Rangers retool front office, hire former players Blake Wheeler and Ryane Clowe

The New York Rangers on Monday announced a series of front-office hires and promotions that bring former players into key hockey-operations roles and expand the club's executive structure.

Blake Wheeler was named a hockey operations advisor and Ryane Clowe returns to the organization as an assistant general manager, general manager Chris Drury said in the club's announcement. The Rangers also promoted Ryan Martin from assistant GM to associate GM and elevated Jim Sullivan to assistant GM.

Martin will retain his duties as general manager of the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League while assuming the new associate-GM title with the NHL club. Sullivan, who has spent 17 seasons with the Rangers, had been the team's vice president of hockey strategy and data management and began his tenure with the organization in 2009 as a video analyst.

Wheeler, 39, played 16 NHL seasons, most prominently with the Winnipeg Jets, and spent one season with the Rangers. He appeared in 54 regular-season games for New York before suffering a gruesome leg injury late in the season. Wheeler worked his way back sooner than expected and skated in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, logging 9:18 in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers; that contest became the final game of his playing career.

"Not everybody would take the three-month journey to work their way back in that situation," then-captain Jacob Trouba said at the time. "That just speaks to the character of the man, of who he is. We saw how hard he worked the past three-plus months to come back and play and contribute to our team."

Clowe previously held hockey-operations roles with the Rangers, serving two years as a hockey operations advisor and one year as a co-senior advisor before departing for the San Jose Sharks, where he served as an assistant general manager. He announced his resignation from the Sharks on Sunday and said in a statement that the decision to leave was "extremely difficult" and motivated by family considerations.

"I loved being back in San Jose and working with [Sharks GM] Mike Grier and his entire team but at this point, this decision is in the best interest of my family," Clowe said in the statement. "The franchise has an exciting future ahead and is set up to be successful for a long period of time, and I am grateful to Mike and [team president] Jonathan Becher for giving me the opportunity to return to San Jose."

Martin joined the Rangers' front office along with Drury in 2021 and spent 16 years with the Detroit Red Wings organization before that, including 11 seasons as an assistant general manager. Until Monday's moves, Martin was the only assistant general manager under Drury; the promotions create a structure with two assistant general managers and an associate general manager.

Sullivan's elevation formalizes responsibilities he has held in hockey strategy and analytics, areas the Rangers have emphasized in recent years. The club did not detail specific day-to-day duties for Wheeler or Clowe but described the hirings as part of an effort to deepen institutional knowledge and add former-player perspectives to hockey operations.

The announcements mark another chapter in a trend of NHL clubs incorporating former players into front offices, blending scouting, analytics and player-development roles with direct playing experience. The Rangers declined to provide additional comment beyond the personnel release.

The reorganized front office takes shape as the Rangers prepare for the upcoming season and continue to manage roster decisions, development pathways through Hartford and longer-term competitive planning. The moves also maintain continuity within the organization by promoting long-tenured staff and reintroducing familiar figures to the team's decision-making ranks.