The New York Rangers have recalled center Glenn Gawdin and placed rookie defenseman and fifth overall pick Alberts Smits on IR with an upper body injury. It was noted yesterday that Smits was week to week with his injury, so placing him on IR was inevitable, as it opened a roster spot for the Rangers to recall the center. Gawdin, a 29 year old career AHLer with just 13 NHL games of experience, is likely just a spare body as the Rangers finish up the road trip.

To have space to recall Glenn Gawdin, the Rangers placed Smits on IR, joining Sean Durzi as one-third of the New York Rangers defense to start the season is now hurt. The injury bug is in full swing, impacting the Rangers both on and off the ice. Hopefully this all clears up by the holidays.

The New York Rangers injuries are starting to get comical. Igor Shesterkin is done for the season. Joonas Korpisalo just returned from a foot infection. Both Sean Durzi and Alberts Smits are on IR. James Reimer, for some reason, got banged up after 20 minutes in a Rangers uniform and then got waived. Adam Sykora opened the season on IR. Joe Veleno is out another couple of months. It seems as soon as the New York Rangers injuries finally start to get better, they get whacked in the face with a brick. The impact on the ice is obvious. The impact off the ice is not as obvious.

One of the biggest needs this season, even before the injury to Veleno, was a true scoring 3C. Noah Laba had his best games of the season as the 4C, a move that became possible by shifting Will Cuylle to center. The goal was to get Laba going before moving him back to 3C, which naturally happened rather quickly. That meant Luke Glendening became the 4C for the time being, and that simply isn’t going to be good enough.

Cuylle at center was always a stopgap. It seems rather obvious that Laba is best served as a 4C even when Veleno returns from injury. That duo with Jaro Chmelar can form a solid fourth line, reminiscent of the days when Dominic Moore and Brian Boyle were on the fourth line together. Laba, right now, lacks the offense to be the 3C and since Cuylle is a clear stopgap, something needs to be done.

New York Rangers injuries will prevent a move for a center for now

The biggest need of the season is a center, and unfortunately the New York Rangers injuries are going to prevent this from happening any time soon. With both Sean Durzi and Alberts Smits on the shelf for an unknown amount of time, the Rangers are already playing their 7D (Scott Morrow) and 8D (Matthew Robertson), with their 9D (Marc Del Gaizo) providing a little extra injury insurance that apparently the Rangers desperately need right now.

On paper this seems fine, as Braden Schneider moved up to the second pair with Marcus Pettersson. Problem is, Schneider is also the Rangers’ best trade chip to land a center. The New York Rangers injuries on defense are naturally a big concern to their depth, but it’s also forcing them to hold on to Schneider at the expense of a significant need up front. It’s the worst of both worlds right now.

The good news is Scott Morrow appears to be an upgrade on Schneider on the third pair, so the Rangers shouldn’t miss a beat if and/or when the trade for a center eventually occurs. As long as the Rangers can tread water and stay a little above .500, they will be in a decent enough spot to improve the roster when the option becomes available. Right now, it simply isn’t available to them.

A popular argument is to shift a defenseman to his off-side temporarily, which is a fair argument. But it doesn’t matter at the moment since the Rangers simply don’t have anyone in the system that is ready to be called up if Schneider is traded. Drew Fortescue is probably the most NHL ready of the kids, but it’s clear he needs some development time and is best served in Hartford. Vincent Iorio was objectively terrible in his stint last year, probably a reason why Del Gaizo was called up instead.

Patience is a virtue

The New York Rangers injuries are forcing fans into a more patient route, perhaps something no one wanted. But patience is a virtue, and though I’ve been vocal about Chris Drury’s inability to move the Rangers forward, he deserves a bit more leeway after a solid offseason. There isn’t much he can do when one-third of the starting defense are injured with no timeline to a return.

There’s something to be said for patience, even if our patience with Drury is running thin. Hopefully this move isn’t botched or, even worse, completely unavailable due to Schneider’s awful start to the season. A trade for a center–one under 30 and with term–will come. But for now, the New York Rangers injuries on the blue line will prevent anything significant.

The New York Rangers deserved to win last night in Edmonton. They truly did. They played extraordinarily well, and if not for a Dylan Garand gaffe in handling the puck and an anemic powerplay, they could have come away with at least a point. But instead, they simply could not solve Devon Levi as their three game win streak was snapped with a 3-1 loss. Perhaps this is a moral victory, as the Rangers adjusted from their loss to the Oilers at MSG last week and really put on quite a performance in pressuring the Oilers in their defensive zone. It sets the tone for the rest of the season, that the Rangers can skate with some better teams, but it’s clear the powerplay is no longer a strength and could start costing them games.

There were a lot of positives last night. Jaro Chmelar, after a slow start and a demotion, has become quite a hockey player over the past year. Playing in more regular depth minutes since his recall, his offense is not always going to end up on the scoresheet, but when he does score they absolute beauties. Chmelar scored the first shorthanded goal of his young career off a brilliant feed from Mika Zibanejad to get the Rangers within 2-1.

Chmelar is one of the more intriguing New York Rangers prospects. His skill set could easily transition to the middle six and still be effective. His foot speed is very impressive and he has an incredibly underrated shot that seems to deceive goalies. The Rangers are very lucky to have a pretty solid bottom six with a good game plan and the personnel to execute said plan. They can cycle, they can forecheck, they can muck it up when they have to, and they have semblance of offense as well.

Dylan Garand, despite his gaffe early, had a solid night, exceeding expectations on an incredibly tough task. His gaffe happened, and it’s not worth losing sleep over. Mistakes like this happen. To a Rangers fan of a certain age, it was akin to what Dan Girardi did in 2016, passing the puck directly to Alex Ovechkin who also scored one of the easiest goals of his career off of a similar sort of play.

This is part of the learning curve with Garand and a human goaltender. You can sort of pinpoint a situation in every game where Garand’s inexperience comes back to bite the Rangers. It’s frustrating, but he’s not Igor Shesterkin. He’s not Henrik Lundqvist, though his puck handling certainly reminds us of Hank. As Joonas Korpisalo gets more game rhythm going, expect Garand to get more much needed rest, which should help with some of the mental errors.

It feels like a broken record, stating Braden Schneider had a simply disastrous game, but he did. Schneider is just not built to play in a Mike Sullivan system where you have to make split second decisions with and without the puck. The right system could help Schneider, but he’s been very much like Girardi (and Marc Staal) with the glass-and-out clears (read: turnovers). One wound up over the glass and the Rangers had to kill the penalty. Even without the penalty, this is a turnover 100% of the time. Beating a dead horse, but at some point he needs to be moved.

Losses happen, and it’s not worth getting frustrated beyond the game itself. The Rangers are what we expected them to be, a team that is mediocre and still trying to find its next gear. Perhaps life without Shesterkin will be good in the long run, as the skaters have to be far more diligent with positioning and systems play. Or maybe that’s just rose colored glasses.

The Blueshirts have two winnable games remaining on this trip against the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks. Four points was the goal. Six is ideal.

The New York Rangers continue their Western Canada road trip tonight in Edmonton, looking to extend their win streak to four games. It’s been a rather quiet three game streak for the Rangers, who beat the St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers, and Seattle Kraken after a rough 1-5-1 stretch. The Rangers haven’t been perfect, but they’ve been good enough to beat some of the bottom half of the NHL. The Oilers are not the bottom half of the NHL by any means, but they are also pretty bad when their big three aren’t on the ice. Problem is when they are, they score goals faster than Jalen Brunson knocks down big shots in the playoffs.

The Rangers got torched by the Oilers a few games ago at MSG, and the Oilers only got healthier while the Rangers are dealing with more injuries. The key will be to shut down their big three and feast on the Oilers depth. Easier said than done, of course.

Rangers Lines

Gabe Perreault-Mika Zibanejad-Alexis Lafreniere
Tye Kartye-JT Miller-Pavel Dorofeyev
Will Cuylle-Noah Laba-Oliver Bjorkstrand
Eeli Tolvanen-Luke Glendening-Jaro Chmelar

Vlad Gavrikov-Adam Fox
Marcus Pettersson-Braden Schneider
Matthew Robertson-Scott Morrow

Dylan Garand gets the start.

Scratches: Matt Rempe, Marc Del Gaizo
Injuries: Sean Durzi (IR – LBI), Joe Veleno (IR – LBI), Alberts Smits (UBI), Igor Shesterkin (LTIR – LBI)

Oilers Lines

Vasily Podkolzin-Connor McDavid-Leon Draisaitl
Kasperi Kapanen-Ryan Nugent-Hopkins-Zach Hyman
Alex Formenton-Jason Dickinson-Mathieu Joseph
Max Jones-Owen Michaels-Trent Frederic

Mattias Ekholm-Evan Bouchard
Ryan Shea-Connor Murphy
Shakir Mukhamadullin-Ty Emberson

Devon Levi gets the start.

Crazy Prediction: None of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, or Evan Bouchard score.

Game time is 8pm.

The New York Rangers have recalled defenseman Marc Del Gaizo (no, not Michael Del Zotto) as the injuries to the blue line continue to mount. With Sean Durzi already on IR, it looks like Alberts Smits’ upper body injury is more concerning that initially thought (Update: He’s out week to week). The Rangers already recalled defenseman Matthew Robertson once Durzi was placed on IR, and he was in the lineup for the win over the Seattle Kraken the other night. Del Gaizo, a 27 year old career AHLer with 55 NHL games under his belt, has a 2-9-11 line in 15 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Marc Del Gaizo will mostly be insurance in case of another injury while on this west coast trip. The Rangers have another well timed five day break coming up next week when, hopefully, everyone else can get healthy. The schedule has its quirks, but they are quirks that work in the New York Rangers’ favor.

2026-2027 New York Rangers Record: 10-7-1 (3rd in Metro)
Last Week’s Results: W 3-1 vs STL, W 3-2 vs PHI, W 4-3 @ SEA
This Week’s Schedule: 11/9 @ EDM, 11/11 @ CGY, 11/13 @ VAN
Last Week’s Rangers Fan Confidence: 3.07

Top stories last week:

• The New York Rangers had a perfect week, beating all three of the St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers, and Seattle Kraken.
• In this week’s Patreon post (subscribe here!), Dave talked Scott Morrow’s solid start and how he has made the blue line better.
  • On this week’s Blue Seats After Dark, Dave talked Will Cuylle’s move to center and how his entire on-ice role changes with such a complicated move.
• Live From the Blue Seats (follow here!) talked the Rangers first comeback win of the season and what it means for the rest of the season.
• The Rangers moved Will Cuylle to center, recalled Jaro Chmelar, and reassigned Taylor Radfysh in an effort to stabilize the bottom six.
• One big concern about the New York Rangers this season is how they evaluate their needs for trade deadline moves. Buying big for the wrong piece could be a death sentence.
• Re-signing Tye Kartye should be a significant priority for Chris Drury.
• The injury bug hit the Rangers, with Sean Durzi placed on IR and Alberts Smits hurt as well.
• James Reimer was placed on unconditional waivers for contract termination.

Please take a second to answer the NY Rangers Fan Confidence Poll below and give us an idea of how confident you are in the Rangers, their direction, coaching, management, prospects, and overall quality on the ice. You can click the tag “Fan Confidence Poll” to view historical polls.

Not every win for the New York Rangers is going to be pretty, and for the final 20 minutes of last night’s 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken, that was certainly the case. Up 4-0 to start the third thanks to goals from Gabe Perreault, Tye Kartye, Pavel Dorofeyev, and Jaro Chmelar, the Rangers turtled and let Seattle scratch and claw their way back into the hockey game. A win is a win, but turtling is becoming an alarming trend for the 2026-2027 New York Rangers. Seattle may have a 9-6-1 record, but the team feels very mediocre at best and should not have been able to make this a game. This is reminiscent of the Alain Vigneault Rangers, and that’s not a good thing. Joonas Korpisalo was the only thing that kept the Rangers from blowing the game entirely.

Tye Kartye was again the story, as he continues to impress night in and night out. The Kartye Partye was rewarded with some power play time for his early season success, turning that into a powerplay goal. So many of Kartye’s positive impacts occur at even strength, and now the Rangers appear comfortable enough with their diamond in the rough to give him well earned powerplay time.

Kartye’s willingness to battle for loose pucks and an impressive knack for finding soft areas of the ice to put himself in the best positions to score are something to behold. Chris Drury has many priorities this season, and Tye Kartye is pushing to be one of his top priorities.

Joonas Korpisalo returning to action is a big win for the Rangers goalie depth. He isn’t a savior, but this is some delicious irony given how most of the fanbase reacted when the Rangers traded for him. His one blemish last night isn’t even on him, as Seattle had 13 shots in the third period, most quality looks, as Korpisalo did what he could to preserve the win. That’s what the Rangers needed from their goalie, as the team around Korpisalo hung him out to dry and he was still able to keep it under 4 goals. The goal is league average goaltending and hope the skaters do the rest.

And finally, it looks like Pavel Dorofeyev has officially arrived in New York. Dorofeyev looked dangerous every time the puck came to him. His goal last night showed he’s not just capable of freezing goalies with his shot, but in tight as well, going forehand backhand and tucking the puck behind Philipp Grubauer. He needed to get going to give the Rangers the primary goal scoring depth they desperately needed, and it looks like he’s getting off the proverbial schneid. The more he scores and gets closer to the 40 goal mark, the better the Rangers will be.

The New York Rangers are in action tonight in Seattle facing the Kraken. Joonas Korpisalo makes his Rangers debut after missing the first month of the season with a foot infection, and Alberts Smits will be out tonight with a lower body injury. Matthew Robertson draws in for his first game of the season after he somehow slipped through waivers in October. This isn’t a must win for the Rangers, given that it’s also a bit of a schedule doozy, but they are up 2-0 since I forgot this game started at 5 and not 7. Oops.

Holding the lead and getting two points before going to Edmonton on Monday is a good thing.

Rangers Lines

Gabe Perreault-Mika Zibanejad-Alexis Lafreniere
Tye Kartye-JT Miller-Oliver Bjorkstrand
Eeli Tolvanen-Will Cuylle-Pavel Dorofeyev
Jaro Chmelar-Noah Laba-Matt Rempe

Vlad Gavrikov-Adam Fox
Marcus Pettersson-Braden Schneider
Matthew Robertson-Scott Morrow

Joonas Korpisalo gets the start.

Scratches: Luke Glendening, Alberts Smits (LBI)
Injuries: Sean Durzi (day to day), Joe Veleno (IR – lower body), Joonas Korpisalo (IR – lower body), Igor Shesterkin (LTIR – lower body)

Kraken Lines

Bobby McCann-Matty Beniers-Jordan Eberle
Chandler Stephenson-Frederick Gaudreau-Matthew Wood
Kaapo Kakko-Berkly Catton-Mackie Samoskevich
Jani Nyman-Ben Meyers-Ryan Winterton

Vince Dunn-Adam Larsson
Ryker Evans-Brandon Montour
Joshua Mahura-Ville Ottavainen

Joey Daccord gets the start.

Crazy Prediction: I remember when games start.

Game time is 5pm.

The New York Rangers have placed goalie James Reimer on unconditional waivers for the purposes of contract termination. Reimer had an interesting week with the Rangers, signed to a professional tryout with the Hartford Wolf Pack, making 35 saves and getting the shutoutin his one start in the AHL before being signed to a one year contract by the New York Rangers at league minimum. Reimer played exactly one period with the Rangers, allowing 3 goals on 8 shots in a failed attempt to give Dylan Garand some rest.

Reimer was placed on waivers on November 5, clearing on November 6, and is now on unconditional waivers for contract termination. Once Reimer was waived, it was clear Joonas Korpisalo would be joining the Rangers on their west coast swing starting tonight, meaning Reimer’s very short stint with the Rangers was at an end.

This is definitely one of the stranger sequence of events involving the Rangers and one of their players. Since he was unclaimed on waivers at a league minimum salary, it’s unlikely James Reimer winds up elsewhere. Though crazier things have happened.

As time passes, both throughout the regular season and as years themselves pass, there are many fun New York Rangers moments that simply fall through the cracks. The internet provides us with people who tend to fill in the gap of those moments (notable or not) that remind us of some of these fun moments. It’s especially important for Ranger fans, as fun Rangers moments seem to get overshadowed by leadership ineptitude or heart break. In this series, I share some fun moments from the years of Rangers hockey found on other channels.

Jacob Trouba’s shorthanded goal vs Carolina, 2024 Playoffs

Guy Lafleur scores vs Penguins, 1988

Rangers Milestone Night Sinks Coyotes, 2024

Nigel Dawes undresses Chris Pronger, 2008