Rangers Begin 2025-26 NHL Season With More Questions Than Answers

The New York Rangers rightfully hollowed out a feckless, broken depth chart that produced one of the most humiliating seasons in franchise history in 2024-25.

But when the team exited the 2025 offseason without many of the anticipated additions, the implication seemed to be that the organization would transition responsibilities over to a younger group. In the most wide-open Rangers training camp in years, the question was which prospects in a wide pool would seize the opportunities.

How anticlimactic that it is that the team instead enters opening night with a near status quo. Gabe Perreault, Brennan Othmann, and Scott Morrow were among the parade of prospects demoted to the AHL.

All of those decisions were either justified or, at a minimum, explainable both as a matter of individual play and team circumstance. But as one looks over what remains of the Rangers' 23-man roster for its first game on Tuesday against Pittsburgh, the course ahead appears as foggy as ever. Let's dig into some of the key decisions and try to make sense of where the organization goes from here.

Brennan Othmann's Reality Check

Brennan Othmann is the one prospect who actively played his way out of the conversation. The 2021 first-round pick entered training camp having played three straight inconsistent seasons in both the OHL and AHL.

While most of the prospects hung around until the end, Othmann was sent packing fairly early. New Head Coach Mike Sullivan gave a public voice to the concerns that some scouts have privately expressed for the last few years: Othmann has relied solely on goal scoring to reach the NHL, and in the process, has failed to provide consistency in other key facets of the game.

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When Othmann is focused and motivated, he stands out on the ice as a physical, energetic presence away from the puck. The remaining question is about what's in between the ears. It's not encouraging that this big question mark in his development from when he was a 19-year-old OHLer remains three professional training camps later.

It's not curtains for Othmann at 22. He certainly has the capacity to do the things necessary to make it as a middle-six NHL winger. However, this is likely to be the last time the organization accepts growing pains as an excuse.

A Coaching Staff With Its Hands Full

Other prospects had respectable, if not bright, training camps, but were nonetheless cut. Among them are top prospects Gabe Perreault and Scott Morrow, as well as 23-year-old Brett Berard.

We can debate the merits of each player — and there are certainly strong arguments to make for all three to be on the NHL roster at the moment — but maybe the Rangers are basing these decisions on more than just a face-value assessment of who the best players were in training camp.

Consider, for instance, the overwhelming to-do list for the brand-new coaching staff. For one, they have to rebuild a team culture that completely imploded last season. Secondly, they need to prepare the team for an overhaul of its tactical philosophies.

Mike Sullivan is a detail-oriented coach who demands a lot of his players. Not just as a matter of heart and effort, but also significant "if...then" computing for assignments on the forecheck, defensive zone structure, breakouts, and so on. It's a lot for even veteran players to absorb, and Sullivan will be working with several players — Mika Zibanejad, Alexis Lafreniére, Vincent Trocheck — who need to refind their games.

The Rangers may have decided that, even if certain prospects could play in the NHL right now, the coaching staff won't be able to give them the extra attention they'll need.

Perhaps, then, the Rangers will re-evaluate in a month or two once the coaches feel they've established a baseline.

Learning From the Past

General manager Chris Drury was inside the organization when his predecessors largely botched what was supposed to be the most important rebuild in franchise history. Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov, Lias Andersson, and Brett Howden are the most notable names who did not live up to their potential in New York. You can arguably add Lafreniére to that list.

What all five have in common is that their developmental timelines were rushed. Some were brought over to Europe almost immediately and were given regrettable promises in terms of their opportunities. Howden and Kakko completely skipped the AHL altogether. All were inserted into the NHL at least one year too early.

This lost generation haunts the organization, and Drury is determined to ensure it does not happen under his watch. It is important that the pendulum does not swing too far in the opposite direction, but even if Perreault, Morrow, and/or Berard are arguably NHL-ready, a few months in the AHL won't hurt them.

Laba Makes The Team

For all the big-name prospects in training camp, fourth-round pick Noah Laba was the dark horse to watch.

He utilizes his size well. He works hard. He makes the aggressive but thought-out defensive plays that Sullivan loves. And he has the capacity for contributing to secondary offenses. The idea of Juuso Parssinen as a third-line center is a certified nightmare, and it's baffling that the team ever considered him for the role. Fortunately, Laba forced the team's hand, and they've responded accordingly.

Laba's inclusion in the opening night lineup earns them the benefit of the doubt on the rest of their decisions with the youngsters. It shows that the coaching staff is open-minded about who it includes on the roster and that they have time for any prospect, even a largely unheralded one.

A Team in Purgatory

The decision-making with the prospects (Laba aside) may be justified in the short term. Still, in combination with the team's decisions over the last six or so months, the resulting picture is a team without direction.

Even if the coaching staff can get the likes of Zibanejad, Trocheck, and Lafreniére back on their A-games, it's hard to see where they'll be getting much help. The trio of Connor Sheary, Laba, and Taylor Raddysh is possibly the worst third line in the NHL.

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Defensive pairings like Will Borgen-Carson Soucy and Braden Schneider-Urho Vaakanainen pale in comparison to what rivals like the Devils and Hurricanes will trot out.

If the Rangers are prioritizing a competitive season, and they did not believe multiple prospects would be able to jump into the lineup right away and make an impact, then why did they not supplement the roster with NHL-caliber talent? What lies in the wake of the departure of high-upside prospects is a very paltry depth chart.

Yet, if the idea is that the Rangers intend to tread water for a season or two while taking the scenic route with prospect development, then that's hard to connect to the trade for 32-year-old J.T. Miller and the seven-year contract handed out to soon-to-be 30-year-old Vladislav Gavrikov.

The escape hatch to this predicament appeared to be grandiose plans for a franchise-altering addition in 2026. Now Connor McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov have re-signed with their clubs, with Jack Eichel expected to follow. There will be good players remaining, but none who singlehandedly make the puzzle work.

The Rangers have many young players on the cusp of NHL careers, but the organization has valid reasons to hold them back for the time being. But if the team lacks the top-to-bottom punch that the current depth chart suggests, they may be forced to reassess the plan in November or December.