Rangers Must Find Better Alternative to Conor Sheary

However, in the past couple of years, Sheary has struggled to make an impact at the NHL level. Last season, he spent the majority of his time with the Tampa Bay Lightning’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, where he posted 61 points in 59 games.

The Brutally Honest Truth

But here’s the reality: While Sheary brings energy to the lineup, he doesn’t accomplish the main objective in hockey – putting the puck in the net. Over 330 players at the NHL level this season have registered at least a goal, and Sheary isn’t one of them. Add that to the fact that he hasn’t found the back of the net in the big leagues since the 2023-24 season.

The truth is, every time Sheary has the puck on his stick in the offensive zone, he is never a threat to score. And for those who play wing, if you aren’t beating goaltenders clean with shots, you need to be setting up teammates for prime scoring chances. This is just not happening right now for Sheary, who has just five assists in 23 games this season.

To make things more problematic, the 33-year-old has played the sixth-most minutes among Rangers forwards in the early portion of 2025-26, according to Natural Stat Trick. That’s the fault of no other than the coaching staff.

If Sheary was getting fourth-line minutes, that’s one thing. You can’t have a player who is virtually never a threat to score, eating up big minutes.

It’s unclear how much the coaching staff leans on analytics, but Sheary does rank fourth in expected goals this season on the team, posting a rate of 54.5 percent. Again, there’s value to what he brings to the table, and you can see why he remains in the NHL. But there’s a reason why he hasn’t scored an NHL goal in nearly two years. Sheary specializes in perimeter play and speed. The coaching staff can’t continue giving him top nine minutes.

What’s The Solution?

The bottom line is the Rangers need to try something else. The team has now lost four straight games and now sits a game under .500, with the season close to spiraling out of control. The lack of offense has been a constant issue for the team all season, which ranks 30th in the NHL in goals scored.

Already, the Rangers have tried call-ups of top prospects Gabe Perreault and Brennan Othmann. However, both were given little margin for error, and the coaching staff lost patience quickly, resulting in their stays this season in the big leagues being short-lived. Perreault, in particular, appeared to give the Rangers a spark, and led the team to three straight wins with him in the lineup. Understandably, his underlying metrics weren’t great, posting an expected goals for (xGF) rate of 38.8 percent through three games. But that’s a small sample size, and the Rangers won despite the less-than-ideal underlying numbers.

With more leeway provided by the coaching staff, perhaps Perreault’s play could improve. The Rangers can’t keep giving Sheary top-nine minutes each night and expect puck luck to change. Again, there might be a place for Sheary on the roster – but the big minutes must stop. In the meantime, the Rangers have recalled Brett Berard, hoping to get a boost. However, he plays a similar game to Sheary, specializing in speed in and perimeter play – but won’t light up the scoresheet.

In the short term, the Rangers should give Perreault another opportunity inside the top-nine, while playing Sheary on the fourth line for the time being. Expecting players to perform outside their skill sets isn’t a realistic long-term solution. Short-term, the Rangers must find a way to stabilize things; otherwise, we are looking at a fire sale by the trade deadline.