The New York Rangers‘ best line in 2025-26 might not be a favorite to start together in 2026-27. Major departures over the past few months, tied with acquisitions this offseason, have changed the makeup of the Rangers’ forward group. Still, more potential changes could be on the way.
Peter Baugh, who writes for The Athletic, analyzed four potential scenarios for the Rangers’ top-six forward group. From his perspective, logic prevails if the Rangers break up the line of Gabe Perreault, Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere.
The Rangers’ Best Line in 2025-26 Arrived Late
A late-season surge is not everything. There are a variety of reasons why a small sample size doesn’t carry over results into the next season. Still, the line of Perreault-Zibanejad-Lafrenière provided a late-season spark for a then-lifeless Rangers team. Similar to St. Louis’s vaunted line of Holloway-Thomas-Snuggerud, the team looked much better with this late-season trinity. As a result, Perreault, who has received high praise this offseason, could be in a similar position to Snuggerud next summer.
Still, there’s little doubt that, after the Artemi Panarin trade, it was the combination of these three players that helped a decimated Rangers team. In 262 minutes together after the Olympic Break, that line outscored the opposition 14-10. Natural Stat Trick graded that line plus-11 on scoring chances and plus-six on high-danger chances.
The line’s expected goal numbers were not as strong. Both MoneyPuck and Natural Stat Trick graded that line slightly below 50 percent in xG. The on-ice chemistry was real. Gabe Perreault made some very big plays for that line at five-on-five, but there are reasons to consider different looks.
Why the Rangers May Alter Their Forward Deployments
In an 84-game season that includes an abbreviated preseason, head coach Mike Sullivan may choose to keep the Rangers’ best line from last season together. It would be a reasonable early decision to see if the late-season magic was actually real.
Ultimately, that’s not what Baugh sees as the most likely option. He believes the top-six deployment is most likely to look like:
Line 1: LW Pavel Dorofeyev, C Mika Zibanejad, RW Alexis Lafrenière
Line 2: LW Gabe Perreault, C J.T. Miller, RW Oliver Bjorkstrand
Baugh argues that the Rangers need to maximize Dorofeyev’s goal-scoring ability. That would look best alongside Zibanejad. The 33-year-old Swedish pivot bounced back in a big way in 2025-26. In 2024-25, Zibanejad was among the worst defensive forwards in hockey. Simultaneously, his offensive numbers took a hit.
Last season, even as the Rangers struggled, Zibanejad improved across the board. The team has serious long-term issues at center, but Zibanejad’s resurgence under Mike Sullivan is noteworthy. Accordingly, there’s an argument that Dorofeyev-Zibanejad-Lafrenière could be the Rangers’ best line in 2026-27.
Dorofeyev excelled with Jack Eichel last season, who leads one of the high-end center depth charts in the league. In 273 minutes between the regular season and playoffs, the Knights outscored their opponents 16-9 when those two played together. Notably, Lafrenière is expected to play on the team’s top power play unit this season along with Zibanejad and Dorofeyev. That’s another reason to try the three together at five-on-five.
How It All Fits Together
Part of what could be driving this is an uncertainty about what type of player the Rangers have in center J.T. Miller. He’s coming off one of the most difficult seasons of his career. If the Rangers aren’t convinced Miller can handle top matchups any longer, they may look to provide him with softer minutes in 2026-27. As a result, that would be reason enough to keep him away from the New York Rangers’ best line.
That logic would certainly help explain why wingers Gabe Perreault and Oliver Bjorkstrand should open their seasons with Miller at center. Perreault is still just 21. His two-way game might not be refined enough to play on a top line. Bjorkstrand is a reclamation project. Once a consistent top-six producer, Bjorkstrand struggled with just 32 points in 80 games for Tampa last season. The Rangers might prefer putting him against softer matchups to help him regain his form.
Ultimately, the Rangers are probably at least one top nine forward short of being a playoff contender. Baugh didn’t rule out the possibility of a surprise top-six entrant breaking through at some point this season. It’s been speculated that center Cole Beaudoin could be a dark horse to make the team.
There should be more excitement around this team, even if the 2025-26 Rangers’ best line is dissolved.
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post New York Rangers Insider Thinks Significant Deployment Change Coming appeared first on HEAVY.