3 Rangers Who Must Step up in 2026

The calendar year of 2025 has not been kind to the New York Rangers. They missed the playoffs last season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy the season prior, which led to many of the core players on the roster being traded away. Now, this season has been very mediocre for the Rangers. They have a record of 19-17-5, which is 43 points, and it puts them one point out of a wild-card spot, but since they have played the most games in the NHL at 41, they also have the worst points percentage in the Eastern Conference.

Their mediocre play stems from the fact that some of the players they were counting on to lead the offense this season have been playing subpar halfway through. In this piece, we are going to look at three players on the Rangers who need to step up their game in 2026 if the team wants any shot of making it back to the playoffs.

Alexis Lafreniere

Probably the most disappointing player on the team this season has been Alexis Lafreniere. After coming off a career season in 2023-24, where he scored 28 goals and recorded 59 points, he was signed to a seven-year contract one month into last season. While last season was bad overall for the entire team, Lafreniere’s game took a massive step back, and he scored only 17 goals and recorded just 45 points in 82 games played. Heading into this season, the pressure was on him to take another step and become the player the Rangers were hoping he would be when they drafted him first overall in the 2020 NHL Draft.

However, he has been vastly underperforming the expectations set for him. In 41 games played, he’s only scored eight goals and has 20 points. It’s been frustrating to see because other teams that have drafted players first overall, like the Chicago Blackhawks with Connor Bedard and the San Jose Sharks with Macklin Celebrini, have seen those players take massive steps this season, while Lafreniere looks like he doesn’t care most nights. If he doesn’t step up his play in 2026, this could be his last season as a Ranger, and maybe that is for the best.

Will Cuylle

One of the bright spots of last season was the play of Will Cuylle. On a team that looked like they had quit in November, Cuylle was one of the players on a game-to-game basis who was trying hard. He turned that effort into his best season yet, scoring 20 goals and recording 45 points in 82 games played. To start this season, he was going to be given a chance to play in the top six after the trade of Chris Kreider, and so far, he has been quite inconsistent. He’s scored 10 goals and recorded 23 points in 41 games played. On some nights, he looks like the player he was last season, and on others, he’s not very noticeable.

Maybe his play has been impacted due to the fact that the other players in the top six have been inconsistent all season as well, but many were hoping Cuylle would be the guy who could overcome that. He was never really seen as a player who would be a top-six option for the Rangers, and maybe playing in that role doesn’t suit the style of game he plays. Perhaps playing on the third line and getting to go up against the opposition’s weaker players could benefit his game going forward.

J.T. Miller

In the biggest trade the Rangers made last season, they brought back J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks. He was brought back to be a leader and one of the top players on the team moving forward. He finished last season well, scoring 13 goals and registering 35 points in 32 games played. Prior to this season, he was named captain and was ready to help lead the team into the future. However, he was injured during training camp, and to start off the season, it seemed that he had never fully recovered from the injury, as his play has been below average.