Rangers Could Look To Sign Mitch Marner Over The Summer According To NHL Insider

The New York Rangers are a team to watch out for when it comes to the 2025 free agent frenzy period.

Last week, the Rangers unloaded Jacob Trouba’s $8 million cap hit while the team has a couple of expiring contracts off the books following the 2024-25 season including that of Reilly Smith and Ryan Lindgren.

The Rangers will have a lot of money to play with over the offseason and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan believes Chris Drury is looking to pursue some big-time free agents including Mitch Marner, Mikko Rantanen and Jack Eichel the following year.

“I think the uploading is going to happen before the reloading,” Kaplan said on the New Ice City podcast. “I think this is a front office that have always targeted two free agents from now when they would like to make a big splash, but maybe it’s this summer instead.

“We just know it’s in the nature of the New York Rangers and a James Dolan owned team to always go after the big splashes. Any of these top names that you're going to see available this summer or next, whether it is Mitch Marner, Mikko Rantanen, Jack Eichel.”

Drury clearly feels that this roster is not strong enough to compete for a Stanley Cup and he is positioning himself to make a big move either around the trade deadline or during the offseason.

The last time New York made a huge splash in free agency was in the summer of 2019 when the team signed Panarin to an eight-year, 81.5 million deal, so it’s not totally out of the picture that the Rangers can do something similar this upcoming summer.

It’s still very possible these players mentioned by Kaplan sign contract extensions prior to becoming free agents, but if they don’t, keep your eyes out on the Rangers.