The New York Rangers will begin to retool their roster this season, which likely means parting ways with players who have been key to their success in recent years, president and general manager Chris Drury wrote in a letter to the fanbase the team released publicly Friday.
The Rangers have lost five games in a row, the past four in regulation, to fall to last in the Eastern Conference with 46 points and a .479 points percentage under first-year coach Mike Sullivan.
“With our position in the standings and injuries to key players this season we must be honest and realistic about our situation,” Drury wrote. “We are not going to stand pat. A shift will give us the ability to be smart and opportunistic as we retool the team. This will not be a rebuild. This will be a retool built around our core players and prospects.”
The Rangers have been outscored 27-10 in the past four games against the Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Seattle Kraken and Ottawa Senators without goalie Igor Shesterkin and defenseman Adam Fox, who each sustained lower-body injuries in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth on Jan. 5.
But they were scuffling before losing Fox and Shesterkin, who each skated on their own Friday.
The Rangers have the fewest home wins of any team in the Eastern Conference this season (five). They’re 30th in the League scoring 2.58 goals per game.
“No one in the organization is happy with what has transpired — from management, to coaches, to players,” Drury wrote.
Prior to releasing the letter, Drury held a team meeting and met individually with the members of the Rangers’ leadership core, which includes first-year captain J.T. Miller, and alternate captains Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Fox.
“We will target players that bring tenacity, skill, speed and a winning pedigree with a focus on obtaining young players, draft picks and cap space to allow us flexibility moving forward,” Drury wrote. “That may mean saying goodbye to players that have brought us and our fans great moments over the years.”
Drury did not mention which players the Rangers could trade as part of this retool, but Panarin is likely high on the list.
Panarin is in the last year of a seven-year, $81.5 million contract he signed with the Rangers on July 1, 2019. He can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Panarin has led the Rangers in scoring in each of his first six seasons with the team and is on pace to do so again this season with a team-leading 51 points (16 goals, 35 assists) in 47 games. He is ninth all-time in Rangers history with 601 points (202 goals, 399 assists) in 477 games.
He helped the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 and 2024.
He reportedly has a full no-movement clause in his contract, which gives him power of destination if the Rangers ultimately decide to move him.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported on Friday that the Rangers have informed Panarin they will not offer him a new contract and that Drury would begin working with him to find a destination.
The NHL Trade Deadline is March 6.
In addition, defenseman Carson Soucy, forwards Jonny Brodzinski and Conor Sheary, and goalie Jonathan Quick can become UFAs on July 1. Soucy will not be with the Rangers against the Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NBCSP, MSG) because of personal reasons.
The Rangers have several players signed to long-term contracts.
Trocheck and Fox are signed through the 2028-29 season. Zibanejad, Miller and defenseman Will Borgen are signed through the 2029-30 season.
Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and forward Alexis Lafreniere are signed through the 2031-32 season, and Shesterkin is signed through the 2032-33 season.
“As we start on this new strategic plan we will continue to play hard with pride and passion for our fans,” Drury wrote. “We appreciate your unwavering support for the Rangers more than we can describe and thank you for all that you do for our organization. You will begin to see some of our plans come to light in the coming weeks and months.”
This is the second time in nearly eight years the Rangers have released a letter to their fans announcing changes were coming because of a disappointing on-ice performance.
They previously did on Feb. 8, 2018, when, like Drury did Friday, then president Glen Sather and general manager Jeff Gorton co-wrote that they would be focused on making the roster younger, which means losing players who had been key to the Rangers successes in reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2014, and the Eastern Conference Final in 2012 and 2015.
They missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2018-19, but signed Panarin, and acquired Fox and Jacob Trouba in the 2019 offseason.
New York played in the 2020 postseason, missed the playoffs in 2021, then reached the postseason the next three straight years, advancing into the conference final in 2022 and 2024.
“Over the last few years we’ve had some successes and moments to cherish, but ultimately it was not the end goal,” Drury wrote. “We are working relentlessly every day to bring a Stanley Cup back to New York because that is what our fans deserve.”
