just a few months later.
Shore up the defense
The cracks in the Rangers’ D corps have been evident for years, but those leaks became full-blown holes this season.
There was regression from pretty much every defensemen on the roster, which contributed to New York ranking 28th in the league in both shots and scoring chances against per game. The outlook is especially murky on the left side, where it’s Miller and a collection of players who would struggle to crack the lineup of any current playoff team.
The switch from Laviolette’s demanding man-to-man system to Sullivan’s zone scheme should help, as should the layered 1-2-2 forecheck in front of the D. But upgrades are clearly needed, including an infusion of forwards who are committed to defense.
Drury didn’t leave himself much wiggle room by trading for Soucy and handing out extensions to Will Borgen and Urho Vaakanainen, but it running it back with the same group is asking for trouble.
Identify targets who fit Sullivan’s system
One of the issues during Drury’s tenure has been pairing coaches who want to play a straight-ahead, tight-checking style with players who don’t fit that mold. But after pursuing Sullivan for years and making him the NHL’s highest-paid coach, it stands to reason that the two-time Stanley Cup winning coach will have a larger say in personnel decisions than his predecessors.
Sullivan’s primary objective will be squeezing more out of the returning players and adapting his system to maximize their strengths. But he spoke at his May 8 press conference about talent alone not being enough to win championships, putting an emphasis on upping the Rangers’ collective work rate.
Drury has seemingly recognized that flaw, as well, and is expected to target players who make New York bigger, faster and tougher. He must ensure they have the proper skills and mindset to fulfill the basic principles of Sullivan’s aggressive system.
For forwards, the priority will be puck pursuit and tenacity. Disrupting opponents’ breakouts and causing turnovers that lead to offense are areas where the Rangers have been lacking and will need to improve to execute Sullivan’s attacking forecheck.
And on defense, mobility and puck movement will be keys. The D will be asked to pressure at the blue line, fill gaps and jump passing lanes, then have the skill and wherewithal to quickly get it moving in the other direction.
Don’t be surprised to see the Rangers pursue Sullivan’s former players to set the example, with UFA defensemen Brian Dumoulin and Matt Grzelcyk possible targets.
Be bold, but calculated
After four years of mostly relying on the core built by previous GM Jeff Gorton, Drury is motivated to finally put his stamp on this roster. He’s tried a few big swings over the years that either never materialized or didn’t quite work out, but his in-season dismantling was clearly aimed at making room for something bolder in the near future.
The question is: Who’s available that could catapult the Rangers back into contention? Reacquiring J.T. Miller on Jan. 31 was viewed as a culture-changing trade, but internally they understand there’s more work to be done.
It will be difficult to land a true needle-mover via free agency given the cap restrictions we’ve mentioned. They can’t afford to shop at the top of the UFA market, where Toronto winger Mitch Marner will lead a mediocre class and command a deal well over $10 million per season. Florida center Sam Bennett represents the best fit for what Drury and Sullivan are looking for and L.A. defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov should be the No. 1 LHD available (although some may prefer Columbus’ Ivan Provorov), but both will be a hot commodities and may end up too pricey, as well.
Meanwhile, the early trade market looks even less promising. Prying Brady Tkachuk out of Ottawa is an unrealistic pipe dream at the moment, with little chatter about other high-end talents who might be available. Can Drury uncover one that no one is talking about? There’s a healthy dose of skepticism.
The RFA route would certainly represent bold action. Buffalo’s JJ Peterka is a name to monitor, especially if the Rangers hold their 2026 first-round pick, with Matthew Knies, Ryan McLeod, Mason McTavish, Marco Rossi, Gabe Vilardi and Dmitri Voronkov adding to an exciting list of young forwards. And at left defense, Bowen Byram, Nicolas Hague, Alexander Romanov, Dylan Samberg and Cam York are all eligible for offer sheets.
But if none of the UFA, RFA or trade options pan out, Drury must re-calibrate. The heat is turned up after a lost season for which he shoulders plenty of blame, but rarely does anything good come from desperation. If he can’t land the right fit in the coming months, it’s better to save the bullets for the summer of 2026 − when Panarin’s deal expires, the total cap jumps to $104 million and superstars such as Jack Eichel, Kirill Kaprizov and Connor McDavid are set to become free agents − than set the franchise back further by forcing the wrong move.
The window to win, which seemed to pop wide open three short years ago, is rapidly closing. Drury realizes that and must act accordingly, but not at the expense of acting wisely.
Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.