7/2/25 | Drury did not comment when asked if negotiations with Panarin on an extension have started but did say that the Rangers “think the world of him” as a player and are “thrilled” that he’s with the Rangers. (The Athletic)
7/1/25 | 9:45PM: The Rangers reportedly signed 29-year old forward Taylor Raddysh to a two-year deal with a cap hit of $1.5 million per season. (Puck Pedia)
8:53PM: Following the first day of Free Agency, the Rangers:
- Signed Vladislav Gavrikov to a seven-year deal
- Re-signed Will Cuylle to a two-year deal
- Traded K’Andre Miller to Carolina, where he signed an eight-year deal, for a first round pick, second round pick and 22-year old defenseman Scott Morrow
The Rangers also signed 34-year old forward Justin Dowling that is a two-year deal that is a one way contract in the first year and a two-way contract in the second year.
The Rangers have about $1.4 million in cap space according to Puck Pedia.
Adam Rotter: This was a very successful day for the Rangers and unless they trade Carson Soucy to clear more cap space, anything else they do will be on the margins.
The biggest thing was adding Vladislav Gavrikov and that either allowing them to, or just because they wanted to, move K’Andre Miller. Gavrikov immediately makes them a better team. He’s an upgrade over Miller and a better player right now. That may change over the course of the long-term contracts the two of them signed, but right now Gavrikov is the better player and on a better contract. He took less to be a Ranger and for the opportunity to play next to Adam Fox on the Rangers top-pair. This doesn’t automatically cure what ailed them defensively last year, but he, likely more ice time for Braden Schneider and Mike Sullivan and David Quinn could go a long way towards doing that.
If you consider it an either or that the Rangers would have Gavrikov or Miller, there is way more value in Gavrikov at this number, plus a first round pick, second round pick and a young defenseman in Scott Morrow than just having Miller.
Moving Miller though is another door that closes from all the first round picks and young players that the Rangers accumulated who were supposed to be the future. If you look all the 19-22 years olds from the 2021 Covid shortened season that ended up costing David Quinn, Jeff Gorton and John Davidson their jobs, only Alexis Lafreniere and, of course, Adam Fox are still around.
Kaapo Kakko, Zac Jones, Vitali Kravtsov, Miller, Filip Chytil, Libor Hajek, Brett Howden and Ryan Lindgren are all gone. That doesn’t even include Lias Andersson and Nils Lundkvist as former first rounders that didn’t stick. That is a lot of high picks and prospects and while certain players were more successful and impactful in their time, the Rangers aren’t moving forward with any of them.
The other big thing the Rangers did today was lock up Will Cuylle to a fair contract and take away any talk or speculation of an offer sheet. Cuylle is and should be a big part of the Rangers and if he continues to develop and play a big role then the Rangers won’t have an issue signing him long-term when they have more cap space in two-years. Cuylle is a core guy now and definitely fills in for some of those prospects above that didn’t stick, same for Braden Schneider. He’s likely to either play the LW next to JT Miller and Mika Zibanejad or the RW next to Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin.
Speaking of Panarin, he’s eligible for a contract extension today. There hasn’t been much talk about that with Panarin but Chris Drury did have some more pressing matters to attend to first. It will be a big question heading into and during the season if Panarin isn’t signed, but Mitch Marner and Mikko Rantanen both came into this season, among others over the last few years, as pending UFAs. Since Panarin has a no-move clause there isn’t’ likely a chance he’ll be moved, though I did wonder at a point if Drury would broach the idea of him waiving it if the Rangers indicated they weren’t going to extend him. There was never any real indication that was something Drury was considering and it’s hard to imagine that the best version of the Rangers, or at least one that returns to the playoffs, doesn’t include him. Maybe the Rangers hold off on an extension clinging to the hope that they could his Panarin’s cap space to sign Connor McDavid, but my guess is that unless Panarin wants to play out the season as a pending UFA, like he did in his last year in Columbus, a short-term extension gets signed before the season starts.
The Rangers still may try to be active in filling out some depth pieces or guys for Hartford and some of the minor league RFAs still need new deals, but it’s possible that who the Rangers are today is who they will be when training camp opens. The Rangers do need to get younger so while there are spots on the wings and on the third pair that are open right now, their lack of cap space and the need for some young players to step up will likely see those spots be filled internally in training camp.
7/2/25 | Adding Raddysh is an interesting, middle-six depth move. He provides some insurance if the Rangers prefer to start Gabe Perreault in Hartford and he’s cheap enough that he can be waived without much impact on the salary cap if all the young guys earn spots in training camp. He is an NHL player and has played at least 73 games in each of the last three seasons and scored 20 goals three years ago for Chicago. He followed that with 12 combined goals the last two seasons but had a regular spot and seven goals and 20 assists for Washington last season. I’d still prefer the Rangers go with the young guys with their open wing spots, but Raddysh, whose brother was once a Rangers prospect, could have a Jonny Brodzinski like impact up and down the lineup depending on what is needed.