TEMPTING OFFERS

BY MIKE RIFKIN

We’re down to the final four in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which means July 1st is right around the corner. One team that should be active during July first is the New York Rangers. The Rangers, who missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season, were one of the biggest disappointments in the league. The Rangers will have almost 27 million dollars in cap space and have 11 picks in the 2026 draft (2 in the first, four in the third and two in the sixth) they also have trade chips in Center Vincent Trocheck and Defenseman Braden Schneider. In his “letter” to the fans Chris Drury talked about a “retool” and fans witnessed some of that during the final six weeks of the season with some young players getting an opportunity. Young forwards like Gabe Perrault (12 g 27 pts in 49 gp), Noah Laba (9g, 24 pts in 74 gp), Jaroslav Chemlar ( 4g 6 pts in 28 gp), Adam Sykora (3g 4pts in 11 gp) got an opportunity to show what they’re capable of. 

The usual way the Rangers would handle a situation like this would be to throw a ton of money at big time free agents, well the unrestricted free agent market is not as deep as usual. And throwing a bunch of money at Alex Tuch doesn’t solve much in my opinion. 

One area the Rangers could take advantage is Restricted free agents, and they could utilize some of the draft capital they have at the draft to make a trade work. A big key when being aggressive towards RFA’s is to look at team’s cap situations. There are three teams for the Rangers to look at when assessing certain RFAS.

The first team the Rangers should look at are the Dallas Stars. The Stars lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Minnesota Wild. The Stars will have 10.9 million dollars in space, and have two intriguing RFAS Jason Robertson and Mavrik Bourque. Robertson posted 45 goals and 96 points in 82 games. Robertson has been very consistent the past few seasons, becoming one of the best goal scorers in the league. Robertson has also been a big player in the playoffs with 23 goals and 52 points in 63 games played. Robertson, reportedly is looking for a similar number to teammate Mikko Rantanen got which is 12 million dollars per year, if the Stars don’t want to pay Robertson that Chris Drury should jump on the phone. If the Stars do pay Robertson, Mavrik Bourque could be in play. Bourque had 20 goals and 41 points in 82 games this season, and for the Rangers maybe he could be their future top line Center, still only 24 years of age. 

Another Western Conference heavyweight to watch are the Vegas Golden Knights, in particular Pavel Dorofeyev, who currently leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 10 goals. Dorofeyev had 37 goals in the regular season, after scoring 35 in 2024-25. Vegas will have 4.6 million dollars in cap space (could be more if Alex Pietrangelo retires), and you’d think a chunk of that would go to Carter Hart after the postseason he’s had. Vegas also has four picks total in the draft, and none in the first two rounds. 

The other team the Rangers should monitoring this summer is a team they’ve done a lot of business the past few years and that’s the Anaheim Ducks. The first target is not an RFA, it’s Mason McTavish, who saw his production drop this season, his contract dispute could’ve had something to do with that. Anaheim has to re-sign forwards Cutter Gauthier and Leo Carlsson. They also have to figure out the blue line with Jacob Trouba, Radko Gudas and John Carlson all expected to be free agents. The other Duck to look into will be an RFA and that’s Pavel Mintyukov. The 22 year old has previously requested a trade from Anaheim and depending on their free agent status might give him what he’s asked for. Anaheim will have the cap space to do whatever they want, but Drury should be eyeing them. 

Then there are the cases of Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid. If either one wants out of their current situation and wants to play at MSG, the Rangers should obviously try to acquire them. But that can’t be the basis for the Summer.’

 With the Knicks doing what they’re doing, you remember the vibes of playoff hockey. While James Dolan might not want to put the pressure on Drury, the fans are because the play of this team over the last two seasons has been inexcusable. If one person needs this “retool” to be a success it’s Drury, because if it’s not he will get the boot.