The Blueshirts are Back

Fresh off a Presidents’ Trophy winning season and a deep run into the Eastern Conference Finals, the expectations for the New York Rangers come the beginning of the new season couldn’t have been higher. With no major changes over the summer—the team only lost forwards Blake Wheeler, Jack Roslovic, Alex Wennberg, and Barclay Goodrow and defenseman Erik Gustaffson—fans’ optimism for the upcoming season only grew. The team also brought in experienced veteran forwards Reilly Smith from the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sam Carrick from the Edmonton Oilers to replace their losses. With the core remaining practically the same, many predicted the Rangers as contenders for the Stanley Cup again this season, with ESPN ranking the Rangers fourth in their pre-season power rankings.

The Rangers started their season off exactly as defending Presidents’ Trophy winners do, finishing the first month with a 6-2-1 record and 13 points. Everything was going right, with the team managing dominant wins over Pittsburgh (6-0), Detroit (4-1), and Montreal (7-2). The Blueshirts’ star man, forward Artemi Panarin, was scoring more than a point per game while goaltender Igor Shesterkin racked up four wins in his first five starts. The Rangers kept the great play going in the first half of November, improving their record to 12-4-1 (25 points) in the process. Their success was highlighted by goaltender Jonathan Quick’s two consecutive shutouts against Detroit on November 9 and against Seattle on November 17. 

However, after the Ranger’s 4-3 win against Vancouver on November 19, everything began to go south. The Rangers went on a five-game losing streak from November 21 to November 29, losing to Calgary, Edmonton, St. Louis, Carolina, and Philadelphia. Speaking on the poor play during this uncharacteristic losing run, Rangers’ captain and defenseman Jacob Trouba in a post game interview said, "You know it's not good enough. I think everybody knows that. Nobody needs to announce that or scream or kick and yell.” This run severely hampered their record, though they still managed to maintain a 12-9-1 record, which was enough for playoff contention. 

Unfortunately, the Rangers’ play only continued to worsen. Main veterans and power play stars, forwards Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider in particular, were scapegoated as being the roots of the problem. Kreider, who always stands in front of the net on power plays, is only on pace for nine power play goals this season, half of his total tally in the 2023/2024 season. Zibanejad has also not been producing, only being on pace for 48 points this season, compared to his 72 points in the 2023/2024 season. 

On December 6, with the Rangers’ record being 14-10-1, general manager Chris Drury decided to trade off the struggling Trouba who, at the time, had a plus/minus of negative three and only six points. He shipped Trouba and his $8 million AAV contract off to the Anaheim Ducks for Finnish defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth round pick. The goal of the trade was to free up cap space as well as create some sort of spark within the team. With the freed up cap space, Drury extended Shesterkin’s contract, signing an eight-year-deal worth $92 million, making him the highest paid goaltender in the league’s history. 

Unfortunately, this move failed to improve the Rangers’ play. Even with Vaakanainen’s solid displays, the Rangers continued to struggle, concluding December with a four-game losing streak, including embarrassing 0-5 and 2-6 losses to the New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning, respectively, and a 3-10-0 record with only six points, worsening the Rangers’ record to 16-19-1 to enter the new year—the worst in the Metropolitan Division. At the same time last year, the Rangers were the top team in the league and were the first team to reach 50 points with a dominant win over the Lightning on New Year’s Eve 2023. The Blueshirts even scratched long-time Ranger Kreider during this poor stretch. During the poor play, the Rangers also traded former second overall pick Kaapo Kakko, who had only 14 points at the time, to the Seattle Kraken for Will Borgen. The Rangers also received two more picks in the 2025 draft. Drury wanted to strengthen the defense, and Borgen was capable of doing exactly that. 

Since the start of the new year, things have begun to look positive for the Blueshirts again, with new acquisitions Borgen and forward Arthur Kaliyev strengthening the team. After starting 2025 with a 1-1-0 record, the Rangers went on a 10 game point streak lasting from January 5 to January 23, maintaining a record of 7-0-3. The Rangers also claimed Kaliyev off waivers during this streak. The great play, marked by Shesterkin’s two shutouts and highest save percentage in the league since January 1, helped the Rangers improve their overall record to 24-22-4 (52 points), with a 8-3-3 (19 points) record in January, propelling them in the hunt for a wildcard spot. The Rangers ended their games in January only three points out of a playoff spot, giving hope to Blueshirts’ fans that the Rangers might recover and miraculously qualify for playoffs. Speaking on being back in the playoff race, former Rangers forward Filip Chytil in a post-game interview said, "It’s nice. Even in the tough moments, we didn't lose our heads because we know what team we have and just didn’t forget how to play hockey in a couple of months. We have to keep going like this." 

Another major problem that has been solved recently is unequal production, with Panarin being the only player on the Rangers to average more than a point per game, compared to last year with two players averaging more than a point per game and another two averaging 0.9 points or higher per game. The Rangers can’t just rely on Panarin to score all the goals, so when his play drops, so does the entire team’s. However, even in Panarin’s poorer games in January, the Rangers still found ways to win, offering glimpses of what everyone saw from the Rangers last season.

With the blockbuster return of Canucks forward JT Miller to Broadway in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks, the Rangers’ hopes couldn’t be higher. The Blueshirts acquired the forward in a deal with the Canucks along with Erik Brannstrom and Jackson Dorrington, while sending defenseman Victor Mancini, Chytil, and a top 13-protected pick to Vancouver. Miller, a point-per-game player, has been shining in his first two games since returning to the New York Rangers, tallying four points in his first two games. 

With the Rangers ending their three-game losing streak against the Vegas Golden Nights in a comeback 4-2 win, they look to build on their new-found momentum and start a win streak prior to the start of the break for the 4 Nations Faceoff on February 12. Commenting on the desire to win with them being four points out of a playoff spot, Zibanejad said in a post-game interview, "Every game from now on is going to be a playoff-type game. We have to win, we have to get the two points—it doesn't matter what the other teams do if we don’t win." If the Rangers, who have shown a new spark on their power play with the addition of Miller to it, continue to move the puck and play with energy, they will be able to bring playoff hockey back to the Garden for Sam Rosen’s final season as their play-by-play announcer.