The New York Rangers are cruising through the Eastern Conference. They won the Presidents’ Trophy and, minus the Game 4 hiccup against the Carolina Hurricanes, have looked unbeatable in the playoffs. They are one win away from the Eastern Conference Final and nine away from winning their first Stanley Cup title since 1994.
Related: Rangers’ Key Players Coming Through at Crucial Times vs. Hurricanes
Sweeping the Washington Capitals, a team that barely made the playoffs, was one thing. Controlling the Second Round matchup against the Hurricanes, a team that many had going to the Stanley Cup Final, is another. This team has been the best in the conference and possibly the NHL as well.
What makes the Rangers’ rise this season impressive is that this looked like a season where they’d take a step back. They went all-in at the trade deadline last season, acquiring Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko, yet they were eliminated in the First Round by the New Jersey Devils in a seven-game series. That series, in a lot of ways, looked like a changing of the guard in the Metropolitan Division, and a win-now team was being replaced by an up-and-coming one.
In the 2023 offseason, they didn’t make any big moves, and frankly, they weren’t able to. They invested heavily in their core, and with five skaters taking up the majority of their cap space, they didn’t have the ability to add many elite players. Yet here they are in the driver’s seat to win the Cup.
It’s worth looking at the minor moves and the small additions that have gone a long way to making this team a great one. It started with free agency but goes beyond that for a well-managed team from the top down.
The Minor Offseason Additions
The Rangers’ first move in the summer was acquiring Blake Wheeler. Then, they signed Erik Gustafsson and goaltender Jonathan Quick to ensure they were adding players to all three units. These three players cost the team a total of $2.4 Million, which is the bare minimum for three roster spots.
Wheeler had an uneventful season, scoring only nine goals and 12 assists in 54 games while finishing the season on injured reserve. Gustafsson and Quick meanwhile played pivotal roles on the Rangers and helped them have a great season. Gustafsson scored six goals and 25 assists but was one of the best defensemen on the team, with 3.2 defensive point shares and 66 blocked shots in a later pairing role. Quick meanwhile gave the Rangers a reliable backup as he had a .911 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.62 goals-against average (GAA) on 771 shots with 5.5 goals saved above average (GSAA).
The teams that are pressed against the cap make these types of signings. They add the depth players at the bare minimum knowing the risk of them flopping but also banking on them rounding out the roster. Gustafsson and Quick have done just that to the defense and the goaltending position, and it helped them kick off the ground running.
Rangers Acquiring Roslovic & Wennberg
After going all in at the 2023 trade deadline, the Rangers took a path that frankly made more sense and is one that many Cup-winning teams take. They acquired Alex Wennberg from the Seattle Kraken and then added Jack Roslovic from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The price for both skaters was a second-round selection in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft and two conditional fourth-round picks. Any team could have made the moves for Wennberg and Roslovic, two players for whom it only cost the bare minimum, but the Rangers were the only team that did. Wennerg hasn’t done much since the trade, scoring only one goal and four assists in 19 games, but Roslovic has made a big difference in the playoff run, scoring two goals and three assists as a depth forward.
When the Vegas Golden Knights won the Cup, they made similar moves. They didn’t make any big splashes at the trade deadline, but they made a few minor acquisitions, from Phil Kessel in the offseason to Michael Amadio early in the season to Ivan Barbashev at the trade deadline. The Rangers have become that team this season, and the moves helped them put together a great season and put themselves in a great position to win the Cup.
Steady Production From the Pipeline
It’s always a tough task for a team to know when their prospects are ready for the NHL and which ones can join the roster and fill specific needs. The Rangers have an underwhelming farm system, yet they have found those skaters throughout the season who have particularly prevented the team from falling apart on their later lines and pairings.
Matt Rempe is the prospect that everyone knows about. He’s a hard-hitting power forward who can drop the gloves at any time, which has helped produce some of the more memorable fights this season. However, there are a lot of other young skaters who have helped out the NHL roster, especially when they were a surplus of injuries. Adam Edstrom was called up for 11 games, while Jake Leschyshyn and Brennan Othmann filled in for a handful of games.
The Rangers’ ability to call up prospects can be credited to a good team at the American Hockey League (AHL) level and one that is notably well-coached. The Wolf Pack are playing in the Atlantic Division Final in the Calder Cup thanks to Steve Smith, who has brought out the best in his roster. For the Rangers specifically, he gets the players on the team ready for the NHL, which allows them to call up any type of prospect and know they are in good hands.
Rangers Provide Blueprint for Other Teams That Feel “Stuck”
The Rangers are a reminder that teams who choose to build around a “core four” or invest in a few star players can still build a contender. It’s easy to look at free agency, the trade deadline, or a team that is aggressive as a poorly managed team, but the Rangers have proved otherwise.
The big thing is that these teams must make the right moves, and the Rangers were able to do that. They didn’t overspend in the offseason or at the trade deadline and continued to find value to help secure the depth of their roster. It’s why they never stumbled this season, remained the top team in the Eastern Conference, and currently look like a team ready to win the Cup.