Comparing the Rangers’ 2025-26 Projected Lineup to the 2024-25 Opening Night Lineup

When it comes to the bottom six forwards, the Rangers arguably had the best third line in the league to start last season, with Cuylle playing with Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko. They played well both offensively and defensively, and at one point were outscoring their opponents 12-0 when they were on the ice. Now, Chytil and Kakko were both traded last season, and Cuylle is likely to be playing higher up in the lineup. If Zibanejad does remain at right wing, the third-line center is likely going to be Juuso Parssinen, who was acquired in a trade last season and signed to a two-year extension.

Who plays on his wings is the next question, because they have a few younger players who could step into those roles. The three players to watch are Gabe Perreault, Brett Berard, and Brennan Othmann. Each of these players is 21 years old or younger and played games in the NHL last season. The Rangers are going to need them to take the next step in their development, and that means giving them a chance to play meaningful minutes at the NHL level. The fourth line to start last season was Adam Edstrom, Sam Carrick, and Johnny Brodzinski. While that could be the line that starts again this season, Matt Rempe is also going to be fighting for his roster spot and is going to try and be an everyday player for the Rangers.

The Defensive Core

In my last piece, I went over how, despite the changes that have been made this offseason, the Rangers’ defense still isn’t good enough going into this season. I also talked about how much turnover there has been on the defense since the start of last season. Of the seven defensemen who were on the opening night roster, five of them are no longer with the team. To start last season, the top pairing was K’Andre Miller and Adam Fox. While Fox is going to be here for years to come, Miller had himself a poor season and was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes earlier this offseason as part of a sign-and-trade. While the Rangers did end up getting a good haul in return, it’s a shame Miller never panned out in New York. The second pairing consisted of Braden Schneider playing with Jacob Trouba. Trouba was moved in December of last season to the Ducks in the first trade that started this retooling the Rangers are going through.

The third pair consisted of Zac Jones and rookie Victor Mancini, who was in the lineup due to an injury to Ryan Lindgren that he suffered in the preseason. All three of these players are no longer with the team, with Mancini being traded as part of the Miller trade to the Canucks and Lindgren being traded to the Colorado Avalanche before the deadline. Jones was a restricted free agent this summer, but the Rangers opted not to give him a qualifying offer, which made him an unrestricted free agent, and he signed a one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres.

Going into this season, the Rangers are going to have a very solid top pairing and two questionable pairings after that. The big move this summer was the signing of Vladislav Gavrikov as a free agent to a seven-year deal worth $7 million per season. He is going to be paired with Fox and is going to be the best partner Fox has had so far in his time in the NHL. Gavrikov is one of the best defensive defensemen in the entire league and is going to provide some stability to a defensive core that has been lacking it for years now.

After those two, it’s a question of who is going to fill out the last two defensive pairings. It seems as of now, Schneider is going to move to the left side, even though he is a right-handed shot, and is going to be paired with Will Borgen, who the Rangers got as part of the Kakko trade last season. For the third pair, it seems likely that Carson Soucy will get one of those spots, but the other spot could be a toss-up between Urho Vaakanainen and Scott Morrow, who they got back in the Miller trade with the Hurricanes. Morrow seems like the best fit to fill out the third pair because he is right-handed and is going to provide more puck-moving ability and offense than Vaakanainen can. It will be interesting to see how the defense shapes up to start this season.

The Goalies

The only area on this team that remains the same from last season going into this season is the goalie tandem. It will once again be Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick tending the goal, and both of them could benefit from having bounce-back seasons. Shesterkin, who is now entering the first year of his deal that pays him $11.5 million per season, is going to be under the microscope because fans are going to expect him to play like the best goalie in the world every game, because he is now the highest-paid goalie in the league. He is coming off a season in which he had a record of 27-29-5, with a 2.86 goals-against average (GAA) and a .905 save percentage (SV%). Those numbers are going to need to be better this season if the Rangers want any chance of getting back to the playoffs.

Quick, who had a fantastic first season with the Rangers two years ago, had a season to forget in 2024-25. He had a record of 11-7-2 with a 3.17 GAA and a .893 SV%. Those are numbers you can’t have from a backup goalie in today’s NHL, and now, entering this season at age 39 (he will turn 40 in January), it’s time to ask the question of whether Quick can still be relied upon to play in these games for the Rangers. There is no question that he has had some amazing moments with the team and has come up big more times than not, but they are going to need him to be better this season, and how many games can they truly get out of him at this stage of his career?

When looking back on where this team started last season compared to what they are going to look like this season, it’s safe to say that nobody was expecting this much roster turnover over the course of the season. Key players were traded away, and new key players were brought in to replace them. Now, it’s about putting together the best team possible and getting back to the playoffs, because if they don’t, the roster turnover will continue, and who knows what changes could come from that.