It’s September, and the NHL is gearing up for the 2026-27 seasons, the New York Rangers included. Belatedly at least. Almost a week after the Philadelphia Flyers announced their rookie camp roster and schedule, the Rangers announced theirs. Ah yes, what a life it is to be one who follows your New York Rangers.

I guess we should be thankful we get anything at this point. At any rate, enough with the grousing, let’s take a look at what the roster looks like. Meanwhile, if you’re interested at a couple of guys worth keeping tabs on check out this – Prospects Are Looking Good.

SCHEDULE

Rookies will attend a five-day camp beginning Friday September 11th, and running up to Tuesday September 15th. As has been the case under Chris Drury, the roster will play two games against the Philadelphia Flyers in Allentown, PA on Saturday (7:00pm EST) and Sunday (5:00pm EST). Expect those games to be streamed on the Flyers official site.

The rest of the time will be filled with on-ice and off-ice work for the prospects, and will wrap-up the day before the full Training Camp starts on Wednesday September 16th.

Last season we saw six of the camp’s attendees play for the Rangers, though Brennan Othmann and Gabe Perreault had already seen time for the Blueshirts, and Scott Morrow had made his NHL debut with the Carolina Hurricanes the season before.

The big surprise though was Noah Laba who began camp as an outsider, and ultimately worked his way onto the opening night roster. Perreault certainly didn’t hurt his chances either, and eventually won a full-time spot during the season, while Jaroslav Chmelar and Adam Sykora both got chances at the end of the season.

ROSTER

This year’s roster has only two players with NHL experience on it. The aforementioned Sykora is back for his fourth rookie camp – a Ranger record I believe, while Drew Fortescue gets to attend his first after turning pro last season.

There’s also a couple of invites in 18 year old forward Dayne Beuker – from the US Men’s National Development squad – and 23 year old Michael Suda. Suda played last season in the ECHL after a college career at Cornell. He had some moderate success too with 5 goals and 34 points for Worcester in 65 games. That’s a lot more than he ever did for the Big Red, so perhaps caught some attention.

Maybe Suda gets an AHL contract, but given the depth the organization already has…would seem unlikely.

While most of the Europeans tend to stay home for this camp, there are a couple of exceptions. 2026 3rd round pick Tomas Chrenko will attend. He’s already committed to playing for his home town team in the Slovakia Extraliga, but is over to attend at least this part of camp. Also in town is 2025 7th round pick Felix Farhammar. The 19-year-old got a brief taste of the SHL last year and had a solid season as in the Swedish U20 league.

Then there’s Zakary Karpa. While he’s no longer an official Ranger, he’s heading into his second season on an AHL contract after failing to earn one with the Rangers two seasons ago. This will be his first Rookie Camp since being drafted in 2022, though part of that was due to his NCAA commitments.

It’s relatively rare for NCAA players to attend camp because they are responsible for their own expenses and insurance if they are to attend camp.

GUYS TO WATCH

The big name is of course Alberts Smits. Smits was drafted fifth overall, and for many it’ll be the first chance to see the Latvian in action. Fans will also be interested in recent acquisitions Cole Beaudoin and Liam Greentree who are both expected to be part of the Rangers future, along perhaps with some of the next tier prospects like Nathan Aspinall, Jacob Battaglia and Aidan Thompson.

Back for another season, there’s a handful of guys who played in Hartford last year who are looking to reestablish themselves. Big Dylan Roobroeck might have a shot at getting back on track, while defenseman Jackson Dorrington made a good impression last year – can he build on that this year?

It’ll also be a chance to see goaltender Danai Shaiikov for the first time since being drafted this past Summer. Shaiikov is set to return to the QMJHL, but is already considered the Rangers best goaltending prospect with Dylan Garand on the cusp of graduation.

BIGGISH ROSTER

With 26 players, it means that a number of players will miss out playing both games. You’d expect each goalie will get a game, and as many as six of the nine defenders will sit out at least one of the games. With fifteen forwards, six of those are likely to miss a game too.

After a couple of lean years on the blue line, it’s good to see the number of blue liners that the Rangers drafted or acquired increase. Eight of the nine on this year’s camps are either under Rangers contract or are prospects. Last year it was four of seven, and in 2024 it was just two of the eight.

Expect a number of these players to roll into at least the beginning of the full training camp.