The doom and gloom surrounding the Rangers this season has been all encompassing, draining and taxing.
A 6-2 thrashing of the last-place Blackhawks isn’t going to completely clear the sky, but it stopped the downpour — even if only momentarily.
Coming off a weekend in which Filip Chytil dazzled and a couple of prospects played integral roles in Team USA’s IIHF World Junior Championship repeat gold medal win, however, the sun appears to be shining on the future of the Blueshirts organization.
Chytil had the same pop and swagger in the past two games that he showed through the first month and a half of the season, before the Czech center missed seven games for an upper-body injury that was deemed not a concussion.
Posting three goals on six shots in the past two games, Chytil set a new season-high point streak of four contests.
He appeared to be heating up the two games before that, too, when the 25-year-old ripped a pass off the boards to spring Brett Berard for his breakaway goal vs. the Bruins after he went five-hole on Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky in the previous game in Florida.
After signing a four-year, $17.75 million contract in March 2023, Chytil is on the Rangers’ books through 2026-27.
He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent after that, so it’s yet to be seen whether or not Chytil will be part of the long-term plan.
The biggest knock against him is his durability, but the prospect of a whole season with a fully healthy Chytil is tantalizing — especially considering no one knows what that looks like.
Outside of the Rangers bubble, prospects Gabriel Perreault and Drew Fortescue bit into their third gold medal together on Sunday after Team USA successfully defended their title at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa, Ontario.
The Rangers’ top two picks in the 2023 NHL Draft were standouts in the international tournament, which the U.S. claimed after rallying from a two-goal deficit to beat Finland 4-3 in overtime.
After capturing gold at the U18 world junior championship, Perreault and Fortescue are now two-time champions with the U20 team.
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Perreault’s 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in seven games tied him with teammate and Team USA captain Ryan Leonard (Capitals, eighth-overall pick in 2023) and Sweden’s Felix Unger Sorum (Hurricanes, 62nd-overall pick in 2023) for the second most in the tournament.
His three power-play assists were also tied for the third most.
Earning the Player of the Game honor twice, after Team USA’s opening 10-4 win over Germany and their semifinal victory against Czechia, Perreault was ultimately named to the tournament’s All-Star team, as voted by the media.
The Rangers’ 23rd-overall pick in 2023 is primed to be a star on Broadway in the future.
Fortescue may not have the numbers for the widespread recognition that Perreault has gotten, but the Pearl River, N.Y., native made his own significant impact.
Finishing plus-six by the end of the tournament, Fortescue was part of a five-way tie for the third-best rating among defensemen.
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He lined up on the team’s top pairing alongside Minnesota’s 12th-overall pick in 2024, Zeev Buium, who set up Teddy Stiga for the golden goal.
Hailed for his ability to generate clean breakouts, Fortescue maintained a strong presence on Team USA’s back end throughout the 12-day tournament.
For all that’s gone wrong for the club this season, second-year Ranger Will Cuylle and the rookies who have come through have been bright spots.
The 22-year-old Cuylle looked like he belonged last season, but this season he’s started to make an impact on games.
Berard packs so much punch in his game for a player who stands at just 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds.
With a contagious energy to him, Berard was inserted into the lineup for his NHL debut on Nov. 25 and has only come out due to injury.
There’s also Victor Mancini, who earned a spot in the Rangers lineup out of training camp with Ryan Lindgren sidelined.
The Rangers have since decided Mancini isn’t quite ready yet, but there were promising signs that he could be in the near future.
It may be difficult to see the light at the end of this dark tunnel the Rangers are trudging through, but it’s definitely there and the players in the pipeline have everything to do with it.
