​With the New York Rangers’ offseason whirlwind now in the rearview, the focus on blockbuster acquisitions and high-profile draft picks has been intense. The club added a dynamic sniper in Pavel Dorofeyev, secured Alberts Smits with the No. 5 overall pick, and retooled its second defensive pairing with Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi. The prospect pipeline also swelled with promising names such as Liam Greentree, Cole Beaudoin, and Jacob Battaglia, while a long-awaited trade finally sent veteran Vincent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth on July 1. It’s easy to overlook players who aren’t in the spotlight amid all that activity, especially with training camp roughly two months away. Yet there are several players who could quietly carve out meaningful roles as the team moves forward.
Let’s break down who fits into this overlooked-plus-productive category and what their paths to regular roles might look like in 2026-27. The juxtaposition of last year’s expectations with this year’s reality is striking, particularly when examining a player like Matt Rempe. A year ago, the 6-foot-9 forward was the subject of near-constant attention, his offseason progress and potential meticulously tracked on social media. This season, the attention has understandably cooled, but that doesn’t imply a lack of progress. Away from the cameras, Rempe has continued to grind away, refining his game and contributing wherever he can.
Rempe earned the trust of coach Mike Sullivan during the 2025-26 campaign, carving out a role as a fourth-line regular through the preseason and the first nine games of the regular season. His combination of size, improved skating, and a developing all-around game made him a useful presence on the forecheck and in energy-creating shifts. A significant setback emerged when he sustained a thumb injury during his sole on-ice fight of the season, a bout with Ryan Reaves of the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 23. The injury required surgery, and a second procedure after a disappointing midseason return left him far from his best for a stretch. The hope for 2026-27 is that Rempe has fully recovered and can resume his role as a disruptive, physically engaged option in the bottom six. In some circles, his absence from the conversation is more about the rise of other players—Jaroslav Chmelar, Adam Sykora, and others—than a lack of potential. Still, Rempe will get every chance in training camp to reestablish himself as a reliable, high-energy presence.
Another case study in the “overlooked but able to contribute” category is Juuso Parssinen. The 2025-26 season started with high expectations, as he arrived on the roster as an extra forward who could be used in a pinch. He did have moments of promise, posting three points (two goals, one assist) in his first five appearances, which was notable given the team’s broader scoring struggles and limited ice time for a number of players. Yet head coach Sullivan never entrusted him with a larger role, and by late November Parssinen found himself reassigned to Hartford in the American Hockey League. The challenge for Parssinen will be to demonstrate consistent two-way play, keep his feet moving, and show he can be trusted in a higher-stakes role if he is to force the issue in training camp and earn time at the NHL level.
As training camp nears, these players—Rempe and Parssinen among them—represent the subtle, often undervalued threads that could influence the Rangers’ bottom six or depth chart in 2026-27. While the headlines are dominated by Dorofeyev’s scoring potential, Smits’s high-end draft pedigree, and the Pettersson-Durzi pairing’s defensive balance, the real story of the Rangers’ summer may hinge on who seizes the opportunity to prove they deserve a permanent spot when camp and exhibitions unfold. In a busy offseason, it’s the quiet, consistent effort of players like Rempe and Parssinen that can shape the team’s trajectory, turning gaps into stability and situational roles into net-positive contributions as the season progresses.