{"id":411484,"date":"2026-01-16T21:16:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/411484\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:16:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:16:18","slug":"new-york-rangers-announce-retool-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/411484\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Rangers Announce Retool \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Similar to Jeff Gorton<\/a> nearly seven years ago, current General Manager Chris Drury<\/a> wrote a letter<\/a> to New York Rangers fans, stating that the team would undergo a retool this season.<\/p>\n

In the letter, Drury said, \u201cThis will not be a rebuild. This will be a retool built around our core players and prospects.\u201d Drury went on to acknowledge that the fans should expect some trades or departures via free agency, saying, \u201cThat may mean saying goodbye to players that have brought us and our fans great moments over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news was largely expected. Despite wanting to compete for a playoff spot this season, the Rangers are in last place in the Eastern Conference by a three-point margin and are tied for the most games played. Their -21 goal differential is also the worst in the Conference.<\/p>\n

After losing<\/a> defenseman Adam Fox<\/a> and netminder Igor Shesterkin<\/a> to injury in early January, there was little hope that New York would be able to climb out of the hole. Still, instead of re-shaping the entire roster, Drury specified a retool, which indicates that the team may only move out expiring assets and reassess next summer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Regardless, we know of at least one player who won\u2019t finish the 2025-26 season with the Rangers. Shortly after the announcement from New York, Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman reported<\/a> that Drury met with Artemi Panarin<\/a>, telling him that the team would not be extending him an extension offer, and they would like to move him to a team where he could win the Stanley Cup or sign long-term.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, we assessed<\/a> some of the hypothetical landing spots for Panarin that were provided by Friedman, namely the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, and Washington Capitals. Determining Panarin\u2019s trade value is challenging due to the absence of recent comparables for a rental of his significance.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, there\u2019s no questioning that Panarin\u2019s market value dipped from today\u2019s news. Publicly, the Rangers remained interested in extending Panarin beyond the 2025-26 campaign. However, considering his full no-movement clause, New York will allow Panarin to pick his next destination, which will likely diminish their potential return.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Rangers don\u2019t have many additional expiring assets that will be of much value on the trade market. Joining Panarin as pending unrestricted free agents are Jonny Brodzinski<\/a>, Conor Sheary<\/a>, and Carson Soucy<\/a>. Technically, Jonathan Quick<\/a> could also be a trade candidate, but the veteran netminder has been pretty rigid in his \u2018Rangers or retirement\u2019 attitude.<\/p>\n

Assuming Drury waits until the offseason to consider trading the trickier contracts of Mika Zibanejad<\/a>, Alexis Lafreniere<\/a>, Vincent Trocheck<\/a>, etc, there are a few more veterans he may attempt to move this season.<\/p>\n

Veterans like Taylor Raddysh<\/a>, Sam Carrick<\/a>, and Urho Vaakanainen<\/a> are only signed through the 2026-27 season, potentially giving the Rangers a few more assets to move. At any rate, the Rangers now have the biggest fish leading up to the March 6th trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Similar to Jeff Gorton nearly seven years ago, current General Manager Chris Drury wrote a letter to New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5111],"tags":[3039,337,5,3328,35,30,5190,5193,4,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-411484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-rangers","8":"tag-artemi-panarin","9":"tag-chris-drury","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-rangers","13":"tag-newsstand","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkrangers","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-rangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}