With the New York Rangers entering a retooling period, the question becomes which players general manager Chris Drury wants to build around. While there are going to be some that are traded over the next few weeks and months, this isn’t going to be a full-on rebuild, so some players will be sticking around. In this piece, we are going to determine which players on the Rangers right now should be considered part of the core moving forward.
Two Locks: Igor Shesterkin & Adam Fox
There are only two players on the Rangers currently who should be considered part of the core as of this writing: goalie Igor Shesterkin and defenseman Adam Fox. Both of these players are currently out with injuries, and you can tell just by watching the Rangers on a game-by-game basis how much they miss them. Outside of Artemi Panarin, who won’t be on the team for much longer, there are no two more important players to the Rangers’ success than Shesterkin and Fox.
Shesterkin has been one of the top goalies in the entire NHL ever since he debuted in January 2020. While he hasn’t been putting up the numbers like he did when he won the Vezina Trophy during the 2021-22 season, he gives the team a chance to win every game he plays, and without him, they look completely lost in net. With Fox, he’s been the number one defenseman on the team for years now, and without him, the defense and the power play have struggled. If there are two players Drury needs to build this team around going forward, it starts with Shesterkin and Fox.
Veterans with Trade Protection Who Look to Be Staying
As of this writing, the Rangers currently have six players on the roster who have full no-move clauses in their contracts. This means that if Drury wanted to trade them, he would need to go to these players and ask them to waive that clause, and the player could just tell him no. Three of these players have already been mentioned in Fox, Shesterkin, and Panarin. For Panarin, with him being on the last year of his deal and already being told he won’t be offered a contract extension, the writing is on the wall for him and his time in New York. However, three other players have this clause in their deal, and as of now, they look to be sticking around.
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The first player is the captain, J.T. Miller. He was just brought back last season to be part of the solution, and it seems like he wants to still be here even if the team is not contending. One player who just got here is Vladislav Gavrikov, whom Drury signed in the offseason as a free agent. He’s in the first year of a seven-year deal and has been very good for the team this season, and has shown no signs of wanting to leave. The last player is Mika Zibanejad, who has been in trade rumors going back to last season, but with his resurgence this season, he could be part of the solution moving forward. Whether Drury wants these players on the team or not, they look to be part of the core for the Rangers going forward.
Not Much Young Talent to Build Around
A big reason why the Rangers are going in this new direction is that right now, they don’t have much young talent to build around going forward. One player who should be part of the core is Gabe Perreault. He is only 20 years old and was a first-round pick two years ago, and he has shown some flashes this season that he could be a legit top-six forward for the next five to ten years if he is developed correctly. Outside of him, the Rangers have a few players ages 23 and 24 who could be part of the core, but they could also fetch the team a good return in a trade if they were moved.
This list of players includes Alexis Lafreniere, Will Cuylle, Braden Schenider, Brennan Othmann, and Scott Morrow. The two names on here that are going to come up in trade rumors are Lafreniere and Schneider. With Lafreniere, he has never lived up to his potential in New York, and he is in the first year of a seven-year deal that he signed last season, making $7,450,000 per season. He is not worth that price tag, and while moving him now would be selling him at a low price, it might be best just to move on at this point and get him a fresh start.
For Schneider, he’s never been more than a third-pair defenseman for the team, and with him being right-handed, 24 years old, and needing a new contract, now might be the time to get some good assets in return for him in a trade.
Drury stated in the letter that he wanted to build around the core players on the team, and it got fans thinking as to who the core players on the Rangers are. While it is safe to say that Fox and Shesterkin are two of these core players, outside of them, there are questions to be asked about the rest of the team. Some of these players are going to be here due to the clauses in their contracts, while others might be moved on to help the team get better in the future. As of right now, the Rangers only have two true core pieces you would want to build around, and that is a problem.
