New York Rangers report cards: Grading Gavrikov, off-season additions
· Yahoo Sports
There are many different ways to group players when handing out report cards for the New York Rangers following their collectively disappointing 2025-26 season.
By position is what we did with goalies Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick. It should be obvious why general manager Chris Drury and coach Mike Sullivan were grouped together.
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But to keep it fresh, we’ll try out some other groupings. And to that end, we’re here to hand out report cards to three veterans the Rangers acquired prior to the start of this season.
Note that defenseman Scott Morrow, who was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes in the K’Andre Miller trade, is not included here. His report card will be found among other Rangers rookies in a separate future article. And in-season acquisitions, like Tye Kartye, will have their own report card article, as well.
So, here are the report cards for Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, and forwards Taylor Raddysh and Conor Sheary, provided in alphabetical order.
Vladislav Gavrikov: A-
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectNew York’s biggest offseason move a year ago was to sign Gavrikov to a seven-year, $49 million contract in free agency. Let’s just say the first season of that deal worked out pretty damn well. The 30-year-old fit perfectly alongside Adam Fox on the top defense pairing, was a force on main penalty-killing unit, logged surprisingly effective power-play minutes, and simply was a rock on the back end, playing all 82 games and logging more minutes (1945:28) than any player on the Rangers roster. His metrics on defense took a hit when paired for 27 games with Braden Schneider, during two extended injury absences for Fox. But Gavrikov still finished with a 50.60 expected goal share 5v5, per Natural Stat Trick. He also was a revelation offensively, setting career highs with 14 goals (more than double his previous best) and 35 points. It’s difficult to fault him at all for the team’s last place finish in the Eastern Conference, that’s how steady he was game-in and game-out.
Taylor Raddysh: C
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectThe Rangers other move of note in free agency last summer was signing Raddysh to a two-year, $3 million contract. They brought Raddysh in to play a two-way bottom-six role in their forward group, as he did successfully the prior season with the Washington Capitals. Considering the limited cap hit ($1.5 million), Raddysh filled that role in a fairly steady — if unspectacular — fashion. The 28-year-old did score nine goals (the second most in his career, outside of his 20-goal anomaly with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2022-23), five of which came in their first 12 games when his teammates couldn’t fire the puck into an ocean, and he benefitted from a hat trick against the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 23. He didn’t bring much speed nor physicality to the bottom six, but with Raddysh out there 5v5, the Rangers did outscore opponents 25-20. And Raddysh deserves credit for grinding through a difficult time when his father was gravely ill with cancer, and eventually died late in the season. He’s far from a star, but he’s not paid like one nor expected to be one. For what he was asked to do, Raddysh had a fine season. The Rangers could do better with that lineup spot; but they could also do far worse.
Conor Sheary: C-
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectSheary attended training camp on a PTO and won a spot on the opening-night roster. Though he made the League minimum salary ($775,000), Sheary might’ve been the most polarizing, or simply most disliked, player by Rangers fans this past season. The 33-year-old forward worked hard and was a solid penalty killer, but far too often was miscast with top-six minutes by Sullivan — who clearly had a soft spot for Sheary since they won a pair of Stanley Cup championships together with the Pittsburgh Penguins. It didn’t help that Sheary opened the season with a 26-game goal drought, before he finally scored Dec. 6 against the Colorado Avalanche, nor that he had that one lone goal into March, a span of 43 games (interrupted by a knee injury that sidelined him a month or so). Sheary kept his lineup spot at the expense of the Rangers getting a look at younger players like Brett Berard, Adam Sykora, and Brennan Othmann, mainly because Sullivan trusted him. Sheary finally rewarded the coach by scoring six more goals to close out the season, finding serious chemistry on a grinding third line with J.T. Miller and Kartye. But the dye was cast, and even Sheary’s 50.79 percent xGF 5v5 this season and non-stop motor, could win back Rangers fans. But much to their chagrin, Sheary doesn’t deserve an F grade this season, as most would prefer.
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