Blueshirt Banter Roundtable: Where Are the Rangers One Year After 'The Memo'?

We already had "The Letter." On Nov. 24, 2024—for better or worse—"The Memo" forever entered New York Rangers lore.

In spite of the Rangers coming off their second Eastern Conference Final appearance in the last three seasons, general manager Chris Drury felt the team wasn't good enough to get over the hump and to a Stanley Cup Final, let alone win a championship. He felt this way over the preceding summer, when he tried in vain to move on from Jacob Trouba. Despite a 12-6-1 record to start the season, Drury's belief—or, more accurately, the lack of belief—hadn't changed. Coming off an ugly 6-2 loss to the Calgary Flames, Drury dropped his Memo that he was open for business.

One year and a bunch of moves later, the Rangers sit at .500, and have played wildly inconsistent hockey. One year after the Memo, the Blueshirt Banter team takes a look at the current state of the Rangers franchise, and debates what they should—and can—do from here.

It's been one year since Chris Drury dropped The Memo. Where are the New York Rangers one year later?

Joe Fortunato: They're in an even worse place. They're older, their veterans are tied up to longer term deals (J.T. Miller both makes more money and is signed for three more years than Chris Kreider), and they have a "better" culture that's resulted in a still mediocre set of results. Mika Zibanejad (who has played significantly better, it must be said), Miller, and Vincent Trocheck are all 32-years-old and signed long term. There is precious little worth in the prospect department, and the Rangers aren't exactly flush with assets.

On top of that, we now know that there is no calvary coming. All the major free agents—and even most of the B-list guys—are off the board. And to make matters worse, as mentioned above, the Rangers have a vanishingly small pool of assets to even go out and get someone to make a difference. And even if they did, more than likely it's just more age to add to an already old roster.

Eric Kohn: It's not great, Bob. I think that, in a vacuum, you can defend just about every single move that the Rangers have made between The Memo dropping and now. They needed to move on from Jacob Trouba after how poorly he handled his leadership duties after the completely reasonable and understandable attempt to move on from him after his performances leading up to and including the Eastern Conference Final loss to the Florida Panthers. Many tears have been spilt over the trading of Chris Kreider, but the fact remains that reconciling or deciding he wanted to move on was entirely in his hands, and he chose to move on. Getting out the Filip Chytil business, given his injury history, was the right move. Saying goodbye to other players like Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey, et. al. was appropriate.

And yet, the whole now seems less than the sum of those parts.

The Rangers right now are a dull combination of players who are insufficient to actually contend for a championship, and also underachieving on top of that. As others have mentioned, too many of their most important top-end players are too old. And in a league that has gotten incredibly fast, and is only getting faster, the Rangers are slow. They don't have much in the way of reinforcements on the way—Gabe Perreault and Scott Morrow are the best of the bunch when it comes to top-end talent that's close. Players like E.J. Emery and Malcom Spence are no sure thing and probably a few seasons away from the NHL. And we now know that what was projected to be the most elite, exciting free agent class in the NHL in years, if not decades, has deflated like a punctured ballon float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. To wit, the best free agent available in that class now ... is Artemi Panarin. And I know I don't need to rehearse the contours of that situation for you.

The only thing that's worse than being outright bad is being consistently mediocre. And that's what the Rangers are now: not good enough to contend, and not bad enough to be a lock for a top lottery spot in the draft.

Chip23: It’s not great right now. As I write this, Jonny Brodzinski is in the top six and Matthew Robertson is playing his off-side because Will Borgen is injured and the Rangers are dealing with roster issues entirely of their own making. If they were even .500 at home, they would be one of the best teams in the NHL given their road record, but they're not even .500 at home. They suck at home. They’ve gone from being a team that could score at will but defended like World War II–era France to a team that plays (mostly) sound defensive hockey but scores with the frequency of Giant Pandas in the wild.

They’re too old to be a “wait until next year” team and not good enough to be a “win now” team. In other words, they’re stuck in the murky middle—and that’s the worst place to be. Before the season, I picked them to win the Metropolitan Division and reach the Eastern Conference Final. They’re almost certainly not winning the Metro at this point, but with their goaltending and defensive structure, they could still be a tough out even if they back into the playoffs.

Chris Feldman: Caught between a rock and a hard place. On paper, this team should be competing, especially with so many Eastern Conference favorites dealing with notable injuries. Realistically, they’re not competitive and have injuries of their own holding them back. At their best, they play a solid defensive structure that has the star power to score goals. At their worst, they can't compete or score a goal for the life of them. The Rangers are unfortunately a fringe playoff team and will likely remain on the fringes leading up to the Olympic break.

Phil Kocher: In a word: stuck. Yes, the Rangers still have elite cornerstones in Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox, but they lack the game-breaking talent and young legs—Noah Laba notwithstanding—needed to win with more consistency. Making matters worse, most of their underperforming top-six forwards have trade protection and are firmly on the wrong side of 30.

Perhaps this was always the most likely outcome of trying to overhaul a franchise in a calendar year, but that doesn’t make it any easier to stomach.

Roberto Solis-Byxbee: It's been hard not to spiral while watching this team play. Some of the so-called problems they had last year have been jettisoned, and they are now succeeding in Anaheim, while the Rangers are still struggling. The listless and apathetic brand of hockey we've seen has been hard to get excited about. Even the future is in question. I'm sure many of my peers here will comment on how there isn't a clear path forward, because, well, there isn't one. They're not drafting terribly well, developing players well, and the team is struggling to adapt to Sullivan's new system. To be frank, we lack the talent to even compete with the top-tier teams in the league, even if the players do miraculously find fluidity in Sullivan's processes.

Snark Messier: After some light research, I believe the correct term would be "purgatory." The New York Rangers aren't bad enough yet to write off the remainder of the season (see: wins over Tampa Bay, Seattle, and Detroit—all top-fifteen teams in the NHL), but they're not good enough that fans should feel comfortable they won't fall off the rails at any moment (see: losses to Calgary and Toronto—both bottom-five teams in the NHL).

Factor in J.T. Miller's current injury, Will Borgen's lingering injury, and the fact that Conor Sheary exists in the same space and time as the rest of us, and the New York Rangers appear destined to remain the most confusing team in professional sports well into 2026.

Charlie Vidal: One year ago when Chris Drury sent out the 'text message heard ‘round the world', Rangers fans thought that they were watching a reigning Eastern Conference finalist run back largely the same roster that was primed to continue to be a Cup contender. The reality is that the friendship and good vibes that powered the Rangers past the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes in the 2024 postseason were really puck luck and Igor masking major deficiencies the team had at 5v5 hockey. Drury realized that the team wasn’t as good as advertised and rightly tried to pivot away from an aging, complacent, immature, and frankly not-good-enough core. Hamstrung by bad contracts, Drury got what he could in moving on from Jacob Trouba, Chris Kreider, and Filip Chytil. In the process, he assembled a good hockey team with a strong defensive core and a deep contingent of complementary forwards.

Make no mistake, the New York Rangers are a good hockey team that outplays their opponents at 5v5 the majority of the time. The one thing that is missing is consistent goal scoring. This Rangers team is one piece away from being a Cup contender, that piece being an elite scoring forward. There was hope over the summer that at least one elite forward would hit the free agency market next summer and become the missing piece to the puzzle. Even if the Rangers feel further away from winning the Cup today than they did a year ago, they are actually closer. Drury recognized the team’s shortcomings in spite of its recent record, and took steps to improve the team with an eye towards being an attractive landing point for a top free agent. The free agent part of that didn’t work out, but the 2025-26 New York Rangers are a better hockey team than the 2024-25 New York Rangers.

Jake DiBlasio: The Rangers are in no man's land. They currently have three players in their thirties signed through the 2029-30 season who have full no-movement clauses—Mika Zibanejad, J.T. Miller, and Vladislav Gavrikov. On top of that, Vincent Trocheck, currently 32, is signed through the 2028-29 season with a modified no-trade clause. The cherry on top is that the team’s best scorer, Artemi Panarin, is currently 34 and on a deal that expires at the end of the season. If the Blueshirts bring him back, it will likely be on a multiyear deal without a hometown discount.

The worst part about this situation is that the Rangers and their prospect pool lack top-end talent. Outside of Gabe Perreault, Scott Morrow, and possibly E.J. Emery, the team lacks players who can one day take on a top role for this team. The aging and regressing roster paired with a lack of talent in the farm system makes the Rangers' situation a scary one. Moving off multiple of their older players would not only require finding a team to take on that deal but also convincing them to waive their no-movement clause. It is very challenging to be optimistic about where the Rangers stand as a franchise.

Given your assessment of the current state of the New York Rangers, what should they do? What can they do?

Joe Fortunato: The question isn't really what Chris Drury should do—that seems to be the biggest missed point in all the Drury slander—it's what he's going to be permitted to do.

If it were up to me personally? With no owner interference? I'm doing a pretty hard soft sell (I know, bear with me on that). I'm seeing if Panarin is open to being traded to a contender at the deadline, I'm taking calls on Trocheck, and I am probably moving on from Braden Schneider since the Rangers don't seem to think much of him anyway. I'm looking for younger NHL players or more NHL ready prospects who can step in and help right away and next year. The goal isn't to bottom out—even if that's what happens this year—but reset the timeline and get younger with an opportunity to grow. Zibanejad and Miller aren't going anywhere without intense interventions, so you may as well build a team around them where they can blend into the background if things keep going downhill. If you get picks back, great, you need those too.

What will actually happen? The Rangers aren't rebuilding and my guess is they're not soft selling with Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin in tow, either. My bet is Drury is going to make a move for another veteran to try and shore things up. He needs talent up front and has two first round draft picks this year, so might as well put one (or both) of them to use. I'd expect him to try and ride out a playoff berth this year and then go after whatever name is available this offseason. If Panarin is willing to accept a shorter term deal he probably takes him up on it. And then in two years the Rangers will be exactly here again, if not in worse shape.

Eric Kohn: Here's what we know about the NHL now: Free agency is where you build out your bottom six and your third defensive pairing, or add insurance policy-type depth. But it's not like it was 20 or 30 years ago. There are no saviors coming. Trades involving real top-end talent can, and likely will, happen. But they aren't a sure thing—just look at Jason Robertson being rumored to sign an extension with the Dallas Stars after it was previously rumored he was on the trading block this last offseason. And even if players like that are available, there's no guarantee the Rangers will win out over others.

The only way to ensure your success in the National Hockey League right now is to draft and develop your own talent.

The Rangers have actually done a pretty good job of doing this for bottom six players. Between guys like Noah Laba and Brett Berard who are already in the NHL, and a grab-bag of top-six-AHL-but-bottom-six-NHL talent in Hartford, the Rangers are deep when it comes to the bottom of the line up. That's good and that matters. But the problem is the lack of players on a trajectory to make an impact in the top six. They have to improve here; there is no other option.

As for the rest of this season, they should sell off all the veterans in the bottom six—Brodzinski, Raddysh, Carrick, et. al.—for whatever they can get. (They should send Conor Sheary on a one-way flight to the sun, but they won't.) They should send Braden Schneider to whoever will give them the most for him, as they clearly don't seem to value him as a big part of the future. They should ransom Carson Soucy to whoever will overpay for a tough, veteran defenseman at the trade deadline. And, like everyone else has also suggested, they should talk to Artemi Panarin about waiving his no-movement clause if they don't think they can resign him to a deal that would work for both parties.

But the only way out of this morass is for the assets and futures they get back, and the players they draft going forward, to turn into the real, NHL-level talent.

Chip23: First things first: pick a lane. As I said above, they’re not good enough to win now and not bad enough to tank. Something has to give. If the Rangers want to contend this year, they must add help in the top six. I’m certain Kyle Dubas would happily send over Bryan Rust or Rickard Rakell—two Mike Sullivan favorites who would absolutely give the Rangers’ forward group some much-needed bite.

But if the Rangers—meaning Drury, Sullivan, and Hartford GM Ryan Martin—don’t truly believe this roster can compete for the Stanley Cup, then they need to be honest about that assessment and sell James Dolan on retooling (which is no small obstacle). If they can clear that hurdle, the path becomes obvious: everything goes on the table.

You ask Artemi Panarin for a list that includes more than one team he’d accept a trade to. You move Sam Carrick, Carson Soucy, Braden Schneider, Jonny Brodzinski (all hail Jonny Brodzinski), and maybe even Vincent Trocheck in an effort to inject the system with youth and draft capital. This is what Don Sweeney did in Boston last year. He invested heavily in free agents the summer prior in an effort to keep his contention window open, it didn't work, and so he sold everything that wasn't nailed down at the deadline and bringing back players like Fraser Minton and Casey Mittlestadt in the process (of course, he went out and used his cap space on Tanner Jeannot and Viktor Arvidsson, so you have to use the assets better than that). This is the path I would take.

Plan A went up in smoke the moment Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel signed their extensions, so Plan B is simple: Head into the offseason armed with a stockpile of first- and second-round picks and a mountain of cap space that Drury can weaponize.

Chris Feldman: Chris Drury should be working the phones every single day looking for ways to improve the team not just for this year, but for the next five-plus years. Nobody outside of Shesterkin and Fox should be untouchable. You need to start having conversations with Artemi Panarin about his future and what teams he would be interested in being dealt to because there is not a path forward for Panarin and the Rangers. Braden Schneider, Carson Soucy, and Jonny Brodzinski should all be on the trade block and sold before the deadline. The Rangers have to keep all their draft picks, add as many more as they can, and take chances on any prospects or project players they can get their hands on.

Phil Kocher: The only real way forward is through the draft. Look around the league. The teams rising fastest are the ones that committed to some level of rebuild, selling off assets to accumulate draft picks and restock their rosters with younger, more dynamic talent. Trades remain an option, but the Rangers don’t have many meaningful chips left to play.

Occam’s razor applies here—the simplest answer is usually the right one. For the Rangers, that means riding out the storm and continuing to replenish the roster with youth. It’s not an ideal path given the long-term contracts they’ve handed out or taken on, but it’s still far more realistic than trying to find a shortcut that probably doesn’t exist.

Roberto Solis-Byxbee: It starts with finding a suitor for Artemi Panarin. Like it or not, something has been askew with his play this year. Yes, he had a down year in 2024-25—the whole team did—but his defensive play has stood out like a sore thumb even more this season. Whether it's an issue of compatibility with Sullivan's approach and style, the team needs to leverage him to acquire as many assets as possible. Following him, they should look to sell other players and promote as many of their youth as they can. There is no reason for Taylor Raddysh and Conor Sheary to play daily. It'll be a long road back, but the team needs to seriously retool.

Snark Messier: Head back to the drawing board, I suppose. In all seriousness, as others have stated here, the Rangers should start exploring potential trades for Artemi Panarin. We'd be liars if we didn't acknowledge that he's the greatest free agent signing in franchise history and that watching him play has been nothing short of a pleasure (most of the time). But sadly, it's no longer a good fit. As I've noted elsewhere, the Rangers are paying Panarin $11.64 million this season, and he needed a haircut (again) to get himself going—for $11.64 million, I'd do unspeakable things, and with a full head of hair to boot.

Trading him would likely yield a beneficial return, and adding a new face or two to the current lineup could help spark the team. I've felt a trade has been coming for some time, given that a certain Finnish defenseman who just signed a two-year, $3.1 million contract has only played in 62.4 percent of the Rangers' games this season.

Outside of that, I'd suggest hiring someone to burn sage to cleanse Madison Square Garden, having each player simultaneously throw salt over their shoulder, or maybe just reminding them that they're millionaires, making millions, to slap vulcanized rubber into a 6' x 4' net. Whatever works!

Charlie Vidal: Four weeks ago, I took a look at the remaining potential free agent class of 2026 in my Ombudsman Report. It wasn’t pretty, and has somehow gotten even uglier. With Martin Necas and Adrian Kempe both agreeing to long term deals early in the season, there isn’t going to be a game changing addition available in free agency this summer. The only forward who might move the needle as a free agent in 2027 is Nico Hischier, and I doubt that the Devils let him hit the open market. Looking back over the past decade, no team has won the Stanley Cup having acquired one of their top two forwards via free agency. In fact, only the 2023-24 and 2024-25 Florida Panthers (Matthew Tkachuk*), 2022-23 Vegas Golden Knights (Jack Eichel), and 2018-19 St. Louis Blues (Ryan O’Reilly) have acquired one of their top two forwards via trade rather than drafting and developing them.

The Rangers are too good to bottom out and land a high draft pick, and a full teardown would be a waste of what remains of Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox’s primes. This means that the Rangers should try to acquire capital to trade for an elite forward when one becomes available. I belive that this means recognizing that despite the strong underlying numbers at 5v5, the Rangers aren’t going to win the 2026 Stanley Cup and would be better served by trading Artemi Panarin and Jonathan Quick for draft capital, preferably in the form of unprotected 2027 first round picks from teams that are playing above expectations this season.

Jake DiBlasio: Given their situation, the Rangers are very limited on what they could do. They need to start with convincing Artemi Panarin to waive his no-movement clause before the deadline and seeing what you can get for him. It is not in the best interest of the team to extend another aging forward; that is taking away a top-six job from a younger player, and they need to do everything they can. They can’t afford to get nothing for him. While there's a good chance he refuses to be traded, the team needs to at least try.

If the season continues to go poorly and it’s clear this team isn’t making the playoffs, they need to play the kids. Stop putting them in the lineup and then giving them sheltered minutes. Prioritize development, especially if it is a lost season, and see what your top prospects can give you. See what they got and let them grow.