These Two New York Rangers May Have the Most Pressure Going Into the 26-27 Season
Heading further into the 2026 NHL offseason, the New York Rangers face an uncertain future. With some difficult times looking to be ahead, their previous season ended on a glimmer of hope from the rookies. Although some have been fun to watch, others have been rather disappointing, including a few that have shown no signs of leaving New York. With such a bleak season to end on, there are quite a lot of surprising and disappointing players going into next season. Whether they ended their season on a high or a low, these two Blueshirts may have the most pressure going into the 26-27 season.
J.T. Miller
Coming off the first season as the Rangers' 29th captain, J.T. Miller has definitely seen better seasons. Returning to the Rangers in early 2025 in a trade with Vancouver, the New York captain got off to a great start playing on a line with Mika Zibanejad. Scoring 13 goals and 22 assists in 32 games with the Blueshirts, fans looked forward to seeing what the six-foot-one forward could bring next season. Dealing with a lower-body injury to begin the season, the 33-year-old could not seem to get into an offensive rhythm, while also committing sloppy turnovers and poor effort on the ice. Concluding his first full season as the Rangers captain, he finished with 17 goals and 36 assists, not the ideal performance for a team captain. As disappointing as it was, the captain looks to start next season fully healthy and may have it in him to bounce back like Zibanejad did this season. If the Ohio native keeps up his dominance on faceoffs and builds off his improvements from late last season, he could play much better next season, but fans will need to see it to believe it, unfortunately.
Alexis Lafreniere
Coming off a disappointing 24-25 season, the pressure was already on for the New York Rangers' 2020 first overall pick at the start of this season. While Alexis Lafrenière failed to convince most of the fans with only 12 goals heading into the Olympic break, he showed a glimmer of hope with a late-season surge. With the departure of Artemi Panarin in late January, the 24-year-old had to create some offense of his own, and it benefited him immensely. Ending the final 25 games this season with 12 goals and 13 assists, perhaps a full season of this may help the Quebec native reach the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career. Eyes will be on him for sure entering the 26-27 season, and with the addition of a potential top-five forward on his line, the Canadian left winger may at last begin to trend upwards. As the confidence may not be all there just yet, the pressure’s on for Lafreniere to remind New York fans that he’s still a first overall pick for a full 82 games.
