With the 2025-26 season right around the corner, many players on the New York Rangers are close to reaching new career milestones. With this in mind, here are just four of those players who will likely hit those milestones during this season, or at least get very close to doing so.
Artemi Panarin
Entering his seventh season as a Ranger, Artemi Panarin is close to hitting a few milestones in his career and as a Blueshirt. He has accumulated 550 points as a Ranger so far in his career, so with just 50 points this season, he will reach 600 points in New York, which would put him eighth on the all-time points leader list behind Ron Greschner. He would need only 10 more to pass him, which would put him 68 points back of sixth, which is Walt Tkaczuk.
For his career, Panarin is 48 games away from playing in 800 career games, and as an undrafted player, that is an incredible milestone. Another achievement he could have this season if he remains healthy is that he could reach 900 points in his career, and he only needs 20 more points to reach this milestone. He would be the 25th player in history to be undrafted and score over 900 points in the NHL. He could pass Bobby Orr this season, as Orr sits at 915 points. Entering the final year of his contract, Panarin has a lot to prove this season and could be reaching some new career milestones along the way.
Mika Zibanejad
For Mika Zibanejad, this season is about proving his doubters wrong and showing that he can bounce back and become an offensive threat once again. He is 30 games away from playing in 1,000 career NHL games, and 51 from playing in 700 as a Ranger. When he scores his first goal of the season, he will pass Mark Messier on the all-time goal leaders list with 251 as a Ranger and while it is unlikely to happen this season, he is 50 goals away from 300 as a Ranger, which would put him at third all-time, one spot behind his former teammate, Chris Kreider.
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Zibanejad needs just 11 points to hit 600 as a Ranger, which would put him 10 points behind seventh on the all-time list. He and Panarin could be dueling it out for who finishes higher on the list by the time the season is over. He needs eight power-play goals to tie Kreider and Camille Henry for the all-time lead in power-play goals, and if he gets nine, he would be in first all by himself. He needs six shorthanded goals to move into second on the list behind only Messier. This season is going to be very interesting for Zibanejad, as he needs to show that he can still produce at a high level and that he can put these last two seasons behind him and help the team move forward.
J.T. Miller
This will be the first full season back as a Ranger for J.T. Miller. He made an immediate impact upon his return to the team last season, scoring 13 goals and 35 points in 32 games played. He is going to want to build off what he did last season, and the team is going to need him to be one of their top offensive performers again. He has scored 85 goals as a Ranger so far in his career, and is now just 15 away from 100 with the franchise. He is 29 games away from the 900th of his career, and he was able to break the 700-point mark last season. If he can score 40 goals this season, he would reach 300 in his career, which is an amazing accomplishment. He is also four penalty minutes away from 500 in his career. Miller is going to be a player this team counts on this season, and hopefully, he can continue his amazing play.
Igor Shesterkin
The new highest-paid goalie in the NHL, Igor Shesterkin, is entering the first season of his new deal that pays him $11.5 million per season, and now, fans are going to have even higher expectations for him this season. He will pass 300 games played as a Ranger this season and is 38 wins away from 200 in his career. That would tie him with John Vanbiesbrouck for fifth on the franchise’s all-time win list and four wins behind fourth. He is four shutouts away from 25 in his career and nine away from 30, and if he got to 30, he would tie John Ross Roach for fourth on the all-time list for shutouts in franchise history.
While he won’t be nearing any of Henrik Lundqvist’s records this season, Shesterkin is slowly making his way up in many of the franchise’s all-time lists for goalies. The pressure is on him to perform this season, and if he can get back to playing at a Vezina Trophy level, he could be reaching some of these milestones quickly this season.
While these aren’t all the players that can hit milestones for the Rangers this season, these are four of the most important. They all have their roles to play in helping this team win a Stanley Cup, and if they can have some personal success along the way, it will taste even sweeter if they can win it all at the end of the year.
