Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
An offseason of changes will soon be put to the test for both the New York Rangers and the Hartford Wolf Pack.
After a rough 2025-26 campaign in which both clubs missed the postseason, Rangers management quickly got to work on both the hockey and business fronts, including extending their Hartford affiliation — which enters its 30th season this fall — through 2029.
They also landed Jay Leach, naming him the Wolf Pack’s new head coach on June 5, and brought in Calder Cup winners Bob Woods (associate coach) and John Stevens (assistant coach) to fill out the staff. Leach’s coaching resume includes four seasons as head coach of the Providence Bruins and stints as an NHL assistant in Seattle and Boston.
Hartford needs that kind of winning experience. The Wolf Pack finished last in the Atlantic Division at 26-38-5-3 in 2025-26 and have made the playoffs just three times since 2013.
“There [have] been a number of changes throughout the organization,” Rangers general manager Chris Drury said as training camp opened this week. “Pro scouting, development, performance, you name it. Every time we all get to talk together, I’m constantly saying I’m looking at ways to be better. It was exciting for us to add some new pieces, some new perspective.”
Sitting alongside Drury at the team’s training facility, Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan asserted that jobs are available this preseason. The Rangers finished last in the NHL’s Eastern Conference in 2025-26 and are looking for some solutions that may include last season’s Hartford personnel.
Depending on how these preseason roster battles unfold, this season’s Wolf Pack roster could be a prospect-laden one. And no matter how the NHL club’s opening-night roster looks, the Rangers will be counting on their prospects in Hartford to push for playing time in New York as the season progresses.
One of those candidates is defenseman Alberts Smits, who went fifth overall to the Rangers in this past June’s NHL Draft. Still just 18 years old, Smits already possesses experience in two top European circuits (Finland and Germany), and also skated for Latvia at the 2026 Olympics. Drew Fortescue, who is coming off three seasons at Boston College, won two gold medals with Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championship and began his pro career appearing in nine games with the Rangers last spring.
Another potential first-round pick for the Hartford roster is 20-year-old forward Liam Greentree, a key part of the return for the deal that sent Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings last February. Greentree, taken 26th overall by the Kings in the 2024 NHL Draft, recorded 141 goals across four seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires and will turn pro this season.
Cole Beaudoin went two spots ahead of Greentree in that same draft, and was acquired in a multi-player deal that sent veteran Vincent Trocheck to Utah in July. Jacob Battaglia, a Calgary second-rounder in 2004, was the return in the March deal that saw Brennan Othmann head to the Flames.
Hartford’s two leading scorers from last season, Trey Fix-Wolansky and Brendan Brisson, were not re-signed, nor was Wolf Pack captain Casey Fitzgerald. Additions to the depth chart who could see time in Hartford include Glenn Gawdin, Vincent Iorio, Marc Del Gaizo and Dennis Cholowski. And the Wolf Pack still have a young core that the Rangers will keeping a close eye on.
Jaroslav Chmelar made his NHL debut last November and went on to play 28 games with New York. Forwards Adam Sýkora and Juuso Parssinen and defenseman Scott Morrow also divided time between the Rangers and Wolf Pack. Bryce McConnell-Barker, who chipped in 14 goals last season for Hartford, and Dylan Roobroeck (31 goals over his first two pro seasons) are getting further looks from the organization. Carey Terrance, acquired from Anaheim for Chris Kreider in 2025, enters his second pro campaign after notching 17 points a year ago, and Aidan Thompson notched 22 points in 58 games as a rookie between Hartford and Rockford last season.
Incoming rookies could include Brody Lamb, who impressed with the Wolf Pack in a 15-game trial after completing his senior year at the University of Minnesota, and Nathan Aspinall, who put up 94 points with Flint in the OHL last season.
And another battle is ahead in net, where Dylan Garand got his first taste of NHL action last year after four strong seasons in Hartford. A 2020 fourth-round pick by the Rangers, Garand got a two-year contract extension in June. However, the Rangers also acquired Joonas Korpisalo and his $4-million cap hit in a trade from Boston. The Garand-Korpisalo roster battle to complement star netminder Igor Shesterkin, a Hartford graduate himself, figures to be one of the top questions for the Rangers to answer before their regular season opens Sept. 29.
“He showed us late last year that he’s very capable of making saves in this league,” Sullivan said of Garand. “His overall growth and development has given us a little bit more legitimate depth at the goaltending position.”
It’s those types of battles that Drury, Sullivan, Wolf Pack general manager Ryan Martin and the rest of the organization want to see.
“We feel that position right now is competitive,” Sullivan continued, “and as an organization the ultimate goal is to have fierce competition, internal competition, healthy competition at all the positions. It makes decisions for the manager and the head coach difficult.”
The Rangers’ four-game preseason schedule features home-and-home match-ups with the rival New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders. Hartford, which does not have any preseason games scheduled, begins its campaign Oct. 3 at Lehigh Valley.
“I think we’ve addressed a lot of things all over the organization in Hartford and in New York,” Drury said. “Excited to get going.”
On the American Hockey League beat for more than two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2015-16.
