For the last 23 years (12 with The Hockey News), Dobber and his team have reviewed each team from a fantasy hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 24th annual review will appear here on Dobber Hockey throughout the summer. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey, both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future.

Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are considered when examining the depth chart and evaluating the potential of the players on it.

Enjoy!

** Be sure to pick up your copy of the 2026-2027 Fantasy Hockey Guide **

Gone – Vincent Trocheck, Adam Edstrom, William Borgen, Jonny Brodzinski, Jonathan Quick

Incoming – Pavel Dorofeyev, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Cole Beaudoin, Joe Veleno, Marcus Pettersson, Sean Durzi, Joonas Korpisalo

Impact of Changes – The big changes come with the Trocheck trade, locking J.T. Miller into a full-time center role, and hurting the overall center depth on the team. Noah Laba may see a few more minutes as a result, though he wasn't necessarily driving play against lesser competition last year, so heavier minutes may be tough on him. 

The trade brought in Durzi, which, along with the addition of Pettersson, more than fills in the gap on defence created by the Borgen departure. This will push a few of the younger players down the depth chart, and creates quite a camp battle for the sixth slot on defence between Urho Vaakanainen, Vincent Iorio, Scott Morrow, Drew Fortescue, and Matthew Robertson. 

Durzi should also help insulate Adam Fox, and will likely run the second power play unit himself, something that has been lacking for the Rangers in recent years. Overall, the fallout from the deal on the goalies should be a positive one, which should help get Igor Shesterkin back on track. 

On top of all of that, the rangers added some extra offence in Dorofeyev and Bjorkstrand. Dorofeyev brings two straight 35-goal seasons, having only played second line minutes in both of those seasons. He hit his breakout threshold about the midpoint of last season, and in the second half he put up over a 40-goal, 70-point pace. With top line minutes that the Rangers typically heap on their top players, that could jump even higher, replacing Trocheck's offence and helping keep Zibanejad and Miller afloat in their 30s. Bjorkstrand meanwhile will likely end up on the third line, adding a bit of depth scoring, but not really affecting Bjorkstrand's outlook on his new team. 

Ready for Full Time – Drew Fortescue, Gabe Perreault, Adam Sykora, Dylan Garand

All four of these players are home-grown draft picks who made appearances last year with the team. Perreault played the most, with 49 games and 27 points, and he looks set to play a top line role this coming season. He is written in on the top line in pen, and will likely stick there for the majority of the season. A full season could see a small step forward from last year's pace up to the 50-point plateau, before a bigger breakout in the future. 

Adam Sykora and Drew Fortescue are going to be given a look in camp, and while they might have shown flashes of talent and readiness last year, they will likely be down in Hartford while everyone is healthy. The roster numbers mean that there would need to be a number of NHL contracts waived or a handful of injuries taking place in order for the waiver exempt deals of Sykora and Fortescue to end up on the NHL roster full time next season. Keep an eye on them moving forward as solid support pieces though.

Dylan Garand was extremely impressive in three games last season, putting up a 1.68 GAA and a .948 save percentage. It's also not like the team in front of him did him any favors in those games, as he saved more than 1.5 goals above expected per game in that three-game trial. He won two of those three games, losing the third in a shootout. However, the Rangers likely want him starting regularly for Hartford in the AHL this season, which is why Joonas Korpisalo was brought in to cover backup and mop up duties with the big club behind Shesterkin for the next two seasons. 

Fantasy Outlook

This is a team that finished in the bottom 10 of goals for last season, while finishing middle of the pack in goals against. While they might improve a little and inch closer to being a top-10 team in goals against (fewer goals against) they will likely still be in the bottom 10 or 15 teams for goals for. The Rangers were a top-heavy team last season, having almost no one providing fantasy relevance except for those on their top power play unit. The team looks to be a little more balanced in the top-six this year, but the quality drops off dramatically in the bottom six. The breakout 70-point season that Alexis Lafreniere owners keep waiting for would help fuel another step for the offence, while Will Cuylle brings a nice combination of points and peripherals. Even with that, the top-six group is good but not elite. 

The same is true on defence, where Adam Fox runs the show and soaks up the majority of the relevance on offence. He's a 70-point player who they need to remain healthy this year after missing a third of last season. Durzi replaces some of the all-around game on the second pair that the Rangers were missing after they traded K'Andre Miller, but his offence is likely capped in the 35-point range without the top-power play slotting that he needed to hit his career high of 41 points. 

Owners of Igor Shesterkin are in good shape going into this year as he looks to build off of another solid season with a slightly better overall team in front of him. However, with the goals for totals likely still sagging behind, wins will be harder to come by. Behind Igor, Korpisalo comes from a cushier spot in Boston, and was uninspiring there which leaves some doubts as to how well he can survive in New York.

Fantasy Grade: B- (last year was a B)