I freely admit that I have way too much time on my hands thanks to the Rangers failing to make the 2025 playoffs. This off-season of the New York Rangers have me entertaining too many random thoughts. The last game was so long ago that I’m even ruminationg over what I’d do if I ran the New York Islanders. That’s a lot of idle time, hockey wise.
The Five Amigos in Boston… and New York
For me it starts with this management group of Boston University best friends that the Rangers have assembled. Chris Drury, head coach Mike Sullivan, and his three assistants Ty Hennes, Joe Sacco, and David Quinn are all old friends who played together at Boston University.
They are all old best friends because of this long association. I got to wonder what happens if someone disagrees with a decision? Will the assistants be willing to speak up even in private if the coach or GM makes a move that they think is wrong?
Or if things go south, would Chris Drury hesitate to replace Sullivan or one of the assistants out of misguided loyalty? When was the last time any of these coaches were a winner?
And this is the first time that I have seen a Rangers GM fire a guy from the head coaching position and then rehire him as an assistant. There was a reason why you fired the guy in the first place.
RFAs: Rangers qualifying offers, offer sheets targets?
Did you know the Rangers have seven players who are Restricted Free Agents this year? K’Andre Miller*, Zac Jones*, Matthew Robertson*, Will Cuylle, Adam Edstrom*, Matthew Rempe, and Arthur Kaliyev*. The players with * next to their names are eligible to file for arbitration.
OK let us be here because of arbitration; the odds are good that the Rangers will not make qualifying offers to either Robertson or Kaliyev. But what about the remaining five players, would you make qualifying offers to them?
Odds are that you would but now let us ask “What if?” again only this time if these players were given offer sheets by other teams? It used to be the unwritten rule that no team went after another team’s RFA.
But last year the St. Louis Blues changed things by going after two Edmonton Oilers and the Oilers did not match the offers losing the players for draft picks in this years draft. The Rangers only now have a little over $8.4 million in open salary cap space.
The reason this is being brought up is this: 2025-2026 Offer Sheet Tiers. The only real player the Rangers ought to worry about would be Will Cuylle as while he only requires a qualifying offer of $813,750; can the Rangers afford to match say an offer sheet of $4.5 million a year?
If you look at the chart, then all the Rangers would receive for losing Cuylle is a 2026 second round pick. That does not seem like a good return for a player with the kind of upside that Cuylle showed last season.
K’Andre Miller is a mixed one as on the one hand he really is not worth his qualifying offer of $4.64 million. Then one must worry that Miller would reject his qualifying offer and file for arbitration.
It is very doubtful any sane NHL GM would give Miller an offer sheet but if they did it would give Drury an uncomplicated way out while freeing up some money to be better spent elsewhere. Drury may desire to trading Miller but that $4.64 million qualifying offer is going to turn off most NHL teams.
Thinking here is Miller will be presented with an offer and a warning that if he files for arbitration then the Rangers will walk away from him if he wins leaving Miller as a UFA. A good agent is going to realize that Miller would lose money on the open market.
The question then becomes does New York offer Miller a one-year deal in the hope that he bounces back next season? The Rangers will not find a top four defenseman for under six million on the open market nor do they have the assets to make a trade for one.
As for Zac Jones, Adam Edstrom, and Matt Rempe; Edstrom and Rempe might attract offer sheets of about $1.5 million which would mean no compensation to the Rangers should they decline to match any offer sheet.
Trade down and add picks?
Of course, I am not the GM of the New York Islanders. If I were then I would seriously entertain offers for the first overall pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Nashville and Philadelphia both have three picks in the first round, Columbus, Calgary, Montreal, San Jose, and Chicago each have two picks.
If Nashville (fifth) or Philadelphia (sixth) offered to swap spots with me and tossed in another of their first round picks and a second round pick, the Islanders should seriously consider those offers. The Islanders prospect pool is weak, and they desperately need to add talent.
