Rangers Announce 2025-26 Training Camp Roster

On Tuesday, the New York Rangers announced their official training camp roster, which consists of 61 total players. 

In total the roster includes 33 forwards, 22 defensemen, and six goalies. Two players—Conor Sheary and Andrej Sustr—are attending camp on a professional tryout. Otherwise, there are not a ton of names that should be unfamiliar, as there are only two UFA invites and eight players signed to AHL deals with the Hartford Wolf Pack. The two UFA invites are defensemen Tim Lovell and Corbin Vaughan. 

Lovell is a Hingham, Mass., native—ironic because I first read his name as Lowell—who was essentially a Tyler Motte of college hockey. I say that because in five years, he bounced around a ton, attending three different schools starting at Boston College and ending at University of Michigan with three seasons at Arizona State University in between. He also spent six games with Jukkerit Mikkeli of SM-Liiga after the college season ended where he collected a goal and an assist. 

Michigan regarded Lovell as one of the best puck-moving defensemen in the transfer portal heading into last season. Ironically from the Rangers’ perspective, he sounds a lot like Zac Jones in the sense that he’s a smaller defenseman with good vision, offensive abilities, can quarterback a power play, and move the puck up ice.

As for Vaughan, he’s fresh off of Rangers rookie camp and, as I mentioned in my recap of those scrimmages in Philly, he has Dylan McIlrath-lite elements to his game. An undrafted defenseman out of the WHL, Vaughan had just six points split across campaigns with the Regina Pats and Prince George Cougars in 39 games last season. During which, he had 59 penalty minutes. He had two fights in the first rookie camp scrimmage and came out of the lineup for Case McCarthy in the second game. 

Mark Lamb, coach and GM of the Cougars in the WHL described Vaughan as a “throwback player” in the sense that he plays the game hard and heavy. It’s the physical side of his game that certainly stands out but he can hold his own with his skating and puck handling abilities. He attended development camp with the Los Angeles Kings last season and likely has a long road to the NHL with a more likely ceiling of the AHL. However, if old school hockey is your thing, definitely keep an eye out for him if he gets a chance in any of the preseason games. 

Some more familiar names fall in the category of players who are signed to AHL deals with the Hartford Wolf Pack. Defenseman Blake Hillman, who is coming off his third season in Harford, is likely the most familiar name in that category. With the Rangers not having a ton of depth on defense, he will play an important role with the Wolf Pack this season. Alongside Hillman on the back end, Case McCarthy, Cooper Moore, and Chris Merisier-Ortiz will also be attending camp. 

McCarthy, a former Boston University Terrier and fourth round draft pick by the New Jersey Devils could see a bigger role in Hartford this year as he already has 16 games under his belt there in addition to 19 ECHL games in Bloomington. Moore is a Connecticut native and former Quinnipiac Bobcat who was originally drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in 2019. Beginning his college hockey tenure at the University of North Dakota, Moore transferred to QU after three years to finish out the last two years of his NCAA eligibility where he would sign a one-year deal with the Wolf Pack at the end of last season. He will likely compete with Hillman and McCarthy for reps in Hartford’s bottom pairing this season. Lastly, Ortiz is another journeyman of sorts having spent time back and forth between the AHL and ECHL since 2022. He will look for some consistency with the Wolf Pack this coming season. 

As for the forwards on AHL deals, Sullivan Mack is not only a great hockey name, but a coveted college hockey player that is coming off a strong four years with Cornell University. A US prep school standout from Alaska, Mack saw one game with the Pack at the end of last season and will look to build off that heading into his first full season of professional hockey. 

Another one of the more familiar names for a number of reasons comes in another college hockey graduate in Zakary Karpa—yes, son of former Ranger Dave Karpa. Following four seasons at Harvard, Karpa who was drafted by the Rangers in the sixth round in 2022, will be joining the Wolf Pack on an AHL deal this coming season. Regarded as a strong defensive center with good hockey IQ in his draft year, Karpa still has a ways to go in his development and the fact that the Rangers opted not to sign him to an ELC isn’t the most encouraging sign. Regardless, this upcoming season will be a big year for him. 

As for the last two forwards on AHL deals—both left handed centers, Kyle Jackson was a seventh round draft pick by the Seattle Kraken and is coming off two strong seasons in the ECHL where he averaged around 48 points. After a career year with the Wheeling Nailers, Jackson suited up in two games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL, collecting 12 penalty minutes in the process. He has a bit of a scoring touch and can play a solid two way game but whether or not that will translate in the AHL will remain to be seen. Gavin Hain on the other hand has some USA Hockey ties, so how he got here shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. A former sixth round pick by the Flyers, Hain has bounced around the ECHL and AHL the last two seasons and had decent numbers across five years at the University of North Dakota.  

Lastly, the Rangers have four of their unsigned rookies attending camp with two of them hailing from their most recent draft class. Raoul Boilard, who scored in the first rookie camp scrimmage, and Nathan Aspinall—both drafted in 2024—will continue to get the chance to make an impression with the organization. Both of which are due to sign by July 1 of 2026 meaning they will be looking to earn their ELC's at some point this season.

From the 2025 draft class, Artem Gonchar and Evan Passmore both attended rookie camp and will continue into preseason with the Rangers. Neither player really stood out much in those two scrimmages with Gonchar struggling more than anyone, but there isn't much of an expectation for either of these two to get anything out of this aside from the experience. Both will have big seasons with their respective amateur clubs coming up as they hope to be key assets for the Rangers down the road.