NY Rangers Reveal Opening Night Roster for 2026-27 Season

The New York Rangers have revealed their opening night roster for the 2026-27 campaign.

Mar 16, 2025; New York, New York, USA; A New York Rangers flag is seen in the crown during the first period against the Edmonton Oilers at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The New York Rangers have wrapped up a condensed training camp and preseason. Now, on Tuesday night, they will be facing the Boston Bruins to kick off the season. On Monday, the team announced what their roster would look like for the first game. 

Coming off a tough year, the summer was all about trying to improve. Chris Drury publicly stated that the team was going to be retooling and not rebuilding, and that indicated a Rangers team that was going to try to compete this coming year. 

With a plethora of moves this offseason, New York was able to improve quite a bit. They added a lot of new talent in different areas, and this is a team that has a lot more depth than last season as well. 

Due to all of the new faces, it created some good competition in camp. Head coach Mike Sullivan had tough decisions to make, but the team is now set for the opener against Boston. 

Opening Night Roster Set

Introducing your 2026-27 #NYR Opening Night roster ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Dq494NRKBx

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 28, 2026

When looking at the roster for New York, there aren’t too many surprises. In the net, it became clear when the team waived Dylan Garand that they would be going with Joonas Korpisalo and Igor Shesterkin. 

On defense, this is an area that the team really sought improvements. The injury to Adam Fox last year highlighted a need for a lot more help, and the team was able to bring in some good players. The second line will be completely revamped with Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson coming over in trades. Furthermore, fifth overall pick Alberts Smits has made the team. 

Where the depth improvements were really shown were with Scott Morrow and Matthew Robertson being the likely seventh and eighth defenseman. The Rangers elected to keep both of them on the Opening Night roster, as they would have been prime candidates to lose on waivers. 

At forward, it became pretty clear about midway through camp and the preseason that Matt Rempe was going to be making the team. Coming off an injury last year, his spot was a bit uncertain heading into this year. However, he has performed well and earned it. 

Furthermore, joining him will be Jaroslav Chemlar, also making the roster. How Sullivan gets both of them playing time will be interesting. With 13 forwards, eight defenseman, and two goalies, the Rangers will be ready for Opening Night on Tuesday against the Bruins.