Breaking: Rangers & Islanders Pulling Off Trade

In an NHL rarity, the New York Rangers and New York Islanders are about to pull off a trade. According to a report from insider Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic, the Rangers will be sending pending unrestricted free agent defenceman Carson Soucy to the Isles.

I'm hearing #NYR are on the verge of their first move of the retool. A trade that sends Carson Soucy to the #Isles is brewing.

No official announcement yet as they work out the particulars, but expect him to be held out of the lineup tonight for roster management.
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) January 26, 2026

As Mercognliano notes, the two sides are still working out the details of the trade. But Soucy will be held out of the Rangers' lineup tonight for "roster management" for their game against the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden.

This would be the first move of the new stated 'retool' of the team that Rangers GM Chris Drury announced earlier this month. Soucy has a 12-team no-trade list, but it's likely that the Islanders are not amongst those dozen teams, being just across the river from his current home.

Soucy, 31, is in his second season with the Blueshirts, having been acquired at the trade deadline last season from the Vancouver Canucks. He's averaged 17:13 of ice time per night this year, with eight points in 46 games, and 66 blocked shots.

Once this is completed, it would be only the fourth ever deal between the New York rivals, per Andrew Gross of Newsday. The first two were in 1972, the year the Isles entered the NHL. The most recent one was 16 years ago, on May 25, 2010, when the Islanders sent Jyri Niemi to the Rangers for a sixth-round pick.

We'll update you with the rest of the details of this pending trade when it becomes available.