4 New York Rangers Captain Candidates for 2025-26
The New York Rangers are currently one of two teams in the entire league to not have a captain going into this season. The other team is the Boston Bruins, who traded their captain, Brad Marchand, last season to the Florida Panthers. The Rangers also traded their captain last season, when they dealt Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks.
They have traded their last three captains, with Ryan Callahan and Ryan McDonagh also being traded while captain of the team. With how disastrous last season unfolded, it’s clear that they could use some leadership in the locker room. In this piece, we are going to go over four options the Rangers could choose from when it comes to who gets the captaincy this season.
One of the more popular names among the fanbase that could be considered for captain is Vincent Trocheck. He will be entering his fourth season with the team, and while he did have a down season last year, he is still considered one of the heart and soul players for the Rangers. He tries to give it his all every shift and isn’t afraid to get physical when he needs to.
Those are some of the qualities teams look for when naming a captain, and Trocheck seems to fit the bill perfectly. He has been through the highs and lows with this team over the past few seasons, from winning the Presidents’ Trophy and getting to the Eastern Conference Final, to losing to the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the playoffs after having a 2-0 series lead. He has gone through adversity and knows what it takes to overcome it.
Another player who plays a similar game to Trocheck is his good friend, J.T. Miller. He was traded back to the Rangers last season from the Vancouver Canucks and was the best player on the team from the time he got back to the end of the regular season. He helped elevate the game of Mika Zibanejad, who seemed to be rejuvenated playing on the same line as Miller, and he made his other linemates look better as well. While he has been known to have had locker room issues in the past, which was a main reason why he was traded from Vancouver, he and Trocheck seem to be the two key players that general manager Chris Drury wants the team to play more like.
