Rankin played regularly for the
Toledo Walleye of the
ECHL between 2009 and 2011. On November 25, 2011, the Notre Dame product was signed by the
Rochester Americans of the
American Hockey League to a professional tryout contract. After contributing immediately to the offense, Rankin remained with the Americans for the duration of the
2011–12 season, signing his first AHL contract and scoring an impressive 29 points in 35 games. On July 3, 2012, the Americans announced that Rankin had signed a one-year contract extension to remain with the team in the AHL. During the
2012–13 season, he played in 48 games and contributed offensively with 31 points. Rankin departed the Amerks as a free agent and, on July 10, 2013, signed a one-year deal with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. On July 22, 2014, Rankin took his career overseas by signing a one-year contract with
Kölner Haie of the
German DEL. During the
2014–15 season, he played 18 games for the team but had difficulty adjusting to the European style of play, managing only 3 points. As a result, he chose to return to North America and rejoined the Rochester Americans in the AHL for a second stint on January 26, 2015. After completing his fifth season with the Walleye in
2016-17, Rankin, who held the franchise record for most goals, officially announced his retirement from professional hockey on September 1, 2017. ==Career statistics==