The New York Rangers have gotten off to an amazing start this season with a 5-0-1 record and they are one of four teams in the NHL without a regulation loss. Everything looks like it is clicking and they are getting great contributions from their forwards, defensemen, and goaltending.
They won the Presidents’ Trophy last season as the best team in the regular season and while it might be hard to repeat that success again, this team is proving that they could do it again with the way they have been playing so far. Here are three reasons why the Rangers are going to be a better team than they were last season.
Much-Improved Forward Depth
One of the big reasons why the Rangers lost in the Eastern Conference Finals last season was that when their top players stopped producing, they were not getting any production from their bottom-six players either. Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider, and Mika Zibanejad combined for just two goals in the six games against the Florida Panthers. While they did lose a few players in the offseason like Barclay Goodrow, Alex Wennberg, and Jack Roslovic, none of them were big contributors on the team and now, the Rangers have come back this season with even better forward depth. It’s been a big factor in their great start to the season.
While the players in the top six have gotten off to great starts, the players in the bottom six — especially those on the third line — have played extremely well, have contributed offense, and have led the Rangers to victory in some of these games. It can’t be understated how much a healthy Filip Chytil really helps improve the offensive depth. His line with Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko has arguably been the Rangers’ best line and even one of the best lines in the entire league. The fourth line has even contributed a bit of offense and they even have Matt Rempe as a healthy scratch who can jump into the lineup whenever he is needed.
The Rangers Have 8 NHL Defensemen Who Can Play
The Rangers not only have great depth up front, but they also have great defensive depth. So far this season, they have played eight different defensemen and will continue to carry eight defensemen for the foreseeable future. Leading the way is Adam Fox, who has seven points in six games and looks great as usual. He has been paired with K’Andre Miller on the top pair while Braden Schneider has moved over to the left side on the second pair with Jacob Trouba. A preseason injury to Ryan Lindgren, who just returned last game, led to this shakeup, but both of pairs have looked good and will likely remain intact until a change is needed.
Related: 5 Takeaways From Rangers’ Dominant 7-2 Win Over Montreal
When it comes to the third defensive pair, there have been four players who have rotated into that role. The season started with Zac Jones and rookie Victor Mancini on the pair and they looked good, especially Mancini, who has played in every game so far this season. Veteran Chad Ruhwedel took Jones’ spot for a game and then when Lindgren came back, he took Ruhwedel’s spot on the pairing with Mancini. With so many options to choose from as the season goes along, this only benefits the Rangers as they now don’t have to go out and trade for a depth defenseman and can focus and use their assets on other areas of need. This is the deepest the Rangers’ defensive core has been in years.
Improved Scoring at Even Strength
Another one of the biggest concerns surrounding the Rangers was that they were “power-play merchants” and couldn’t get enough scoring at even strength. To start this season, they have been very good at scoring at five on five and the majority of their goals have come at even strength. They have scored 31 goals this season and have a total of seven on special teams (six on the power-play and one shorthanded). This means that they have 24 goals when playing at even strength, which is tied for first in the league with the Buffalo Sabres.
Panarin and Kreider both are tied with three goals each at even strength for the team lead. The bottom six has combined for six goals at even strength, with three coming from the aforementioned third line. If the Rangers can keep getting this kind of scoring throughout the season and into the playoffs, they are going to be an even more dangerous team than they were last season.
The Rangers had their best regular season in franchise history last season and while many thought they couldn’t do it again, they are on track to repeat that kind of performance. They are arguably a better team now than they were last season because of what we covered above, and if they can keep up this performance through the season and carry it into the playoffs, there’s no reason why they should not be Stanley Cup champions.
