NY Rangers Might Not Pursue Upgrades to Help in Key Area

Would the New York Rangers be making a mistake not pursuing help in a key area?

Apr 15, 2026; Tampa, Florida, USA; New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad (93) (center) reacts with left wing Alexis Lafrenière (13) (left) and center J.T. Miller (8) (right) after scoring a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second period at Benchmark International Arena. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

With the season coming to an end for the New York Rangers, the team will be switching gears and starting to focus on an important offseason. 

Even though the team played a bit better and showed some signs of life down the stretch, it was an overall really poor campaign for the franchise. The Rangers finished with the worst record in the Eastern Conference, and they will have the third-highest odds of landing the first overall pick. 

Despite the struggles and missing the playoffs in each of the last two campaigns, the team is focused on retooling rather than rebuilding. Despite the terrible record, there is reason to believe that they can be successful in doing so, but they will have to make some improvements. 

Recently, Chris Drury spoke about some potential needs for the team to address this winter and highlighted getting some help for their bottom six forwards and another playmaker on the blue line. Furthermore, the backup goalie spot appears to be an area that they will be looking at, even though Dylan Garand played well for them in limited time this year. 

However, one area that seemed likely to be improved was their top 6 forwards. Surprisingly, that might not be the case. 

Rangers Not Pressing To Improve Top 6 

Does Drury think they need to upgrade top 6?

"We're always looking at tweaking and looking at ways to get more scoring... I think playing a team game that we did down the stretch and not relying on one person. Spreading out the scoring is always a good way to look at things, and…

— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) April 17, 2026

Due to the struggles of the team, it is a bit surprising to hear Drury not being overly focused on improving the Rangers' top six. While this unit did play better down the stretch, offensive production overall was a major issue for the team. 

However, perhaps the play of Gabriel Perreault and Alexis Lafrenière on the first line alongside Mika Zibanejad changed their minds a bit. These two are both still very young players, with Perreault being just a rookie, and there is room to grow. However, adding another top-six forward would certainly help provide them with some insurance in case the young talent doesn't continue to develop, and would help them avoid a letdown next year. 

With a plethora of cap space and two first-round picks, New York is going to have some great options this summer to improve. Obviously, getting the first-round pick in the NHL Lottery would be ideal, but they know that they will be guaranteed a Top 5 pick. Even though free agency isn’t overly impressive this year, there will be players who will be able to help the team turn things around.