For the previous six years, I've spent much of my summers -- in between lots of beach, golf and family time, of course -- hammering away at a series that's become a passion project of mine.

The goal is to talk to as many players, coaches, scouts and people around the hockey sphere as possible and gather opinions about the Rangers' prospect pool. Then I take all of that information and craft it into profile stories on the top 10 prospects in New York's organization.

Just because I've changed jobs doesn't mean the series is over. Instead, I'm bringing it to The Athletic and tag-teaming it with my new beat partner, Peter Baugh.

The rules are fairly simple. If you maintain rookie status going into the new season and have yet to sign a second professional contract, you're eligible for the list. That's why familiar names such as Brennan Othmann and Gabe Perreault remain in the running, while other formerly ranked players such as Brett Berard and Dylan Garand have graduated out of consideration.

Many feel the Rangers' pipeline sits in the low-middle of the pack from a league-wide perspective -- our very own Corey Pronman ranked them 24th, while Scott Wheeler had them 19th -- mainly because they lack high-end talent. But the consensus is that they've made subtle gains in terms of mid-level prospects and overall depth. Their top five may be lacking future stars, but the 6-10 range was more competitive this year than it had been the previous few.

Spoiler alert: Two players who were ranked last year (forwards Raoul Boilard and Bryce McConnell-Barker) were bumped out of the top 10. Others, including forwards Jaroslav Chmelař and Brody Lamb and defensemen Sean Barnhill and Jackson Dorrington, just missed the cut.

In total, Peter and I spoke to all 10 ranked prospects and at least 15 other sources in compiling these profiles.

In future years, we'll return to the usual format of 10 total stories. But with the chaos of starting a new job and a fast-approaching training camp, we've consolidated our information in five jam-packed posts.

We'll publish a new one each day this week, beginning with Nos. 7-10. Enjoy! -- Vincent Z. Mercogliano

Sýkora is younger than one might think, given his experience level. He's an AHL veteran at this point, having joined Hartford at the end of 2022-23, and yet he only just turned 21 this month. The high-motor forward is still developing, even though he's been around a while.

"I think he knows his abilities," said Roman Švantner, his Slovakian-based conditioning coach. "He knows that maybe he's not the most skillful guy in the league, but he's a workhorse and he's ready to fight for the New York Rangers as much as he can."

Drafted with the No. 63 pick in 2022, Sýkora had nine goals and 30 points in 71 games for a Hartford club that missed the playoffs in 2024-25. Though he surpassed his goal and point totals from the year before, he described it as a hard year for both him and the team. That experience, he believes, will help him going forward.

Sýkora was not blessed with the size of some of the other players on this list. Listed at 5-foot-11, he was one of only two Rangers under 6 feet at rookie camp. He knows he's different from many of the other prospects, and that influences how he has to play. If he carves out an NHL career, it will almost certainly be in a bottom-six role.

"Forecheck, backcheck, all skating, all hard work: that's kind of my job," he said. "That gets me here. I want to put together everything I can to get to another level."

"He's had a couple good (AHL) seasons," said one NHL scout who watched him frequently in Hartford last year. "The size, especially at a younger age, probably didn't help his cause for getting a call-up. He's getting a little bigger and stronger now."

The scout praised Sýkora's compete level. As the player himself mentioned, that has to be one of his strengths for him to have success. In a January ranking of Rangers' prospects, Wheeler described him as "a pest who likes to get under guys' skins and stick around in battles. He skates and works." He also brings a positive attitude with the right dedication to training, Švantner said.

Sýkora said he worked on adding strength and on the defensive side of his game over the summer. He also spent time doing shooting drills; both he and the Hartford coaches thought he could have scored more last season based on the situations he put himself in.

"Naturally he sniffs around the net a lot," the scout said. "Even at the NHL level I feel like he'd be a good secondary contributor."

If Sýkora's NHL debut comes this season, he'll be no stranger to high-level competition. He represented Slovakia at the World Championships this summer, where he went against Sidney Crosby -- his childhood idol -- alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Team Canada. Though the Slovakians lost 7-0, Sýkora was named his team's player of the game. Crosby was Canada's, so the two shook hands and posed for pictures together at a brief postgame ceremony. Sýkora gushed about that experience when discussing it Thursday, and he has his eyes set on more international play. He's projected to make Slovakia's Olympic team for February's tournament in Milan: another aspect of his season to watch. -- Peter Baugh

If Sýkora is one end of the Rangers' height spectrum, Roobroeck is the other. At 6-7, he's part of a wave of huge forwards New York has drafted in recent years. The Rangers picked him in the sixth round (No. 178 overall) of the 2023 draft.

That late-round flier now looks worthwhile. In his first full season playing professionally, Roobroeck scored 20 goals for the 2024-25 Hartford squad, leading the club. Considering he scored only six more the year before with OHL Oshawa, he acknowledged he was a little surprised his scoring translated as well as it did to the AHL level.

"I think a little bit of a mixture of a shot and a little bit of net presence," he said. "You've got to also be able to find some of those grittier goals net front."

"He does have a really nice knack around the net, whether it's his shot, which I find deceiving because of the length, and then his ability around the net," said Steve O'Rourke, who coached Roobroeck with the Oshawa Generals in the OHL. "He's good with front-facing at the net and finding loose pucks and putting them in, and then the other is back-facing where he does a good job of tipping pucks as well."

The same NHL scout who commented on Sýkora believes Roobroeck could develop into a third-line center if all goes well. That's an encouraging projection for the Rangers, especially considering their organizational need for young centers to step up.

"He'll definitely need another year in the minors, but he definitely has a chance to be a good player," the scout said. "A big guy like that that can score, with hands and (who) can skate, you don't find those guys too often."

The 21-year-old Roobroeck was teammates with first-round picks Calum Ritchie (Avalanche, traded to the Islanders) and Beckett Sennecke (Ducks) on the Generals. O'Rourke was an associate coach for Oshawa in both Roobroeck's years there, and he saw the center become more and more consistent over his time with the Generals. He also mentioned Jeff Beukeboom, the three-time Stanley Cup champion turned Rangers scout, frequently came to Oshawa to get a look at Roobroeck before New York picked him.

"His actual skating is really good in terms of speed," O'Rourke said. "He is fast for a big guy, which is challenging to handle. When you see that size, it doesn't always feel like it's coming at you fast, and all of a sudden, wow, he's got a step and he's got reach."

O'Rourke thinks Roobroeck still can add weight to his frame. Opponents had trouble handling his size in the OHL, and he believes that will eventually happen in the pros, too.

Roobroeck said he focused on his lower body this past summer training at Spero Performance in his native London, Ont. He wanted to better his strength and conditioning in hopes of improving his speed on the ice. His brother Ryan, a top 2026 draft prospect, also trained with him there.

"We always kind of push each other, battle against each other, whether that's in the gym or on the ice in the summer," Dylan said.

Though he can play wing, Roobroeck said at rookie camp that he views center as his position. He aims to use his size to play a physical game. -- Baugh

For the time being, Terrance is best known for being the player acquired in the trade that shipped longtime Ranger Chris Kreider to Anaheim.

There's an undeniable (and frankly unfair) pressure associated with it, but the Akwesasne, N.Y. native seems unfazed.

"I don't look too much into that," the 20-year-old center said at development camp in July. "He's a great player. He scored a lot of goals in this league. To be traded for him, it's pretty cool. But I'm just trying to come in here with a clear mindset."

That's what most athletes would say, but those who know Terrance well believe it's sincere.

He's what former Erie Otters assistant Wes Wolfe describes as "a throwback" who, at a young age, understands how to put his head down and go to work.

"Carey's a guy I would classify as a coach's dream in terms of how hard he competes consistently," said Ken Peroff, who also spent the previous two seasons coaching Terrance as part of OHL Erie's staff. "He doesn't just search for offense. He's an elite defender as a forward, and he plays a responsible, two-way game. If you're going to score when Carey's on the ice, you're going to have to earn it. He's not going to give you anything for free. I think that's kind of his calling."

The Rangers identified him as the prospect they wanted back in the Kreider deal for those exact reasons.

The team is locked into veteran centers J.T. Miller, Vincent Trocheck and Mika Zibanejad for several years to come, but organizational depth behind them is painfully thin. They haven't developed an impact center since Filip Chytil was drafted in 2017, and he's since been traded to Vancouver.

There's a desperate need for internal candidates to emerge, specifically to fill spots in the bottom six. That's the exact role Terrance, a second-round pick by the Ducks in 2023, is projected to fill as he turns pro this season and prepares for an assignment to AHL Hartford. He and Roobroeck project as the likely second- and third-line centers for the Wolf Pack.

"I don't want to put a cap on him, but he's very much the type of player who can embrace that role and thrive in it," said Wolfe, who's entering this season as an assistant for the ECHL's Reading Royals. "He's one of those unheralded guys who does everything the right way."

That was evident at the most recent World Junior Championship, where Terrance centered a relentless third line for the gold-medal-winning U.S. team. They were tasked with forechecking, defending and generally making life difficult on opponents, and they excelled.

"That U.S. team, which was loaded with skill, needed some guys to do some of the grunt work," Peroff said. "That's the way he plays."

Peroff compared Terrance to a former junior teammate of his and familiar name for Rangers fans: Barclay Goodrow.

"Quite frankly, he just cares about defending more than a lot of other players," he added. "He plays north-south. He's in your face. He'll chip a puck and go get it. He'll make you go 200 feet. It's a playoff style of game."

There are a couple traits that may give Terrance slightly higher upside, starting with what Wolfe calls his "elite separator" -- speed.

The 6-foot, 203-pounder combines hustle and above-average skating to close gaps quickly, which has bolstered his defensive reputation and made him into an opportunistic penalty killer.

"He's willing to do some of the hard miles," as Peroff put it.

He isn't devoid of offensive ability, either. Terrance scored 30 goals as a 17-year-old OHLer, then 29 the next season. He finished with 20 in 2024-25, but his season was cut short after 45 games due to a broken collarbone.

Many of his goals came off the rush -- "He's the type of player that you wouldn't be surprised to see get a breakaway or two every single night, just with the amount of speed he has and the way that he checks," Wolfe said -- or around the net, but there are limitations in other areas.

"He's not the guy who's going to gain the blue line, draw defenders to him, make a cheeky little pass, and then be on your half wall on the power play," Peroff said. "That's just not how he profiles."

Terrance seems fine with scoring the hard way, and he expects his teammates to put forth similar effort.

He can be warm and charismatic with a giving spirit, which has made him "a local celebrity" in his small hometown along the U.S.-Canada border, according to Wolfe. But he's also unafraid of confrontation if it brings the best out of people. That's why he was selected as Erie's captain last season, and why the Rangers view him as a potential culture-setter if he earns NHL time.

"At the junior level, he's one of the best leaders that I've come across," Peroff said. "He has the unique ability to connect with any player on our team. His work ethic and his lead-by-example and all that, I think, speaks for itself. He covers that really well, just by the way he carries himself and how good his habits are.

"I'd also say he has the unique ability in today's day and age to challenge teammates verbally and challenge teammates to be better. It's not as common a form of leadership as it was years ago when Mark Messier was the captain of the Rangers." -- Mercogliano

Self-awareness is an important part of any development arc, and Fortescue is proving to have no shortage in that department.

After his sophomore season at Boston College ended with a disappointing loss in the NCAA quarterfinals, the 20-year-old defenseman watched multiple teammates -- including fellow Rangers prospect Gabe Perreault -- sign contracts and turn pro. But upon reflection, both Fortescue and New York's decision-makers determined the best plan was to stay in school.

"Just talking to everyone here (with the Rangers) and on my end, too, it's just kind of when I'm ready and what they want, as well," he said at development camp in July. "Putting on that weight and being more physically ready is what I think is best."

"His primary focus is building pro density so that he can be in the trenches," added BC coach Greg Brown.

Adding muscle is particularly important given the role the 6-1, 181-pounder is expected to play.

He's limited offensively, with 11 assists and zero goals across 36 games last season. But from the time the Pearl River, N.Y., native arrived on campus, he's played on the Eagles' top pair and been used as a go-to penalty killer -- much like while helping Team USA win gold at the last two World Junior Championships.

"He eats a ton of minutes against the top forwards in all of college hockey," Brown said. "He's very effective and efficient, and has the mental game to read very well and understand what he needs to do to defend."

Fortescue has spent much of his time working alongside BC captain Eamon Powell, who has a track record of jumping into the rush and producing points. That's left Fortescue to protect the back end and serve as a reliable last line of defense.

The 2023 third-round pick is more than willing to engage in puck battles and play in physical situations, but he isn't a bruiser who's going to intimidate with crunching body checks. Instead, he relies on athleticism and defensive savvy.

"He does it more like a Marc Staal," said a coach from the Hockey East Conference. "Long body, quick feet, great defensive anticipation. All those things are going to be his strengths."

There's nothing flashy about it, but Fortescue typically gets the job done.

"One of the biggest compliments I could give him -- some might not think it is -- but he just seems like a guy that, as a coach, you don't have to worry about him," said another coach from within the conference. "He's low-maintenance. He's the kind of guy that you know when he's on the ice, your team's gonna be in a good situation."

"We'll try and expand his offensive game this year," Brown said, before quickly adding, "but he knows his first and primary job is to be an excellent defender and puck-mover."

The latter part of that equation has evolved to the point where Brown described him as "excellent at breaking pucks out." That wasn't always the case, according to an NHL scout.

"He's calmed his game down a bit," the scout said. "His puck game has gotten to the point where he's efficient and he can make that first play. He can make the play in transition. As long as you're getting the puck up to your forwards and getting it on their tape, perfect. He's done a good job. His puck game has really improved. It's not as erratic as it used to be. He has the feet and the size to be real effective."

Most scouts and coaches project Fortescue as a steady No. 4/5 defenseman at the pro level, but it's contingent on accomplishing his goal of bulking up.

"It's strictly physical for him," said one of the Hockey East coaches. "His frame is not naturally thick."

It may not come easy, but Brown vouched for his work ethic -- "He has a lot of the makeup to be a successful pro" -- and Fortescue is content not to rush the process. The Rangers hope that patience will pay dividends.

"I just think that's best for my development going forward," he said. "I'm just focused on getting bigger and stronger for myself to make that next jump. My plan is to continue to work on that and be ready for the following year." -- Mercogliano

New York Rangers 2025-26 prospect rankings: Counting down Nos. 7-10