Depth down the middle wins Stanley Cups. Florida has Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett, and Anton Lundell. Edmonton has Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Adam Henrique. The Rangers had that depth to start the 2024-2025 season, with Mika Zibanejad, Filip Chytil, and Vincent Trocheck. But now Chytil is gone, Zibanejad’s future at center is in question, and though they added JT Miller, there are still questions about Trocheck’s role as the 2C. As the offseason progresses, the Rangers position of need is still center, with few rumors or plans to address it right now.

The good news – the Rangers have a true 1C and a top 3C

Though center is the Rangers position of need, they do have a solid start. JT Miller is easily their 1C now, and he addresses something the Rangers had before Zibanejad’s struggles showed. He’s their solid, gritty, potential 100 point 1C, essentially replacing Zibanejad as the latter attempts to revive his career at right wing.

The other good news is that Vincent Trocheck is one of the top 3Cs in the game. He’s a pest to play against, is good in all three zones, and has a strong history of being matched up against top competition and (mostly) succeeding.

Sam Carrick, an after thought when signed, has also shown to be a strong 4C, capable of more than just eating minutes. He, alongside Adam Edstrom and Matt Rempe, formed the best fourth line the Rangers have seen in quite some time.

The Rangers position of need is a young 2C

While the good news is pretty good, the Rangers position of need is still at 2C. At the risk of being repetitive, Vincent Trocheck is this team’s version of Brian Boyle from 12 years ago, just different roles. If you recall, Brian Boyle was the team’s 3C before they acquired Derick Brassard. While Boyle was the 3C the Rangers were good, but not true contenders. Once they had Brassard and were able to run Derek Stepan, Brad Richards, Brassard, and Boyle down the middle, they went to a Cup Final.

This is the crux of the issue with how Peter Laviolette handled Filip Chytil in last year’s playoffs. The need was at 3C, shifting Alex Wennberg down in the lineup to 4C. Instead Chytil was played at wing, a position that never suited him, and the Rangers could never keep up with Florida. Not surprisingly, the best games in that series were when Chytil was finally shifted back to center. They may not have won the series, but they would have, at the very least, looked much better and perhaps avoided some of the drama this season. But that ship, unfortunately, has sailed.

To avoid making the same mistake, we need to address the Rangers position of need. That is getting a young 2C that can both shift Trocheck down the lineup in the short term while hopefully growing into the 1C as Miller ages.

Enough with the wingers

JJ Peterka is a solid player. As brought up on the most recent Live From the Blue Seats, he could see a huge increase in production if he gets away from Buffalo, much like how Sam Reinhart did when he got to Florida. But winger is far from the biggest Rangers position of need. Beyond this coming season, where we have to assume Artemi Panarin walks, the Rangers will have Alexis Lafreniere, Gabe Perreault, Will Cuylle, and some combination of Brennan Othmann, Brett Berard, and Mika Zibanejad at wing.

The Rangers also have a coach that seems to generate solid wingers as long as the center depth is there. None of Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, or Jake Guentzel were heralded prospects. All three turned into useful wingers, with Guentzel turning into a star. None of that trio had the skill set that Lafreniere currently has, and Laf has similar early-career numbers to Guentzel.

with Laf's name in trade rumours, one thing that stuck out to me about his tracking is that his offensive profile by assists on scoring chances, overall scoring chance contributions, and creating more off the rush than the cycle over the last two seasons compares to two pretty good wingers:

— SlimCliffy (@slimcliffy.bsky.social) 2025-06-12T13:11:54.524Z

At some point, you need to trust the coach you hired to do his job. He has shown a strong ability to develop young players. Give Perreault, Othmann, and Berard a chance. Even if only one–likely Perreault–turns into a top line player, both Othmann and Berard are tenacious forecheckers that could be useful and cheap wingers in the middle six. That still leaves Lafreniere and possibly Zibanejad, not even accounting for Panarin for the coming season.

The whole point of hiring Sullivan is to trust him to do his thing. Adding another winger is nice, but it doesn’t address the Rangers position of need. The Rangers need a scoring center.

The hill to die on: The New York Rangers will not be a true Cup contending team until Vincent Trocheck is the 3C. All this time spent on Peterka should be spent on Marco Rossi. But because he’s one inch shorter than Drury, it probably won’t happen. Find a different center, if that’s the case. The Rangers position of need is down the middle. That’s how Cup teams are built.

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