The calendar year of 2024 has been filled with ups and downs for the New York Rangers. The first half saw this team record the most points in franchise history which led them to their first Presidents’ Trophy since the 2014-15 season. Then, they went on to make a run to the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in three years, but once again fell short and were eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. Going into the second half of the year and the start of a new season, the expectations were high for this team as they were thought of as one of the true Stanley Cup contenders entering this season. However, they have been on nothing but a downward spiral since the end of November and making the playoffs seems like a pipe dream at this point with the way things have been going.
The Rangers have two more games before the calendar flips to 2025 against the aforementioned Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Fans are hoping they can end the year on a good note, but they have shown no signs of turning things around anytime soon. If things don’t change, there are going to be massive changes to this team in 2025. In this piece, we are going to look at three bold predictions that just might come true for the Rangers in 2025.
Chris Kreider Is Traded Prior to the 2025 Trade Deadline
When things first began to spiral for the Rangers, general manager Chris Drury sent out a memo to the 31 other general managers and told them he was open for business. The two names mentioned in the memo were Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba and while this was at first a tactic to get the team to start playing better, they continued to get worse and eventually, changes were made. Trouba was the first casualty and he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks earlier this month. Now, with things not getting any better, the Rangers could end up being sellers come the 2025 Trade Deadline and the big piece they could move for multiple assets is Kreider. While he is not having the best season with just 11 goals and one assist in 30 games played, he is a monster come playoff time as he is the Rangers’ all-time leading goal scorer with 48 goals in 123 playoff games played. Any team bound for the playoffs is going to want a player of his caliber and he could bring back some valuable assets.
A majority of the fanbase would be against this move due to the fact that Kreider has been here for 13 seasons now and is so close to breaking a decent amount of franchise records. He is a fan favorite no doubt, but with the team’s poor play and his poor play especially, it may be time to move on from the 33-year-old that still has two years left on his deal after this season. He has already been healthy scratched this season in the team’s last game against the New Jersey Devils and if that isn’t the wake-up call that turns his season around, what else can the Rangers do with him? If this losing continues, changes are going to be made and while multiple players will be gone, Kreider will be the biggest of them all and right now, he seems like a sure bet to be moved by the 2025 Trade Deadline.
Mika Zibanejad Waives His No-Movement Clause Next Offseason
If Kreider does end up being moved this season, the next big domino to fall will be Mika Zibanejad. It is no secret that he has struggled mightily over the last two seasons, especially this season. He currently has six goals and is also on a six-game goalless and pointless streak. Every time he is on the ice, he just looks very slow and unmotivated and this was a player that scored 39 goals just two seasons ago. Something has changed in his game and it has only hurt the team and has gotten worse over time. It also isn’t a secret that he and Kreider are best friends on and off the ice. They have played on a line together the majority of the time they have been on the team so if he ends up going, does it convince Zibanejad to waive his no-movement clause to try and find a fresh start somewhere else?
Related: The Fall of Mika Zibanejad: A Star’s Decline on Broadway
The Rangers should do everything in their power to try and convince him to move on because he is a liability on the ice and the team’s salary cap. He has five more years on his contract at $8.5 million average annual value (AAV) and right now, he is not worth a single penny of that deal. He is no longer a top center in this league and that money could be better spent fixing other areas of this roster or getting another center to replace Zibanejad if he ends up going. The Rangers might have to retain some of his salary in a potential deal, but that would be worth it in the end because with Trouba gone, he now has the worst contract on the team and arguably, one of the worst contracts in the entire league. It has been sad to watch a player that used to play with so much passion and energy just fall off so quickly, but decline in sports hits players at different times in different ways. The best thing for both parties is to split and this could happen in the offseason if other moves are made.
One of Mitch Marner or Mikko Rantanen Signs With the Rangers
If the Rangers end up moving these big contracts and other players off the team, they are going to be in the market to acquire new top talent via trade or free agency. They are already going to have a decent amount of cap space to work with next offseason and this means they are going to go big game hunting. We have heard the Brady Tkachuk rumors recently, but it doesn’t seem like the Ottawa Senators are going to be moving him anytime soon. So, they might have to turn to the free agent market and currently, two big names don’t have extensions with their current teams. Those players are Mitch Marner with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Mikko Rantanen with the Colorado Avalanche. Both are going to want big-money deals and with their current team’s cap situations looking murky heading into next season, one or both of these players could hit the free agent market.
While the Rangers could wait until the 2026 offseason to try and sign one of Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel if they hit free agency, they are still going to want to be competitive heading into the 2025-26 season and signing one of Marner or Rantanen will help push them in that direction. The more appealing option is Rantanen with him being more of a power forward, goal-scoring kind of player that the Rangers currently lack. He also has great playoff numbers, unlike Marner who has struggled with the Maple Leafs in their recent playoff failures. If both players end up heading to the free agent market, look for the Rangers to be interested and if they want one of them, they are likely to end up with whichever one they want because they have the money – and who wouldn’t want to play in New York at Madison Square Garden?
2025 is going to be a year of change for the Rangers one way or another. They will either turn this season around with the players that they have, or they will continue to lose and these players will be gone. With it looking more likely that the second option is what will happen, these bold predictions could very well end up coming true in the next few months. The Rangers will be the most interesting team to watch in 2025 and they could be causing some chaos around the league in a very short period of time.
