As of now, the Rangers’ headlining offseason acquisition is Reilly Smith — a 33-year-old right wing who is coming off a down year in Pittsburgh in his 13th NHL season.
Smith was a third-liner by the time his Penguins tenure was up, but he is now primed to compete for a top-six role with the Blueshirts that has seen an excessive amount of turnover since Pavel Buchnevich was traded in July 2021.
It’s another year and another candidate to skate on the right side of Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad.
The two longest tenured Rangers have been on a line together relatively consistently since 2016 and have proven to be a tough duo to join.
Not Patrick Kane nor Vladimir Tarasenko, nor any others on a laundry list of current Rangers who got looks, were able to find steady success in that spot after Buchnevich’s departure.
The last player to look promising there was trade-deadline acquisition Frank Vatrano during the 2022 run to the conference final.
Smith could become the 23rd player to give it a try since the beginning of the David Quinn era on Broadway.
“In the past, it’s been working with a guy that can pass, maybe more of a passer, because Kreids is a shooter, I’m a shooter,” Zibanejad said on breakup day last month, when the Rangers’ No. 1 center was asked what attributes his ideal right wing would have. “But that’s not my job to worry about, I guess.”
It is, in fact, Chris Drury’s job, and the Rangers president and general manager traded a conditional fifth-round pick in 2025 and a 2027 second-rounder to acquire Smith from the Penguins once it became clear a big-name free-agent signing was no longer an option.
There’s always a possibility Peter Laviolette deviates from the alignment, and the Rangers head coach will likely do his due diligence and explore that option.
But if he’s intent on keeping together his most effective line from last season — Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere — then it might be difficult to split up Kreider and Zibanejad.
There is also this for Laviolette to consider: Trocheck and Smith logged 1,441.27 of ice time together during the Smith’s two seasons with the Panthers from 2015-17.
Smith is about to embark on the final season of the three-year, $15 million deal the Golden Knights signed him to when he was in a top-line role, but the Ontario native slipped to the third unit during Vegas’ Stanley Cup run in 2023 before the same series of events unfolded in Pittsburgh (minus the championship).
That allowed for Drury to negotiate for the Penguins to retain 25 percent of Smith’s salary, which put him on the Rangers’ books for a more reasonable $3.75 million.
If, say, Kaapo Kakko beats out Smith for the top-six role, if the Finnish wing is still a Ranger come October, then it’s a price point that wouldn’t be too out of place on the third line.
After recording 14 points in 22 playoff games en route to his and the Golden Knights’ first Cup victory, Smith was traded to the Penguins.
He started this past season off strong on a line with Evgeni Malkin, but as the Penguins star dropped off, so did Smith.
The downturn also came right after Smith visited the White House with his former Golden Knights teammates in mid-November.
As the season continued and he struggled to produce, finishing with 13 goals and 27 assists in 76 games, there was suddenly a narrative coming out of Pittsburgh that Smith wasn’t happy.
Having another shot at a top-six role should be a rejuvenating prospect for Smith, who has been described as a cerebral player who sees the game well and has the skill to support it.
“The lineup is Peter’s,” Drury said on a conference call with reporters this month. “Again, we look at a lot of different options, a lot of different things. I think Reilly is a very versatile winger, can play both wings. At the end of the day, j… Just trying to give Lavi as many options as you can to try and put together the best lineup. We’ll see where things shake out in training camp and throughout the season.”