What's Happening with the New York Rangers?

Following a 6-5 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, the New York Rangers fell to a 3-4-2 overall record to start off the 2025-2026 NHL season, and they still have not registered a win at home. Team morale appears bleak, fans are frustrated, and we're all wondering: what has gone wrong for the Rangers?

Goaltending

New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin in net against the Minnesota Wild at Madison Square Garden. (Brad Penner-Imagn Images)

Obviously, goaltending is not the issue with the Rangers: both Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick have excelled so far this season. In seven games played, Shesterkin has posted a .930 save percentage and a 1.86 goals against average, placing him top eight in the NHL in both categories. However, with Quick only starting two games this season, perhaps the Rangers should worry about overworking Shesterkin without wins to show for it.

While we know Shesterkin can handle an intense workload, the team is already struggling and it would only get worse with a potential injury from being overworked. His stats aren't bad by any means, but we all know what it's like to work hard day in and day out and get no results, and the last thing the Rangers need is another thing added to their list of worries.

Defense

Vladislav Gavrikov against the Edmonton Oilers at Madison Square Garden (Getty Images)

The defense for the Rangers is all new this season, with them losing key pieces to their D Core like K'Andre Miller in the offseason. Vladislav Gavrikov was the biggest pick up for the team - he's been partnered with Adam Fox, and so far, they've looked strong.

The defense overall has looked solid, since the team didn't allow more than one goal in a game (excluding empty net goals) until the sixth game of the season, and even then, they only allowed 2 in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. This stat only intensifies the frustration from players, coaches, and fans alike: they don't have excessive goals against to blame, nor do they have a shaky D Core to point fingers at.

Offense

Mika Zibanejad against the New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden (Corey Sipkin-NY Post)

Now we get into where the problem lies: the offense. The Rangers were shut out in the first three home games of the season and in the fourth, only scored one goal. Given that we know they're good at preventing goals, this isn't ideal - of the Rangers' 4 non overtime or shootout losses, every single one has seen their opponent score 3 goals or less. In fact, the five goals that the team scored against the Sharks was four more than they had scored in all of the other home games combined, and the 6 they allowed to subsequently lose the game was the most they'd allowed all season. Why is this happening, though?

Short answer: no one knows. It's difficult to point fingers at any one aspect when nothing seems to be working cohesively right now, but it also certainly doesn't help that star left winger Artemi Panarin's righthand man, Vincent Trocheck, went down with an injury and is now on the LTIR. Following the Rangers' third straight scoreless game at home, alternate captain Mika Zibanejad said to media, "I don't know if I should laugh or cry," and it's safe to say that statement pretty much sums up everyone's feelings towards this team right now. It's such an insane statistic, and proves that there are so many elements to hockey beyond being able to prevent goals. It seems the Rangers have to go back to the drawing board to figure out what they're doing wrong, and how they can fix it to play like the New York Rangers we're all used to.

Edited by Caitlyn Wagner