Drew Fortescue takes even-keeled approach to Rangers blue-line crunch

Drew Fortescue’s path to ice time with the Rangers has become complicated.As a left-handed defenseman for an organization suddenly filled with them, it’ll be difficult for the top prospect — who received a nine-game taste of the NHL at the end of last season to burn the first year of his entry-level deal — to make the roster out of training camp.

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.But that doesn’t mean the 21-year-old former Boston College star has dwelled on his complicated reality with the Rangers after the additions of veteran Marcus Pettersson via trade and rookie Alberts Smits via the first round of the draft.

Nor has his belief about returning to the NHL wavered.“That’s nothing that’s in my control,” Fortescue said after the Blueshirts’ training camp sessions Saturday, when asked about their additions.“All I can do is just work the hardest that I can and whoever’s here or whatnot, I think that I know that I’m good enough — and someday, if it’s not now or in the future, that I’ll be able to play here.”Even while skating with Group B during the first three sessions, Fortescue reiterated that he’s here — at his first NHL training camp — to “show that I can be on this team.” He collected a pair of assists across his nine-game cameo at the end of 2025-26, capitalizing on the lost Blueshirts season to become one of the young pieces auditioning for future roles.“You want to play at the highest level,” said Fortescue, who has been going back and forth between the hotel and his home in Pearl River during training camp.

“It’s your dream as a kid, and kinda getting that little glimpse last year, that month I was there, it was pretty special.”The offseason arrived, and while Fortescue said he made strides in every area throughout the summer, the Rangers added pieces around him.AHL Hartford emerged as a l...