Colin Stephenson: Rangers' sell-off could make their season even uglier

If you thought the Rangers’ lineup, without the soon-to-be-traded Artemi Panarin, looked overmatched Wednesday against the Islanders, just wait. Things might get even uglier for the Blueshirts in the final 2 1⁄2 months of the season.

And they could be just as ugly in 2026-27, because with the Rangers now in full sell mode, Panarin won’t be the last one leaving this season.

Defenseman Carson Soucy was the first to go, traded to the Islanders on Monday for a third-round pick. He played his first game for his new team Wednesday night in a 5-2 win over the Rangers at UBS Arena and broke a scoreless tie late in the second period on Thursday night at the Garden (Matthew Schaefer made it 2-0 only 1:35 later, and that proved to be the winning goal in the Islanders’ 2-1 victory).

Panarin presumably will go next, and then others will follow him out the door. And when that happens, what will the roster look like?

It’ll be young. Partly because of injuries, the roster already features five rookies: Noah Laba, Matthew Robertson, Gabe Perreault, Scott Morrow and Brennan Othmann. Brett Berard was recalled from Hartford before Thursday’s game. As more and more players begin leaving, more and more youngsters will be arriving.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys that are getting opportunities in our lineup that have an opportunity to grow, develop, get better, show what they can do,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said Thursday morning before the Rangers dropped to 22-27-6, last in the Eastern Conference. “And that, I think, is our challenge, and that’s the opportunity we have in front of us.’’

Adding more young players likely will make for a less competitive group than the one that faced the Islanders on Wednesday and Thursday, though at some point, defenseman Adam Fox and goaltender Igor Shesterkin will return from their lower-body injuries and rejoin the lineup.

But the team they return to might look different. Vincent Trocheck, Panarin’s centerman for most of the last three seasons and a U.S. Olympian, might not be there. Trocheck’s name has been floated as among those likely to be on the move, because as a two-way center who wins faceoffs and can play on the power play and the penalty kill, he will be coveted by several playoff-contending teams. He would bring back a good return for the Rangers (they wouldn’t trade him if he didn’t).

After Wednesday’s game, Trocheck was asked if the Rangers are savoring their final days together as a group or are walking around on eggshells, waiting to see who will be the next to go.

“You can’t look at it like that,’’ he said. “You can’t go about your day being scared of what’s gonna happen next. You’ve got to . . . embrace any moment that you have together and love everybody in this locker room and cherish every second that we have together, every time we’re on the ice together, road trips, all that.’’

If Trocheck does go, who will replace him in the lineup? And will Sullivan then have to break up the duo of J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad, who had combined with Perreault to form the Rangers’ most effective line of late, in order to have Miller and Zibanejad centering the top two lines? What will those two lines look like?

And what would be the plan to replace Panarin (and Trocheck, or whoever else is shipped out) for next season?

If he doesn’t negotiate a contract extension with the team that trades for him, Panarin will be the top name on this summer’s free-agent market. It’s doubtful that Drury can find someone in free agency who would be able to do what Panarin did for the Rangers.

So maybe Drury will have to rely on trades or the draft to turn things around. The Rangers have two first-round picks, their own and the one belonging to Dallas or Carolina (from the K’Andre Miller trade). They could use both, maybe seek to trade one, or perhaps package both to get an impact player if Drury decides that’s the way to go.

Their own pick currently is in the top 5, and Tankathon.com estimated their odds of winning the No. 1 overall pick at 9.8% before Thursday’s game. Though it doesn’t sound as if this year’s draft has a Schaefer, Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard in it, according to The Athletic, eight or nine excellent players will be available, though there’s no way to know if that player can have an impact next season.

The NHL’s top-ranked North American skater prospect is Penn State winger Gavin McKenna. Interestingly, The Athletic’s NHL comparison player for McKenna is . . . Artemi Panarin.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.