NY Rangers Should Be Concerned With Poor Placement in NHL Power Rankings

Should the New York Rangers be concerned with where they placed in a recent NHL power rankings?

Nov 16, 2025; New York, New York, USA; General view of a flag being waved by New York Rangers staff during the second period against the Detroit Red Wings at Madison Square Garden. / John Jones-Imagn Images

The New York Rangers have entered the offseason and, coming off a terrible year, have a lot of work to do. 

For two straight years now, the Rangers have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the franchise has been retooling. New York is trying to find the balance between getting younger and still contending, and so far, it hasn’t worked out. 

The Rangers haven’t been great at developing young talent over the last several years, but they hope that, with some staff changes of late, they will be better at it. While the team did play a bit better after the Olympic break when they got their stars, Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin, healthy, there is still a lot of work to do to improve this team. Now that the Stanley Cup Playoffs have been completed, it will be time for the team to get to work. 

ESPN recently released their way-too-early power rankings, and the Rangers were ranked 29th, which should be a concern for the franchise entering the offseason. 

New York Ranked Poorly is a Major Concern

New York Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury / The Journal News-Imagn Images

With the Rangers coming into the offseason ranked 29th, there is clearly a lot of work to do for the franchise. New York was only ahead of the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks, and Calgary Flames, which isn’t the company that they want to be in. 

Fortunately, while things aren’t great right now, the Rangers are going to have the opportunity to improve. They will be entering the offseason with a lot of cap space and two picks in the first round. 

However, while those two things are good to have to make improvements, the free agency class isn’t overly strong, and there is no guarantee that a draft pick would come in and help right away. 

With Chris Drury likely wanting to make a splash, the trade market seems like it could be the potential way to do so. Drury could very well be on the hot seat if the team misses the playoffs again, and given how the roster looks right now, being a playoff contender would be tough. 

There will undoubtedly be options for the Rangers to improve this summer, but how they go about it will be interesting. Unfortunately, the team can’t be pleased with where they are in the power rankings, but it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise based on how the season went.