After an eye-popping 5-1 opening night win in Buffalo, the New York Rangers have strung three mediocre performances together. They sit at 2-2-0 through their first four games of the 2023-24 season, with all four coming against teams that failed to make the postseason just one season ago. Yes, they are acclimating to a new system, but there have been some lackluster performances this year.
The Rangers’ drawback for the past three seasons has involved the supporting cast stepping up and helping the big names. Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, and Artemi Panarin scored five points over the first four games. Adam Fox on the backend also has five points, insinuating that the four stars have done their job offensively.
The role players and support system have yet to appear, leaving the Rangers offense top-heavy. Their defensive system has looked better at times, but the holes remain. The underlying numbers have been much better, but inconsistencies, some backbreaking challenges overturning goals, and long spells of sloppy play have prevented the Rangers from getting off to a solid start.
Veterans like Blake Wheeler, Nick Bonino, Tyler Pitlick, and Barclay Goodrow have been underwhelming to start the season. The trio of kids up front, Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, and Filip Chytil, have yet to show much. Braden Schneider and K’Andre Miller have come out of the gate with trampolines on their sticks, with pucks bouncing off their tape seemingly every time they try to make a play.
Enough of the supporting cast has struggled that the Rangers look like they may be the same team from last season, a look that they hoped would change under the guidance of Peter Laviolette. But the coach can only do so much, and the players, particularly those not among the team’s stars, need to show more on this upcoming road trip.
Rangers’ Fourth Line Has Been Poor
The Rangers are still searching for a fourth-line combination that works, with Jimmy Vesey and Tyler Pitlick rotating in and out for each other. Bonino has been great in the faceoff dot, but the veteran has little jump left in his legs to move the puck up the ice effectively. His shot blocking on the penalty kill has been exceptional, but the Rangers lack speed in the bottom half of their lineup.
Goodrow has not played up to his price tag since the Rangers brought him in three seasons ago. This year, his play has been sluggish out of the gate, with new linemates making his time on ice noticeably inefficient. Per Natural Stat Trick, the three worst Rangers at five-on-five this season have been the three opening-night fourth-liners. Pitlick’s 23.68 Corsi for percentage (CF%) is the team’s worst, followed by Bonino’s 32.86 CF%, and Goodrow’s 37.31 CF%.
Vesey, who has played in just two games with Bonino and Goodrow, has a CF% of 60, a vast improvement over Pitlick. In fact, when Goodrow, Bonino, and Pitlick have been on the ice together at five-on-five, their CF% is a meager 26.47, a number you rarely see in the NHL. Swap Pitlick out for Vesey, and the total jumps to a 52.38 CF%.
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In layman’s terms, Vesey makes the fourth line serviceable. The fourth line’s role is to be a grinding, defensive-minded group that protects their own zone when on the ice. Without Vesey, this group has been getting caved in and has yet to help the Rangers in any of the three zones.
Will Lafreniere, Kakko, and Chytil Improve?
Kakko, Lafreniere, and Chytil have just one point each through four games this season. Lafreniere opened the scoring on the season with the Rangers’ first goal against Buffalo and has not done much since. Chytil had a goal taken off the board due to an offside challenge in the Rangers’ second game of the year and has just one assist to show for it.
Kakko, while playing on the top line, has done the little things well but still seems to be searching for his offensive game. With all three in the top-six, this has to be the season they each take their next step. So far, all three have looked to be the same players they were in previous seasons, with flashes of brilliance surrounded by strange inconsistency.
They haven’t been bad, but they have not shown enough to have those watching believe they can take that needed step to be the top-six players supporting the Blueshirts’ stars this season. The Rangers need more production from this trio, which needs to come at five-on-five.
It is very early in the season, with 78 games still unplayed. For the Rangers to be contenders this year, the kids need to be significantly better over the next 78 games than they have been in the first four.
Blake Wheeler Has to be Better
The Rangers’ biggest marquee signing of the offseason was 37-year-old winger Wheeler. The former captain of the Winnipeg Jets signed for the veteran minimum after being bought out of his contract by his former club. Although his analytics have not been terrible, the one word that can describe his play and start to the season is slow.
Wheeler has undoubtedly lost a step since his prime, but he looks noticeably slow compared to the competition the Rangers face nightly. He has turned over pucks and lost key battles because he arrived on the scene seconds after his counterpart from the opposing team. He has yet to record a point in four games and has a minus-2 rating thus far.
No one thought that Wheeler would be the 70-point guy he once was, but the dropoff seems drastic. His roster spot is certainly one to watch out for should this continue, with Brennan Othmann lurking in Hartford and the Rangers once again linked to Patrick Kane.
In the interim, the Rangers need much more from Wheeler. Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle, his two linemates, have done a great job at forechecking and creating offense. So far, Wheeler has held the line back, but his track record shows that he can improve his play to be an effective part of the Rangers’ top-nine.
For the Rangers to have a successful first season under Laviolette, the supporting cast must perform above expectations. The kids need to have career seasons. The fourth line needs to lift itself from liability to commodity. And Wheeler needs to put a rough start into the rearview mirror.
