3 Rangers takeaways at the Winter Olympics break
Rangers backup goaltender Spencer Martin reacts after allowing a second-period goal to the Islanders' Mathew Barzal at UBS Arena on Jan. 28, 2026. Credit: Getty Images/Bruce Bennett
The Rangers couldn’t be more grateful that the NHL has paused for the Winter Olympics, halting their nightmare season for the next three weeks. The Blueshirts are in last place in the Eastern Conference at the Olympic break, with a record of 22-29-6, and have lost 15 of their last 18 games (3-13-2). They will have 25 games left when the season resumes on Feb. 26.
They’ve announced a “retool,’’ which is already underway after they traded leading scorer Artemi Panarin to the L.A. Kings on Wednesday, and sending defenseman Carson Soucy to the Islanders last week. More players are expected to follow those two out the door before the March 6 trade deadline.
On the bright side, defenseman Adam Fox and goaltender Igor Shesterkin should be back from their lower-body injuries when the games resume.
Here are three takeaways from the Rangers’ pre-Olympic schedule:
1. The losses have been piling up, but that may not be a bad thing.
Every loss helps their retooling efforts, as it gives them a better chance of winning the No. 1 pick in the draft lottery. They have the third-worst record in the league, and according to Tankathon.com, have an 11.6% chance of winning the No. 1 pick overall. The Islanders won the lottery last year with a 3.5% chance, and got Matthew Schaefer. That seems to be working out for them.
2. It’s time to play the kids?
That’s an easy thing for fans to say, but you can’t just play kids because you have nothing to lose. Kids have to earn their shot, and since the Rangers’ Hartford farm team is sitting in last place in the Atlantic Division, we don’t know how many kids have done that. Besides, coach Mike Sullivan insists he’s been playing the kids already. Injuries to Fox, Adam Edstrom and Conor Sheary have led to Scott Morrow and Brennan Othmann being called up, and there were five rookies at the Rangers’ rookie dinner (Othmann, Morrow, Noah Laba, Matthew Robertson and Gabe Perreault) on the road trip to California last month. “As far as giving some of our younger players more prominent roles, it's already occurred,’’ Sullivan said. “So will it continue to occur? I would envision it would, yes.’’ The kids have to show something when they get their shot, though. Othmann, a former first-round pick, has one goal in 16 games and was a healthy scratch Thursday against Carolina.
3. Who’s next to go?
With Panarin and Soucy gone, the next two names most often mentioned as likely to be traded are center Vincent Trocheck and defenseman Braden Schneider. If this truly is a “retool,’’ as opposed to an all-out “rebuild,’’ you wouldn’t trade an all-around leader like Trocheck, who helps set team culture and is under contract for three more years at an affordable cap hit. Nor would you trade a 24-year-old former first-round pick who may have struggled on the top defense pair but is a commodity as a righthanded shot with size and physicality. But, if other teams want these two guys and are willing to give back quality assets, Rangers GM Chris Drury may have to do it.
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.
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