There is at least one positive of sorts to the New York Rangers ' nightmarish 2024-25 season. In theory, at least, most players should play better and produce more in 2025-26.
Yet it's not just a case of guys who underperformed last season returning to career norms. The Rangers have a number of players who, through natural development, a more settled situation, or a possible promotion to a bigger role, might be on the verge of producing more this coming season.
A look at the roster reveals a myriad of examples why the Rangers could – and probably should – expect a course correction and return to playoff contention this coming season.
To that end, here are five Rangers who might raise their games this season and help carry the team back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Related: What Rangers fans expect in 2025-26: player prediction poll
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J.T. Miller hardly underperformed in 32 games after the Rangers acquired him from the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 31. Miller recorded 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists) and dominated at the face-off dot, winning 57.6 percent of his draws. Yet like so many high-profile Rangers, last season's malaise seemed to mute the 32-year-old's impact. Miller endured a nine-game goalless stretch in March, during which he managed only four assists.
The Rangers didn't just get Miller for his scoring prowess, which allowed him to pile up 437 points in 404 games over five-plus seasons with the Canucks. They need his hard-edged nature and fiery intensity to rub off on his more passive Rangers teammates.
Now, with an offseason to get re-settled in his first NHL digs, Miller should have every opportunity to replicate his 103-point performance of 2023-24, while continuing to establish himself as one of the club's leaders, perhaps even as Rangers captain.
Related: Canucks GM opens up about Rangers star: 'I have a lot of respect for J.T. Miller'
The 2020-21 Norris Trophy winner was anything but ineffective last season, recording 61 points in 74 games, finish ninth in scoring among all NHL defensemen . He also continued to drive positive scoring and possession numbers for the Rangers. Yet Adam Fox looked like a diminished version of himself far too often, and some of that might have had to do with circumstances that shouldn't affect him in 2025-26.
Fox, who's notched at least 70 points three times in his career, appeared to be banged up and exhausted for a good part of 2024-25, coming off a knee injury and long playoff run the previous spring. With a long summer under his belt – another unfortunate "benefit" to the Rangers missing the postseason in 2025 – Fox should be rested and healthy, and ready to hit the ground running in training camp
The signing of free-agent defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov should also help raise Fox's game. Gavrikov is a terrific defensive defenseman, likely the best on the open market this offseason, and would appear to be a perfect fit next to Fox on the top pair.
Fox and long-time defense partner Ryan Lindgren almost always graded out as a possession-driving duo, but it was Fox who carried them. Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Fox-Lindgren posted a 50.3 expected goal share, but Fox's number was 59.8 without Lindgren, while Lindgren was at 43.8, per Natural Stat Trick . Gavrikov, by comparison, was above a 63 expected goal share in each of the past two seasons with the Los Angeles Kings .
A return to elite form by Fox in his age-27 season might be the easiest bet to make on this roster.
Related: Rangers star Adam Fox should be motivated by absurd ranking in NHL Network list of top 20 defensemen
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Will Cuylle had a breakout season in 2024-25, with career highs of 20 goals, 25 assists, 45 points, a team-best plus-12 rating and a franchise-record 301 hits. The 23-year-old earned a larger role on the power play and in the top six, along with penalty-killing opportunities, last season. Cuylle's old-school approach is where the Rangers want to be, and it seems highly likely that new coach Mike Sullivan will give him even more responsibility this coming season.
The 6-foot-3, 212-pounder might again find himself on the left flank of Miller, who wouldn't exactly discourage Cuylle's similar rugged game and should create plenty of scoring chances for him. Along with potentially bigger minutes on the man advantage – and overall – Cuylle's goal total might creep into the mid-20s range or higher as he continues to establish himself as a member of the Rangers core. Signing him to a two-year, $7.8 million bridge contract July 1 should add to his comfort level going into his third full season.
Related: How Matt Rempe, Sam Carrick, Adam Edstrom could give Rangers modern-day 'Crash Line'
It would probably be difficult to forecast an increase in offensive production for Braden Schneider, a (mostly) defensive defenseman entering his fifth season who put up a career-high 21 points in 2024-25. Yet the 23-year-old still might be poised for what amounts to a bust-out effort, thanks to improved health and a probable role change in 2025-26.
Schneider showed up to the Rangers' breakup day April 21 with his left arm in a sling, the result of surgery to repair a torn labrum that had hindered him since the 2022-23 season. Schneider had been shut down for the team's meaningless final two games of 2024-25, and while the medical procedure came as a surprise to the assembled media, it might have at least partially explained why the development of the 19th selection in the 2020 draft stalled over the past couple of seasons. Schneider's physical, sometimes nasty game, the primary reason why the Rangers traded up three spots to draft him, seemed to come and go last season.
It remains to be seen whether the surgically repaired shoulder revives Schneider's hard-hitting ways. If it does, Sullivan could benefit if he commits to moving the 6-4, 213-pound right-shot defender into the top four – most likely on the left side, where Schneider looked comfortable and effective in a short audition early last season. Theoretically healthy for the first time in years and having been freed from erstwhile third-pair responsibilities, Schneider's throwback game might finally fully emerge, adding a harder edge to a top-four defense corps that's been thirsting for one.
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Will this be the season that the towering winger completely sheds the sideshow label? That might depend largely on Sullivan's affinity for the 6-9, 255-pounder. If Matt Rempe's development remains static or goes south, however, it won't be for a lack of effort. The 23-year-old's work ethic has never been in question, and he's spent much of the summer training at Prentiss Hockey Performance in Stamford, Conn., with former teammate Chris Kreider , Ottawa Senators star Brady Tkachuk and Philadelphia Flyers forward Trevor Zegras .
Like fellow 2020 draft picks Cuylle and Schneider, Rempe's physical presence is invaluable to a Rangers club that's perenially trying to toughen up. Yet it's possible that even as a fourth-liner, Rempe's production could climb into the double-digit goal range next season after he scored three with five assists in 42 games in 2024-25. Rempe's proclivity for standing in front of the net while hunting for tips and rebounds, along with his uncommon quickness and skating ability for such a big man, led to surprisingly numerous scoring chances last season – many of which he wasn't able to finish off.
Rempe, who inked a two-year, $1.9 million contract this summer, must show Sullivan that his 200-foot game can rise along with his offensive one. The Calgary native, though, burns to be taken seriously, and has been putting in the work to make it happen. If he can finally learn to avoid the increased scrutiny of referees and the NHL Department of Player Safety, the Rangers might have something more than a cult hero on their hands.
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