Two straight years out of the playoffs will make any fan base nervous heading into training camp. But New York’s path back doesn’t require a miracle — it requires a division that’s largely standing still, a young player ready to break out, and a front office that spent the summer being honest about what wasn’t working.
Here are three bold calls for the Rangers’ 2026-27 season.
1. Gabe Perreault takes a real second-year leap — and cracks 60 points.
Perreault’s actual rookie line — 27 points in 49 games after getting recalled for good in December — translates to a roughly 45-point full-season pace, which is already a strong debut for a 20-year-old thrown into a top-line role on a struggling team. The more interesting number is his finish: 14 points in 16 games in March, a stretch that looked like a point-per-game player, not a rookie still finding his footing. A full 82-game season, a real training camp, and more reps next to Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere should push him well past his rookie pace. 60-plus points is the realistic bar for a true sophomore leap — not a stretch, just the next step in a trend that was already visible by the end of last season.
2. The Metropolitan Division stays wide open outside of two teams — and the Rangers take advantage.
Carolina is the reigning Cup champion, and Washington added Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch while bringing Alexander Ovechkin back for one more run — those two are the class of the division. Everyone else? Standing pat or worse. That’s an opening. New York doesn’t need to leapfrog the Hurricanes or Capitals to get back into the playoff picture; they need to be clearly better than a soft middle tier, and this roster — retooled front office, healthier training staff, a real top-six scoring push still in progress — is built to do exactly that.
3. The front-office overhaul pays off in games saved to injury, not just wins.
The story everyone will focus on is whether the Rangers make the playoffs. The story that actually explains whether they do is buried in the training room. New York brought in a new Director of Sports Performance and Head of Strength specifically because last year’s injury toll was unacceptable. If that investment works, you won’t see it in a highlight reel — you’ll see it in Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin playing 75+ games instead of missing chunks of the season. That’s the quiet stat that turns a bubble team into a playoff team.
None of this requires the Rangers to be great. It requires them to be healthy, to let a young scorer take the next step, and to beat the teams they’re supposed to beat in a division that isn’t as loaded as it looks on paper. That’s a realistic bar — and one this roster can clear.
Michael Phillips covers the Rangers and NHL for Sports & Whatever.
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