NY Rangers Wisely Expected to Keep Veteran Core Intact This Offseason

The New York Rangers are expected to keep their veteran core mostly intact.

Apr 11, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (31) stops a breakaway shot by Dallas Stars center Matt Duchene (95) during the second period at the American Airlines Center. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

With the offseason underway for the New York Rangers, the team will be actively preparing for what is going to be an important summer. 

Coming off a very disappointing campaign, the Rangers are a team that is going to have a lot of work to do in the coming months. New York had the worst record in the Eastern Conference this season, and that has resulted in them having, at worst, a Top 5 pick in the upcoming NHL Draft. However, with the third-highest odds to get the first overall pick, they will be hoping that they will be able to land an impact player. 

Furthermore, while the draft is going to help them for the future, this is a franchise that has missed the playoffs for two straight years and is going to want to compete. In order to accomplish that, they will need some of their young players to continue to develop, but also to add some veteran help. Fortunately, this is a team that has some really good things in place already, and some of that is their strong veteran foundation. 

Peter Baugh of The Athletic (subscription required) recently wrote about whether or not the veteran core of the Rangers would remain intact this offseason. With the goal for the team being to retool and not rebuild, that appears to be the case. 

New York is Wise to Keep Key Veterans

New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Even though it might have been a disappointing year, the Rangers do still have some good things in place on the roster. As they look to head into next year, they will have one of the best goalies in the league in Igor Shesterkin in the net. The talented goalie missed some time because of injury this season, but he is one of the best in the business when healthy. 

Furthermore, right in front of him is a great defensive duo in Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov. This combo wasn’t on the ice as much as the team would have liked with Fox injured, but they were really strong together as first-year defensive partners. 

Up front, the team should have Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller returning, but one of the question marks will be Vincent Trocheck. He was mentioned quite a bit in trade rumors during the season, and it appears that could continue to be the case this summer. 

Overall, even though the record might have been poor, there are still some good things in place for the Rangers. While they will need to improve, having a strong veteran core is important.