Rangers' Drew Fortescue impressing teammates, coach Mike Sullivan in first games of NHL career

GREENBURGH — A small, subtle smile slowly creased across Drew Fortescue’s face.

He was asked how the reality of being an NHLer compared to a lifetime of dreaming about it. Of thinking about it. Of wanting it. Of needing it.

Standing at his stall at the Madison Square Garden Training Center early Friday afternoon after a 45-minute optional practice, the newest Ranger could not and would not hide his euphoria.

“It’s definitely better,” Fortescue told Newsday. “It’s pretty special and pretty surreal. Being here in New York, close to home, makes everything better. You go to games when you’re younger and being out on the ice, it’s something that you dream about. But once it really happens, it’s way better than what you have even imagined as a kid.”

It has been a whirlwind two weeks for the 20-year-old whom the Rangers signed to a three-year, $2.769 million entry-level contract — according to data culled by industry website PuckPedia.com — on March 21, one day after Fortescue’s Boston College team was eliminated in the Hockey East semifinals by UConn, 4-3, in overtime.

Like Gabe Perreault at the end of last season, the Rangers were willing to burn the first year of Fortescue’s entry-level deal in order to get an up-close-and-personal look at the defenseman’s adjustment from the college game to the NHL.

The sample size has been small — four games — but it sounds as if he is impressing at least one of his direct superiors.

“My understanding of him coming in .  .  . was his ability to defend. He has a good stick but he also has some puck skills. He can make an outlet pass. He sees the play pretty well,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s got a little edge to his game. He’s willing to engage in the physical aspect of the game, and that’s what we witnessed when we got him. I’ve been really impressed with his puck poise, his vision.

“He keeps the play simple but he’s not just an off-the-glass-and-out guy. He’s looking to go tape to tape. He has the composure and the confidence to find the middle play on, say, a breakout. He doesn’t just play safe hockey. He plays smart hockey. He doesn’t play reckless hockey. There’s a difference between those three. I like the fact that he’s trying to play smart hockey. He’s not just playing safe hockey.”

Paired with Braden Schneider, Fortescue, who is from Pearl River in upstate Rockland County, is averaging 15 minutes, 32 seconds of ice time. He recorded his first NHL point on March 27, a secondary assist on Jonny Brodzinski’s goal in the Rangers’ 6-1 win over Chicago.

That game was Fortescue’s first in the NHL, and it marked the first time since 1932 that three different Rangers played their first game, recorded their first NHL win as a goaltender (Dylan Garand) and scored their first NHL goal (Adam Sykora) in the same contest.

“He’s played really well,” Schneider told Newsday after the Rangers’ 3-2 loss to the Canadiens at the Garden on Thursday night. “He’s really responsive. He’s really positive. And I think he’s doing really well so far.”

For a team that is, in essence, using the final days of a long-since-lost campaign as something akin to auditions for the 2026-27 season, that Fortescue is adjusting well to the NHL level can be viewed as a positive by organization decision-makers.

“He’s looked very comfortable from the start,” Perreault said. “I think everyone likes what they see, for sure.”

But what about Fortescue? What does he want to get out of the final six games of this 2025-26 season, beginning with Saturday’s nationally televised matinee against Detroit at the Garden?

“I just want to make a little bit of a statement,” he said. “I want to try and make the team and just get the experience and try and play and learn and kind of see what I need to work on this summer so I’m ready for next year.”