Rangers at Islanders: Pregame Notes
By
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are set to celebrate their Centennial Year during the 2025-26 season. The Blueshirts will play six preseason games (listed below) and begin their regular season campaign at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 7.
- Sept. 21 at NJD - W, 5-3
- Sept. 23 vs. BOS - OTL, 5,4
- Sept. 25 vs. NYI - L, 5-4
- Sept. 29 at NYI - 7:00 PM
- Oct. 2 vs. NJD - 7:00 PM
- Oct. 4 at BOS - 2:00 PM
PRESEASON TOP SCORERS
- Noah Laba: 3 GP - 4 PTS (4A)
- Connor Sheary: 2 GP - 3 PTS (1G-2A)
- Brett Berard: 2 GP - 2 PTS (1G-1A)
- Scott Morrow: 3 GP - 2 PTS (1G-1A)
- Gabe Perreault: 3 GP - 2 PTS (2G)
- Dylan Roobroeck: 2 GP - 2 PTS (1G-1A)
- Vincent Trocheck: 1 GP - 2 PTS (1G-1A)
47 PLAYERS REMAINING IN TRAINING CAMP
The Rangers currently have 47 players remaining in Training Camp this season. The training camp roster is made up of 27 forwards, 16 defensemen and four goaltenders.
Forwards (27): Brett Berard, Anton Blidh, Brendan Brisson, Jonny Brodzinski, Sam Carrick, Jaroslav Chmelar, Will Cuylle, Justin Dowling, Adam Edstrom, Trey Fix-Wolansky, Noah Laba, Alexis Lafreniere, Bryce McConnell-Barker, J.T. Miller, Brennan Othmann, Artemi Panarin, Juuso Parssinen, Gabe Perreault, Taylor Raddysh, Matt Rempe, Dylan Roobroeck, Conor Sheary, Adam Sykora, Carey Terrance, Vincent Trocheck, Kalle Vaisanen, Mika Zibanejad
Defensemen (16): Will Borgen, Jackson Dorrington, Casey Fitzgerald, Adam Fox, Vladislav Gavrikov, Blake Hillman, Connor Mackey, Case McCarthy, Scott Morrow, Derrick Pouliot, Matthew Robertson, Brandon Scanlin, Braden Schneider, Carson Soucy, Andrej Sustr, Urho Vaakanainen
Goaltenders (4): Talyn Boyko, Dylan Garand, Jonathan Quick, Igor Shesterkin
Of the 47 players, 23 played in at least one game for the Blueshirts last season.
NEWBIES
This summer, the Rangers signed defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, forward Taylor Raddysh, defenseman Derrick Pouliot, forward Justin Dowling and forward Trey Fix-Wolansky. The Rangers also acquired forward Carey Terrance in a trade with Anaheim and defenseman Scott Morrow in a trade with Carolina.
Gavrikov, 29, recorded five goals and 25 assists for 30 points in a career-high 82 games for the Los Angeles Kings last season. He has compiled 29 goals and 106 assists for 135 points in 435 career NHL games between the Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets.
Raddysh, 27, skated in 80 games for the Washington Capitals in 2024-25, recording seven goals and 20 assists for 27 points. He has skated in 305 career NHL games over parts of four seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks, and Capitals, registering 43 goals and 57 assists for 100 points, along with 66 penalty minutes.
Pouliot, 31, collected seven goals and 46 assists for 53 points in 70 games with the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League (AHL) in 2024-25. In 226 career NHL games over parts of nine seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues, Vegas Golden Knights, Seattle Kraken, San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars, he has registered eight goals and 46 assists for 54 points, along with 91 penalty minutes.
Dowling, 34, skated in 52 games with the New Jersey Devils this past season, registering two goals and five assists for seven points, along with six penalty minutes. He has compiled nine goals and 17 assists for 26 points, along with 24 penalty minutes, in 152 career games over parts of seven seasons with the Devils, Dallas Stars and Vancouver Canucks.
Fix-Wolansky, 26, skated in 65 games with the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL) in 2024-25, registering 26 goals and 34 assists for 60 points, along with 73 penalty minutes. In 26 career NHL games over parts of three seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets (2021-22 – 2023-24), he has tallied six points (4G-2A).
Terrance, 20, captained the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) last season, registering 20 goals and 19 assists for 39 points in 45 games. In 230 games across four seasons with Erie, he accumulated 89 goals and 73 assists for 162 points.
Morrow, 22, recorded one goal and five assists for six points in 14 games for the Carolina Hurricanes last season. He played three years of collegiate hockey for the University of Massachusetts and registered 28 goals and 66 assists for 94 points in 109 games.
MILLER TIME
On Sept. 16, J.T. Miller was named the 29th captain in franchise history. The East Palestine, Ohio native is entering his 14th season and has skated in 871 career games between the Rangers, Vancouver Canucks and Tampa Bay Lightning, collecting 260 goals and 449 assists for 709 points, along with a plus-61 rating and 496 penalty minutes.
Miller has helped his team advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs on eight different occasions and was part of the Rangers’ 2013-14 team that advanced to the Stanley Cup Final. He served as an alternate captain with the Canucks for parts of four seasons, from the start of the 2021-22 season through his trade to the Rangers.
On Jan. 31, 2025, the Rangers reacquired forward J.T. Miller from Vancouver. He was originally drafted by the Rangers in the first round, 15th overall, of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
Among all NHL players who took 1,000 or more faceoffs in 2024-25, J.T. Miller tied for third in faceoff percentage (58.2) and reached his second highest faceoff percentage in a season since the start of his career.
Since his Rangers debut on Feb. 1, his 12 multi-point games were tied for the second most in the NHL and among Blueshirts, he ranked second in goals (13) and points (34), and tied for first in assists (21). His 76 hits ranked third on the team since his acquisition.
He is the only player in the NHL since the 2021-22 season to have recorded 300 or more points, as well as 700 or more hits. In that same time frame, he is one of 18 skaters to have three or more 50-plus assist seasons, and his 354 points are ranked 12th most in the NHL.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AS ONE
The New York Rangers were founded in May of 1926 and were part of the “Original Six” teams. The 2025-26 season represents one hundred years of history for the Rangers and will be celebrated throughout the entirety of the regular season with special programming and initiatives.
In March 2025, the Rangers unveiled their Centennial Year logo which combines several elements from the team’s 100 years. The outline of the shield is the original 1926 Rangers crest with a dark royal blue reflective of the color pallet from Rangers shields from 1948-1976. The iconic Rangers jersey elements are used as th numbers for the bold 100, complemented by the classic red and white piping. Inside the overall logo sits the current Rangers shield shape, updated with typography and a shade of blue from the original 1926 shield.
NEW BENCH, NEW SEASON, SAME GOAL
The New York Rangers have a new face of the organization as Mike Sullivan was named the 38th Head Coach on May 2, 2025. Sullivan has returned to the Blueshirts after serving as an assistant coach from 2009-10 and 2012-13, and was originally drafted by New York in the fourth round, 69th overall, of the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He is joined by Assistant Coaches David Quinn, Joe Sacco and Ty Hennes.
Sullivan has served as a head coach for the Boston Bruins (2003-04 - 2005-06), the Pittsburgh Penguins (2015-16) and now the Rangers. He led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 2015-16 and 2016-17, and became the second head coach in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup in each of his first two seasons with a team. He is also the only American-born head coach in NHL history who has won the Stanley Cup multiple times.
Quinn is returning to the Blueshirts after serving as Head Coach from 2018-21. Last season, Quinn served as an assistant coach with the Penguins under Mike Sullivan and has over 30 years of coaching experience, including five years as a head coach. He has been behind the bench in several international tournaments with Team USA as an assistant coach at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, as well as head coach of the 2022 and 2023 World Championship teams and the 2022 Men’s Olympic Team. Quinn also served as head coach at Boston University from 2014-18.
Sacco spent the past 11 seasons with the Boston Bruins as an assistant coach for 10 seasons before being elevated to associate coach at the start of the 2024-25 season. He was named interim head coach for the final 62 games of last season. Prior to his time at the Bruins, he spent one season as an assistant coach for the Buffalo Sabres (2013-14) and four seasons as the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche (2009-13). He was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award in his first season as a head coach in 2009-10.
Hennes served in the Penguins organization for the last seven seasons, including parts of the last three seasons as an assistant coach. Before becoming assistant coach in 2022-23, he spent four seasons as the Penguins’ skating and skills development coach. He has also served as an assistant coach at the 2024 World Championships with USA Hockey and served as a coach/evaluator at various USA Hockey National Player Development Camps.
2024-25 RECAP
- New York’s 53.6 percent faceoff percentage ranked third in the NHL.
- The Blueshirts were 50 percent or better in 59 of 82 games last season (72.0%).
- With eight shutouts as a team last season, the Rangers tied for the fourth most in the NHL and wasthe most the team’s had since 2021-22 (9).
- The Rangers led the NHL with 18 shorthanded goals and was the second most in franchise history for a single season (1993-94, 20 SHGs).
- Eleven different Rangers scored 10 or more goals with the team, tied for the third most in the NHL, and five Rangers had 20 goals.
- From Jan. 2 through the end of the season, the Blueshirts ranked third in the NHL in goals scored (150).
- The Rangers scored four or more goals in 22 games throughout the season, which were tied for the second most in the NHL.
- Sixteen players on the Rangers scored five or more goals last season, tied for the sixth most in the NHL.
- Thirty two different players have recorded at least one point for the Blueshirts.
- New York defensemen accumulated 149 assists last season and ranked seventh most in the NHL.
- The Blueshirts ranked fifth in the NHL in total hits (2,031).
- The Rangers held their highest faceoff win percentage (53.6) in a season since the league began tracking during the 1997-98 season.
BREAD WINNER
Artemi Panarin notched 37 goals and 52 assists for 89 points in 80 games played. Awarded Team MVP, he ranked first in goals, assists, points, power play goals (8), power play points (25) and shots (234) among the Blueshirts. He secured his fifth 80-point season with New York, tying Mark Messier for the most in team history, and his fifth 50-assist season, surpassing Messier and Rod Gilbert for the second most in franchise history.
He is the only active undrafted player with 300 career goals and notched his fifth career 30-goal season, and second consecutive. Panarin is the first Ranger since Jaromir Jagr (2005-07) with 30-plus goals and 40-plus assists in back-to-back seasons. His 30-goal seasons rank tied for 11th in the NHL since 2015-16.
Since 2023-24, his 209 points rank sixth in the NHL, and among NHL skaters since his debut in 2015-16, he ranks fourth in assists (568) and fifth in points (870).
FORECHECK, BACKCHECK, TROCHECK
In 2024-25, Vincent Trocheck led the NHL in faceoff percentage (59.3) and his 910 overall faceoff wins ranked third in the league among skaters who’ve taken 1,000 or more faceoffs, and were third most among Rangers skaters for a single season since 1997-98.
His six shorthanded goals last season tied for the second most in a single season by a Ranger in history (tied with Cecil Dillon, Theo Fleury leads with seven) and shared the league lead for the most among all NHL skaters.
Last season, he notched his seventh 20-goal season of his career and ranked second in goals (25), fifth in assists (33) and fifth in points (58) on the Blueshirts. His 200 shots were the second most on the team.
FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Adam Fox became the ninth different defenseman in NHL history to record four consecutive 50-assist seasons in 2024-25 and became one of eight defensemen in Rangers history to record four or more seasons with 10 or more goals.
His 51 assists last season ranked second among the Blueshirts and tied for sixth among NHL defensemen. His four three-point games tied for third and his 17 multi-point games tied for eighth among NHL blueliners.
He notched his 300th career assist on Mar. 20 vs. TOR and became the fourth defenseman in Rangers history to reach the milestone.
TOO COOL
In 2024-25, Will Cuylle registered career highs in goals (20), assists (25), points (45) and hits (301). His 301 hits ranked fifth most in the NHL and surpassed Ryan Callahan (285) for the most hits among Rangers in a single season since the NHL began tracking in 2005-06.
He was named the winner of the 2024-25 Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, selected by the fans and awarded to the Ranger who goes above and beyond the call of duty.
