Cup Drought Will Continue for New York Tri-State Area NHL Teams in 2025-26

It has been a long 22 years for the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and New Jersey Devils.

In 2003, the Devils won their third Stanley Cup in franchise history when they defeated the Anaheim Ducks in seven games. Since that season, no team in the New York tri-state area has won hockey’s Holy Grail.

Yes, there were certainly times when one of the teams mentioned above came close. In 2012, the Devils lost in the Stanley Cup Final to the Los Angeles Kings in six games, while the Blueshirts lost to the Kings in the Cup Final just two seasons later.

After 2014, the Rangers went to the Eastern Conference Finals on three separate occasions. They lost to the Lightning in seven games and six games in 2015 and 2022, respectively, and then they lost to the Florida Panthers in 2024 in six games.

Believe it or not, the last time the Rangers won the Cup was in 1994, when the team broke a 54-year drought. Our fearless leader, Neil Smith, did a masterful job as the team’s general manager, as he made all the right moves to put the team in a position to win it all.

The Islanders also had a close brush with glory in both 2020 and 2021 when they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, only to lose to the Lightning both times. The Bolts would go on to win the Cup in both seasons.

The Isles have had a longer Cup drought than the Blueshirts, as they have not won it since 1983. If you are counting at home, that is 42 long years.

As one can see above, it has been a long time since any team in the New York tri-state area won the Cup. Unfortunately, it looks like the drought will continue into this season, as it does not look like these three teams have what it takes to bring the Cup back home.

With that in mind, let’s look at each team and why they will not be lifting the Cup over their respective heads come June.

New York Rangers
Last season was an abomination for the Blueshirts.

After being the league’s best team and coming within two wins of going to the Final in 2023-24, the Rangers missed the postseason last year and did so in embarrassing fashion. They were soft, inconsistent, had trouble keeping the puck out of their net, their star players could not carry the load, and they looked lost.

The team’s play forced general manager Chris Drury to make some changes. He fired head coach Peter Laviolette and finally got his guy in Mike Sullivan, whom he signed to a five-year, $32 million contract.

Sullivan is the coach that Drury has always wanted. He just could not hire him away from the Penguins when he took over as GM, so he worked with Gerard Gallant and Laviolette instead.

The team’s new head coach is someone who will hold his players accountable, make them earn their ice time, and not accept them carrying any drama onto the ice. There was a lot of drama off the ice last season that ended up hurting the team’s play on the ice. 

The club also went ahead and traded long-time Ranger forward Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks. Kreider did everything and more for the Rangers in his 13 years with the club as he had 582 points (326 goals and 256 assists) in 883 games to go along with 76 points (48 goals and 28 assists) in 123 playoff games.

While it was not an easy move for Drury to make, it was a necessary one. Simply put, each side needed to go their separate ways, and Drury and Kreider were able to do so in an amicable way.

After the team struggled on the defensive side of the puck last season, Drury signed unrestricted free agent defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov to a 7-year, $49 million contract. Gavrikov will be the perfect partner for Adam Fox as he is a stay-at-home defenseman who blocks a lot of shots, breaks up a lot of plays in the defensive zone, and is careful with the puck, giving Fox freedom to join the rush and contribute offensively.

Another good thing that the Blueshirts have going for them is that Igor Shesterkin should return to top form, as Sullivan will make sure his troops play a smart defensive game. Shesterkin struggled last season as he posted a career-worst 2.86 goals-against average and a career-worst .905 save percentage.

With that said, the man they call “Shesty” was one of the team’s best players last year. He stopped a lot of high-quality scoring chances, picked up six shutouts, and was one of the main reasons why the team was even fighting for a playoff spot in what was a very competitive Eastern Conference.

While everything mentioned above appears to be good for the Rangers, what might prevent them from winning the Cup or being a playoff contender is their offense. Yes, this team has players like Artemi Panarin, J.T. Miller, Vincent Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad, Will Cuylle, and Alexis Lafreniere who can produce.

After those players, however, no one is quite sure where the offense is going to come from. The players mentioned in the above paragraph will more than likely be on the team’s top two lines, so it will be interesting to see what guys like Matt Rempe, Sam Carrick, Adam Edstrom, and the other three forwards in the bottom six, whoever they might be, can do in terms of production.

Final Prediction: The Rangers will make the playoffs this season. However, due to a quiet offense and giving up a lot of shots, they will get knocked out in the first round against a heavier and more offensively talented hockey club.

New York Islanders
After making the playoffs in 2023-24, the Islanders missed the playoffs last year for several reasons.

For starters, their offense struggled all season to put the puck in the net. They were 27th in the league in goals scored last season as they scored 222 goals in 82 games, which means they averaged under three goals per game, which is not enough to win hockey games consistently in this league.

Because the team struggled offensively, it also means that they had a lot of trouble with the man advantage. The Islanders ranked 31st in the league on the power play last season as they converted on just 12.6 percent of the opportunities they were given.

The team was not great when it came to keeping the puck out of their net. They were 20th in the league in goals allowed as they allowed 257 goals last season, which means they gave up just over three goals per game last season.

The Islanders also struggled on the penalty kill last season. They were 31st in the league in that category as they killed off just 72.2 percent of the power plays they faced last year.

So, what did the team do this offseason to help try to turn things around? For starters, the franchise went out and hired Mathieu Darche to replace Lou Lamoriello and be their new General Manager and Executive Vice President.

Darche previously worked as the Lightning’s Assistant General Manager for three seasons, helping the team to win back-to-back Cups in 2020 and 2021. He will now be in charge of helping the Islanders win their first Cup in more than 40 years.

The first move he made was at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft when he took defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the first overall pick. Schaefer is someone who can move the puck well, make smart decisions with and without the puck, and is also someone who has gone through a lot of adversity for someone who is just 18 years of age.

Darche also traded defenseman Noah Dobson to the Montreal Canadiens for forward Emil Heineman and two 2025 first-round picks (ended up being used on Victor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson) and signed forwards Jonathan Drouin and Maxim Shabanov.

For the Islanders to make the playoffs this upcoming season, however, everything is going to have to come together. Goaltender Ilya Sorokin needs to stay healthy and be the goaltender that he and the team know he can be, while the team’s offense, hopefully with a fully healthy Mathew Barzal, can be much better than they were last season.

The team will also need their head coach, Hall of Famer Patrick Roy, to do a lot of heavy lifting this season. He needs to get them to be more aggressive on offense while not sacrificing the defensive side of the game, in addition to showing that he has a lot of faith in Sorokin to do what he needs to do between the pipes.

Final Prediction: The Islanders will miss the playoffs for the second straight season. They lack sufficient scoring, are not heavy enough, and are not strong enough on their special teams to compete in what is a very strong Metropolitan Division and Eastern Conference.

New Jersey Devils
Unlike the aforementioned Rangers and Islanders, the Devils did make the postseason last year, but were knocked out in five games in the first round by the Carolina Hurricanes.

Overall, the Devils were a decent hockey club last season under new head coach Sheldon Keefe, as they finished third in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 42-33-7 for 91 points. They got high-end play from the likes of Jesper Bratt (88 points), Jack Hughes (70 points in 62 games), Nico Hischier (69 points), and Timo Meier (53 points).

After those players mentioned above, however, the team's offense was rather dry. In fact, the team finished 20th in the league in goals scored last year as they scored 240 goals in 82 games, which is close (2.93) to three goals per game.

For the Devils to have sustained offensive success this season, they will need Jack Hughes to be fully healthy. He sustained a shoulder injury on March 2 in a game against the Vegas Golden Knights that caused him to miss both the rest of the regular season and the postseason.

Defensively, this team was one of the best in the league last season. They were fifth in the league in goals allowed, as they allowed 222 goals in 82 games.

A big reason for that was the play of the team’s goaltenders, Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen. Markstrom finished the season at 26-16-0-6 with a 2.50 goals-against average, a .900 save percentage, and four shutouts, while Allen went 13-16-0-1 with a 2.66 goals-against average, a .908 save percentage, and four shutouts.

Another reason was the play of Luke Hughes. He had 44 points (seven goals and 37 assists) in 71 games and was second on the team in ice time as he averaged 21:09 minutes per game.

Luckily, Fitzgerald made sure that Luke is going to be a big part of the team moving forward. On October 1st, he signed Hughes to a seven-year, $63 million deal.

Other than extending Luke Hughes with less than a week to go before the season gets underway, Fitzgerald was relatively quiet this offseason. The team had limited cap space, which prevented him from going after free agents. 

Instead, he focused on making depth moves. One such move was the signing of Connor Brown to a four-year, $12 million deal. 

Final Prediction: The Devils will make the playoffs as a wild-card team. A lot of this will be dependent on Jack Hughes remaining healthy, getting consistent goaltending again, and hopefully clicking more on offense.