{"id":630072,"date":"2026-07-24T13:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T13:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/630072\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T13:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T13:36:20","slug":"newcomers-pettersson-durzi-eager-to-form-winning-partnership-with-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/630072\/","title":{"rendered":"Newcomers Pettersson, Durzi eager to form winning partnership with Rangers"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Rangers News<\/a><\/p>\n

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The New York Rangers are counting on Marcus Pettersson<\/a> and Sean Durzi<\/a> to form a solid No. 2 defense pairing behind Adam Fox<\/a> and Vladislav Gavrikov<\/a>. The two newcomers, acquired by the Rangers<\/a> in separate trades on July 1, sound eager to do just that.<\/p>\n

Pettersson and Gavrikov met the local media via Zoom on Thursday, with each looking forward to beginning his time in New York by helping the Rangers end their two-year playoff drought.<\/p>\n

Each had nothing but nice things to say about his new home, his new team \u2013 and his likely new partner.<\/p>\n

\"NHL:Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn ImagesCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Sean\u2019s game. I know he\u2019s a great skater,\u201d said Pettersson, who came from the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> in exchange for a top-10 protected first-round pick in the 2030 NHL Draft. \u201cHe can move the puck. Offensive guy, but he\u2019s got an edge to him as well, and stuff like that. I played with John Marino, who he played with in Utah, and he only talked good things about him in his game. If we are a pair, great.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s a great group of defensemen that we have, and I think we have some healthy competition there too, where you can mix match and see what chemistry works, what pairings work, and stuff like that. If I do get the opportunity to play with Sean, I think we\u2019d make a great pair. We can complement each other very well. I like that edge that that he\u2019s playing with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durzi, who was the biggest piece the Rangers received in the trade that sent center Vincent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth,<\/a> was equally complimentary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Marcus\u2019 game is incredible,\u201d he said. \u201cYou look at this D core \u2014 it\u2019s a solid D core. It\u2019s a lot of great players. It\u2019s an exciting D core. I think whatever they have planned for me, I think that\u2019s what I\u2019m willing to do. If I\u2019m lucky enough to play with Marcus, then I think it\u2019s an exciting pair.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the end of the day, when you have a D corps where there\u2019s so many good players pushing each other, that kind of moves the envelope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durzi added that the two communicated since the trades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny \u2014 he was at a wedding with my agent, and we spoke on the phone a little bit,\u201d the 27-year-old said. \u201cJust the excitement of coming to New York and playing together and playing for such a great organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NHL:Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY SportsCredit: USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Pettersson does have one extra point of familiarity: He played under current Rangers coach Mike Sullivan for seven-plus seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 30-year-old defenseman is looking forward to the reunion.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a person, I feel like me and \u2018Sully\u2019 had a great relationship,\u201d Pettersson shared. \u201cHe\u2019s a straightforward kind of guy. You\u2019re never really wondering what you should do or where you\u2019re at or stuff like that \u2026 I love that about him. And system-wise, I feel like it tends to play into my playing style.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to play a fast-paced style, like he wants to play, and pressure on puck. I feel like his system is so good, where you don\u2019t have to overthink things out there. You\u2019re playing off your instincts, and your instincts are what brought you to where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rangers leaders reach out to newcomers Durzi, Pettersson<\/p>\n

Though Pettersson had \u201cnothing but great things to say about Vancouver,\u201d he was quite willing to waive the no-movement clause<\/a> in his contract to come to the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, the Rangers being an Original Six, growing up idolizing that team and stuff like that. It all happened very quickly, to be honest with you,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when I got the opportunity to come here, and with the history with some of the coaching staff that I have there, it was a great opportunity. I\u2019m super excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pettersson said he has had \u201csome great conversations\u201d with fellow Swede Mika Zibanejad<\/a> since the trade, and also mentioned that Rangers captain J.T. Miller<\/a> reached out to him. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome of my teammates in Vancouver talked about J.T. and how great of a person he is,\u201d Pettersson said of Miller, who played with the Canucks before coming to the Rangers on Jan. 31, 2025.<\/a> \u201cThey reached out and said, \u2018You\u2019re gonna love him and his family and stuff like that, and the competitiveness that (he) brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ironically, the first-round pick the Rangers traded to the Canucks as part of the Miller deal was immediately used by the Canucks to acquire Pettersson from the Penguins. And now, here Pettersson is with Miller and the Rangers.<\/p>\n

\"NHL:Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn ImagesCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Durzi said he likes the idea of playing with Pettersson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Marcus\u2019 game is incredible,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve played against him a lot. If I\u2019m lucky enough to play with Marcus, then I think it\u2019s an exciting pair. If not, then wherever I fit in this lineup, I know that the [defense] corps is going to carry a lot of the load. There\u2019s a lot of really good defensemen that are going to push each other every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durzi is the more offensive-minded defenseman, and is a right shot, to fit in behind Fox on the depth chart. Pettersson, a lefty, slots in behind Gavrikov and, though known for his defensive play, is adept at moving the puck quickly and efficiently out of his own end, something that was a big issue for the Rangers in recent seasons.<\/p>\n

So, that makes a potential partnership on the second defense pairing for the newcomers a logical one for the Rangers. It also creates more depth on the blue line, where righty Braden Schneider<\/a> mans the third pair, and 18-year-old rookie Alberts Smits<\/a> is among several players heading to camp with a chyance to win a spot on the Opening Night roster.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see if the good offseason vibes with the Rangers defense corps turn into good results when the regular season opens in Boston on Sept. 29.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\tJohn Kreiser covered his first Rangers game (against the California Golden Seals) in November 1975 and is still going … More about John Kreiser<\/a><\/p>\n

Add Forever Blueshirts as a Preferred Source on Google.\"Google<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Rangers News The New York Rangers are counting on Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi to form…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5111],"tags":[5,3328,35,5190,5193,4,36],"class_list":["post-630072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-rangers","tag-hockey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkrangers","tag-nhl","tag-rangers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116975225381993676","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630072","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=630072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}