It seems as if the calendar switching to 2025 has given the New York Rangers a new sense of life as they reach the halfway point of their 2024-25 campaign. After a horrid seven-week stretch, the team now finds themselves as of this writing just four points back of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with a game in hand on a majority of the teams in front of them. All it took was a good stretch and the team is now back in the playoff hunt with just seven weeks to go until the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7.
However, despite the Rangers winning more than losing since the start of 2025, it should not erase all the bad that was done to end 2024. This team is still very flawed and will have pieces to sell off at the deadline. If they are still in the playoff race come March 7, general manager Chris Drury is going to have some interesting decisions to make. Will he just sell off his assets, or be willing to use his extra cap space to bring in players to help in a playoff push?
Rangers Are 4-1-1 Since the Start of 2025
The end of 2024 could not have gone worse for the Rangers. After starting the season 12-4-1, they went on to win just six of the next 21 games and were one of the worst teams in the entire league over that stretch. Now, they are starting to find their game and are playing more consistently over the last six games. They have won four out of six games and nine of a possible 12 points which has helped them claw back into the playoff race. They currently have 42 points with a record of 20-20-2. The two wild card spots are currently held by the Boston Bruins, who have 47 points and are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games, and the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have 46 points and are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games. The Rangers are four points back and have four teams in front of them, so it looks like it is going to be a battle for these last two spots as the season goes along.
They have beaten some good teams over this stretch including the Bruins, the New Jersey Devils and most recently the Vegas Golden Knights. This recent stretch is due in part to the team’s top players finally starting to play like top players. Mika Zibanejad has struggled for the majority of this season, but he is now shooting the puck more and looks as confident as ever. He is currently on a six-game point streak and the other center, Vincent Trocheck, finds himself on a four-game point streak with four goals in his last four games. Other players like Artemi Panarin, Alexis Lafreniere and Adam Fox have all been playing better and when all of these players are on top of their game, the Rangers can be one of the top teams in the NHL.
Rangers Should Still Sell Off Assets at the Trade Deadline
Despite the recent stretch of good play, it should not change the fact that this team is still extremely flawed and needs to be fixed if they want to be competitive in the next few seasons. The plan should still be to sell off the players who are either unrestricted free agents after this season or who the team doesn’t see a long-term future with. The four UFAs the Rangers have are Ryan Lindgren, Reilly Smith, Jimmy Vesey and Will Borgen. All of these players would get the team some assets that could help them win this season or down the line. None of these players will likely be back with the team so it is still better to move them and get something rather than holding on to them and letting them walk to free agency in the summer.
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One player the Rangers should also be testing the market on is K’Andre Miller. He has struggled immensely this season and is a restricted free agent after the season. He is going to want a big money, long-term deal and right now, he just isn’t playing at a level that justifies him making more than what he is currently making. If he continues to struggle, the Rangers should look to move on from him because there will be a team out there willing to pay some good assets for a soon-to-be 25-year-old defenseman who they might still think has potential to grow and take his game to the next level.
Do the Rangers Consider Buying at the Trade Deadline?
The NHL is a crazy league and any team can beat any other team on a given night. All it takes is for one team to get hot and another to go cold and the entire playoff race can be shaken up. Who would’ve thought the Blue Jackets would be in a playoff position at this time of the season? The point is that anything can happen and if the Rangers continue to play and win at this pace or even play .500 hockey, they are going to be in the mix come the trade deadline. At that point, the question becomes does Drury use his cap space and try to bring in other players to help this team while also moving players out that he doesn’t see a future with? According to PuckPedia, the Rangers will have just over $21 million in cap space at the deadline. They will have plenty of money to bring in players, but will they be in a position to do so?
Hypothetically, if the Rangers are in the playoff hunt or even in playoff position, what players could they target? The main player they have been connected to is J.T. Miller of the Vancouver Canucks. He obviously has previous ties to the organization and the Canucks seem determined to move either him or Elias Pettersson at some point. If both teams could come to an agreement, it would be a massive boost to the roster and a major shakeup that this locker room desperately needs. As for other names, only time will tell as teams will start to become sellers as we get closer to the trade deadline on March 7.
While it has only been six games, this has been the best the Rangers have looked in two months. If they can keep up this kind of play, they will be in the playoff race and come the trade deadline, questions are going to need to be answered. Will they simply sell off their players or will they do a little of both buying and selling?
