Media Bytes: Pressure on Zib, Miller, Gavrikov Whispers, Alberts Smits
A pick who might need more polish, a captain with a blinking warning light, and the Rangers' deepest pressure points, all in this week's roundup.
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Under Pressure
1. Rangers Recon devoted this week's episode to an interesting exercise: ranking the amount of pressure every Rangers player should be feeling entering the 2026-27 season. While opinions varied throughout the roster, Andrew Chelney and Arthur Staple agreed the spotlight shines brightest on the team's top-six forwards—especially its projected top-two centers.
Chelney noted that Gabe Perreault enters the season carrying some pressure simply to avoid becoming another highly touted young forward who struggles to establish himself in New York. After showing flashes of his potential late last season, Chelney said fans naturally want to see that momentum continue.
"I don't think it's going to happen," he said. "From what I've seen, he's going to be a really good player ... but there is that lingering feeling that hopefully everything goes well."
Staple expanded that concern beyond Perreault, arguing the pressure extends across the entire top six because the Rangers lack proven offensive reinforcements waiting in Hartford.
"If any of them falter, there's nothing behind them," he said, adding that the organization also lacks the trade capital to make another major top-six addition after acquiring Pavel Dorofeyev and Elias Pettersson this offseason.
That lack of organizational depth led the conversation to Mika Zibanejad and JT Miller, whom both hosts identified as the two players under the greatest pressure to lead the Rangers back to the playoffs.
