2026 Rangers Report Card: Will Cuylle

This article is part of an ongoing series of Rangers Report Cards, grading the performance of each member of the 2025-26 New York Rangers. To view more report cards in this series, go here.

To read the Season Preview for Will Cuylle, go here. 

During the 2024-25 season, watching New York Rangers hockey felt unbearable at times. The saving grace for most fans was the emergence of Will Cuylle as a physical middle-six forward who had a chip on his shoulder. Every time Cuylle hopped over the boards, he played as if he had something to prove. This helped him win the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award last year.

However, Cuylle struggled to build upon his breakout season, which now poses the question of where he belongs in the lineup.

Expectations

During the offseason, Cuylle inked a two-year contract extension carrying a cap hit of $3.9 million. Rightfully so, the Rangers had prioritized keeping their young forward around following his breakout year. While Cuylle had spent the majority of the 2024-25 season on the third line, the departure of Chris Kreider created a natural opening for him to get promoted into the top six, which is how head coach Mike Sullivan started the season.

With an expanded role, the hope was Cuylle would take his game to another level. As I laid out in my Season Preview, I expected him to take a step in the right direction, but not a very large one. Due to his skillset, Cuylle likely had his only big breakout, but with top-six opportunities and the head coaching change, he would get a small bump in production.

Unfortunately, the 2025-26 season did not play out as many had hoped.

Perfromance

82 GP | 20 G | 18 A | 38 P | -12 | 157 SOG | 65 PIM

For the second straight season, Cuylle appeared in all 82 games and has only missed one game over the past three seasons. His ability to stay on the ice consistently is, in and of itself, is worth noting. To the disappointment of many, however, Cuylle's production took a drop this season, But unlike many Rangers, his play stayed consistent throughout the campaign.

When players returned from the Olympic break at the end of February, many Blueshirts seemed to find their stride and boosted their point total. For Cuylle, his point total was consistent before and after the Olympic games. Before the 2026 Milan Olympics, Cuylle had 27 points in 57 games, equating to about 0.47 points per game. In the 25 games following the break, he had 12 points in 25 games, which comes out to 0.48 points per game.

Over the course of those last 25 games, Cuylle did net his first career hat trick against the Washington Capitals. To see steady play over the course of a long season is always a plus, but ending the season with a strong stretch could have created some optimism for next season the same way Alexis Lafrenière did.

Even though Cuylle only recorded seven fewer points than he did the season before, the more concerning part is the drop in his underlying numbers. According to Evolving Hockey, Cuylle had an expected goals for per 60 (xGF/60) of -0.08 at even strength, a small dip from the 2024-25 season,where he registered an xGF/60 of 0.021. While he certainly isn't the only Ranger who had a difficult time creating offense, it is a small step in the wrong direction.

On the bright side, Cuylle was able to grow his already strong defensive game during the season. Cuylle finished with an expected goals allowed per 60 (xGA/60) of -0.158 while at even strength, the 27th best in the NHL among forwards, per Evolving Hockey. This was a noticeable step up from his defensive play during the 2024-25 season, where he finished with a 0.059 xGA/60. Even when tasked with harder matchups due to playing in the top six, he rose to the occasion defensively.

Cuylle also saw a bump in ice time on the Rangers short handed unit with just under 124 minutes on the ice, the third most on the team among forwards. Despite having strong defensive metrics at even strength, that did not directly translate to the penalty kill. Cuylle had a 0.398 xGA/60 via Evolving Hockey, the third worst among Rangers forwards shorthanded with a minimum of 30 minutes on the ice short handed. This too was a step down from the 2024-25 season where he had an xGA/60 of 0.251.

Grades

Author's Grade: C+

Banter Consensus: B-

Final Evaluation

The 2025-26 season showed that Will Cuylle is best in a third-line role, like he was the previous year. Cuylle was asked to play a larger role, which hindered his ability to score. What made Cuylle so effective during his second full year in the league was the way he meshed together scoring, defense, and physicality. If all works out for the Blueshirts, he should start next season on the third line, hopefully with Noah Laba and Tye Kartye.

Due to his strong defensive skillset, the Rangers do have the option to deploy him into the top six situationally. Sullivan already did this with Cuylle this season to help the team maintain leads later in games. When the team played the Nashville Predators in November, Cuylle started the game on the third line. In that game, the Rangers entered the third period with a 5-2 lead and switched Cuylle and Gabe Perreault in the lineup. This helped the team create better matchups defensively and preserve their strong lead.

While I am not for messing with the development of young players, if used a little more strategically, this could be the best way to maximize Cuylle's skill set game in and game out. It's also important to mention that progression isn't always linear. It is easy to get frustrated when a player, especially one who was ascending, takes a step back. But it is not that out of the ordinary. Even then, if a couple more pucks bounced in favor of the Rangers, he very well could have hit the same point total, and while the underlying numbers showed some regression on offense, it was not much.

There is plenty of time between now and next season. But as it stands now, the team only has four top-six locks in my opinion. This could mean that the Rangers are asking Cuylle to once again step into a top-six role. Regardless of where he plays, Will Cuylle is entering a contract year and still has a lot to prove.