The Stanley Cup Final hasn’t even started yet, and the Rangers trade rumor mill keeps on humming. We’ve had rumors regarding Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin, K’Andre Miller, offer sheets, and others. While I do like to at least post things that are being published, I don’t necessarily believe all the rumors that are posted. Some make sense, like the Rangers testing the market for Miller. Others, like offer sheet rumors, I don’t really believe. I want to dedicate some time to each one I’ve heard thus far.
As an FYI, I posted a poll on the Patreon page (here) regarding some offseason topics to cover. Some of the topics polled are a bit time sensitive, so I will get to those sooner. Others I’ll need to wait until some of the offseason progresses.
Beware of Rangers trade rumor sources
1. First things first, there are many websites that seem to simply source its rumors from fan made proposals on Twitter, PuckPedia, and other social media sites. These sites take these proposals and publish them with click bait headlines to pass them off as legitimate rumors. Please be aware these are not rumors. They are, at best, NHL2025 proposals. This includes the Artemi Panarin to Anaheim for about 17 pieces, including Trevor Zegras and the 10th overall pick. That’s not a real rumor. It was a fan proposal sourced from social media.
Please consider these with a grain of salt. I promise to only post things here that are from legitimate sources. I also try to stay away from media speculation, like “Panarin could waive for the right situation, and perhaps Chicago is the right situation.” That’s not a rumor, that’s someone spitballing.
For what it’s worth, it’s fun to spitball things. Panarin and Anaheim do actually make sense on paper, but not for Zegras, the 10th overall, and 3 other pieces. Sniff test matters.
2. Another rumor that falls in this category is the Alexis Lafreniere to Montreal rumor. This was someone spitballing that there could be a fit, not there was a concrete rumor. Naturally, it got legs of its own and found its way into the Rangers trade rumor mill. There are no connections between Lafreniere and Montreal other than Jeff Gorton drafting him.
That rumor also didn’t make much sense because it said they’d play Lafreniere with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. That leaves just Kaiden Guhle as the only player worth exploring from Montreal. Maybe Alex Newhook as a young 3C? Lafreniere for Guhle and Newhook doesn’t really make anyone happy, does it?
Artemi Panarin trade rumors heating up; Chris Kreider rumors slowing down
3. What’s been interesting to see in the Rangers trade rumor mill is how quickly the Artemi Panarin trade rumors have heated up. It’s easy to see why: He’s their most expensive asset, is a pending UFA, and had sexual assault allegations that the Rangers may want to rid themselves of. There have been a few destinations pointed out, with Anaheim potentially leading the way. The Ducks want to add scoring and Panarin will be one of the top wingers available.
I can see Minnesota being involved, but they mostly need centers. Oddly enough, I can see Colorado involved if the Martin Necas drama continues.
4. While the Panarin trade rumors heat up, Chris Kreider’s name–while perpetually in the Rangers trade rumor mill–has been oddly absent of late. It’s not that he’s off the market, it’s that the rumors are shifting to other players. Panarin is one, Necas another, and Jason Robertson made his way into the rumor mill as well. Mitch Marner looms large as the big name UFA as well.
The concern with this is fairly straight forward. The more names that are out there, the less the acquisition cost to land Kreider. He’s already coming off vertigo, offseason surgery, and back spasms amid a terrible season for him and the entire team. Adding more players to the trade/UFA pool won’t help his value.
What Kreider has going for him still sets him above many: Proven clutch playoff performer, rare mix of strength and speed, the best net front presence in the game, etc. He has value, but now the number of teams looking at him seriously may have been reduced. He’s another guy I can see Colorado looking at if the Necas drama continues.
5. Mika Zibanejad’s name hasn’t been in the Rangers trade rumor mill and hasn’t even hit the big trade boards. But I can see that changing as centers are at a premium this offseason and Zibanejad still carries value. Despite the down season, he still finished with 20 goals and 62 points while also showing he can shift to wing if needed. I’d expect his name to show up here and there with an outside chance of being traded, but I don’t think it will happen if one of Panarin or Kreider are moved.
That said, there are very few veteran centers available this offseason. If there’s a way to get out of that contract and still move the team forward, expect Chris Drury to jump on it.
The unlikely trades – K’Andre Miller and offer sheets
6. I would not expect the Rangers to trade K’Andre Miller, though his name will continue to show up on trade boards for the rest of the summer. The logic is two-fold. First, if the Rangers trade Miller, then they are likely keeping Soucy to limit roster turnover on left defense. Miller is objectively better than Soucy and has far more potential, especially with Mike Sullivan. Second is the Rangers won’t find a top-four defenseman with his ceiling and skill set for his projected $6 million over 4 years, per Evolving-Hockey.
Another name that isn’t out there and likely won’t be is Braden Schneider. It’s clear the Rangers love this kid and he isn’t going anywhere. He’s far from untouchable, but any Rangers trade rumor that brings him up should be taken with a large grain of salt.
7. Not necessarily related to any Rangers trade rumors, but I don’t buy any offer sheet rumors. Will Cuylle is obviously a potential target, but offer sheets are extremely rare. Until it happens, I won’t buy that it will happen. Usually these things don’t happen unless contract negotiations take forever. I just don’t see it happening.
8. Since point #7 was so short, I wanted to add my actual prediction for this offseason and how Drury will navigate things. Not to be confused with my offseason plan, which was not a prediction. We won’t see everything mentioned in the Rangers trade rumor mill, but as mentioned above, the Rangers trade rumor mill right now is a mess with a bunch of AI and regurgitated fan proposal slop.
- Trades
- Rangers trade Artemi Panarin and a conditional 2027 3rd if he re-signs to Anaheim for the 10th overall.
- Rangers trade the 10th overall (or 12th overall) to Minnesota for Marco Rossi.
- Rangers trade Brennan Othmann and Zac Jones to Nashville for Justin Barron and a 4th round pick (essentially Othmann for Barron and Jones for a 4th).
- Rangers trade Carson Soucy to Tampa for a 2026 4th round pick
- Signings (all numbers per Evolving-Hockey)
- Marco Rossi: 6 years, $6.5 million
- Will Cuylle: 6 years, $4.5 million
- K’Andre Miller: 4 years, $5.9 million
- Matt Rempe: 2 years, $1 million
- Adam Edstrom: 2 years, $1 million
- Nate Schmidt (UFA): 2 years, $2.5 million
- Final Lineup
- Perreault-Miller-Zibanejad
Cuylle-Rossi-Lafreniere
Kreider-Trocheck-Berard
Edstrom-Carrick-Rempe - Miller-Fox
Barron-Borgen
Schmidt-Schneider - Parssinen/Brodzinski/Vaakanainen
- Perreault-Miller-Zibanejad
- Final Cap Numbers: 23 players, $93.8 million cap hit, $1.6 million cap space
