Last season, the New York Rangers finished seventh in the league in goals scored with 278. This was accomplished despite the fact that they didn’t get the best version of Mika Zibanejad and they were missing former 22-goal-scorer, Filip Chytil for 72 games during the regular season.
Now, despite not adding any major goal scorers this offseason, the Rangers as currently constructed could have three very good scoring lines going into this season and could push themselves into the top five or higher in goals scored in the entire league.
Reilly Smith Should Be Better Than Blake Wheeler and Jack Roslovic
It was once again a revolving door of wingers for Zibanejad and Chris Kreider last season. The two main players that got the most time with them were Blake Wheeler and Jack Roslovic, both of which are no longer on the team as Wheeler is a free agent and Roslovic signed with the Carolina Hurricanes. Both of them scored a combined 12 goals for the Rangers last season.
This offseason, they went and got Reilly Smith from the Pittsburgh Penguins and it seems that he will be the first player to get the start on the line with Kreider and Zibanejad. He scored 13 goals last season, which was a down year for him. He scored more than the other two players combined, so he is already an upgrade over what the Rangers had last season.
Smith has scored over 20 goals five times in his career, most recently during the 2022-23 season, where he scored 26. If he can come in and be a 20-25 goal scorer, while also having chemistry with Zibanejad and Kreider, then it will be seen as a great trade by general manager Chris Drury, who has spent years trying to fix the mistake he made when he traded Pavel Buchnevich in the 2021 offseason. If Zibanejad can get back to scoring over 30 goals and Kreider can maintain his pace from the past few seasons, then the Rangers will have an actual top line that can compete with the next line we will talk about.
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere Will Still Be Dangerous Offensively
The biggest surprises to come out of last season for the Rangers were the breakout of Alexis Lafreniere and the dominant offensive season from Artemi Panarin. Add in an excellent season from Vincent Trocheck and you get one of the best lines in the entire NHL. They were the highest-scoring line at five-on-five last season and will be back together to start this season. Should we expect another 49-goal season from Panarin? Probably not, but if he can put up 30-40 goals, it will still be seen as a successful season for him.
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For Lafreniere, he is expected to build off of his breakout from last season. He was three goals away from 30 and if he can get over 30 goals this season, he will have earned himself a long-term deal with the Rangers. He finally showed what he could do with consistent top six minutes and he made the most of it. For Trocheck, he also could have had 30 goals last season but fell five short. If he can replicate what he did and even add to it, the most dangerous line in the NHL could become even more dangerous.
A Healthy Filip Chytil Can’t Be Overlooked
When 2023-24 began, it was actually Chytil that started the season as the center between Panarin and Lafreniere and they looked very good. He had six assists in 10 games before his injury and when he was out of the lineup, his presence was missed. You had players like Nick Bonino and Barclay Goodrow playing in roles that they should not have been playing and they added no offense to a Rangers bottom six that was already struggling to score. While Chytil did return for the playoffs, he didn’t look the same, but with an offseason to recover and train, he is coming back and will be looking to bring his offensive game to the next level.
He scored 22 goals in the 2022-23 season and was looking to build off of that last season, but unfortunately got injured. Now, he’s back and will likely have Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko as his linemates. Cuylle scored 13 goals last season and with Kakko, he also had 13 goals despite being injured. He also scored 18 goals during the 2022-23 season, so all three of these players have the potential to score 20 or more goals. If they can come together and become a third line that is defensively responsible, but can also score when needed, the Rangers will be an even more dangerous team offensively.
The Rangers did not score enough in their series against the Florida Panthers and it was one of the reasons why they lost. Now, with this season being another Stanley Cup or bust year for the team, they need their offense to improve and with these potential lines to start the season, they have all the ingredients to be one of the best offensive teams in the entire league.
