Very few teams are under more pressure to bounce back in 2025-26 than the New York Rangers.
Last year’s mess of a season that resulted in no playoff hockey in the Big Apple was unacceptable, and consequences came as a result.
Plenty of changes were made throughout the season and in the summer, both on and off the ice, though the nucleus of star talent still does remain intact.
Will they prove last season was an outlier where everything went wrong, or did this core reach its peak as a group in 2023-24? We’ll give you our say with three bold predictions for the Rangers.
Igor Shesterkin wins the Vezina
There may not be a more physically talented goaltender in hockey than Igor Shesterkin.
The 2014 fourth-round pick (118th overall) has spoiled Ranger fans with another superstar netminder stolen in the later rounds of the draft, a la Henrik Lundqvist.
Like the rest of his team, Shesterkin struggled in 2024-25, and he’s motivated to bounce back in a big way this season. An improved defense core and better structure under Mike Sullivan will help tremendously, too, and he’s already loving it.
Igor Shesterkin on Mike Sullivan: #NYR
“He is a really good coach. He knows what he wants, so he puts hard work for everyone. I’m enjoying.”— Remy Mastey (@MasteyRemy) September 19, 2025
It’s been too long since the 29-year-old won his only Vezina (2021-22), and it all lines up for him to add a second to his trophy case in 2025-26.
Mike Sullivan is a finalist for Coach of the Year
It’s going to be weird seeing Mike Sullivan behind the Rangers bench moving forward, especially when they take on the rival Penguins.
The veteran bench boss achieved the ultimate success in Pittsburgh, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups immediately upon arriving.
Coaching a Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin-led team meant massive expectations every season, with Sullivan being somewhat underappreciated through it all.
He’s never won the Jack Adams Award, but turning things around in Year One in New York will get him at least in the running to win it.
Rangers make playoffs with ease, 2nd in Metro
Missing the playoffs was never a thought entering the 2024-25 season, yet somehow that’s what happened.
General manager Chris Drury expressed his displeasure with last year’s underperformance and showed it in his actions, firing Peter Laviolette and shipping longtime Rangers Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba out of town.
We’ll see whether he pushed all the right buttons with the moves that were made, but this team is too talented to miss the postseason again in 2025-26.
Other than Carolina, nobody should scare New York in the Metropolitan, so they’ll cruise to a second-place division finish and home ice advantage in the first round.
