The New York Rangers’ encouraging 4-2-0 start to the 2023-24 season has been authored in large part by quick bursts out of the gate by some of their top players.
Artemi Panarin is rolling along as always, with three goals and five assists. Chris Kreider’s five goals lead the team. An engaged and effective Alexis Lafreniere has responded perfectly to his promotion to the Rangers’ dynamic second line with three goals. Star goaltender Igor Shesterkin has picked right up where he left off last season.
Less visible but perhaps just as positive, however, has been the play of rookie left wing Will Cuylle, who along with Vincent Trocheck has brought an added dimension to the club’s third line, providing a lift for a bottom-six forward group that has been in need of just that for some time now.
Cuylle, now 10 games into his NHL career, earned his place on the team with an impressive training camp and has done nothing since to make the coaching staff regret awarding him a roster spot. The 6-foot-3, 211-pound power forward has brought speed, hitting and strength below the circles in helping to create a formidable third-unit matchup for opponents so far.
Cuylle scored his first NHL goal in the Rangers’ 5-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 14. He dished out seven of his team-leading 17 hits in a 4-1 defeat to the Nashville Predators on Oct. 19. He delivered perhaps his best effort in the Blueshirts’ latest outing against the Calgary Flames on Oct. 24, playing an effective and engaged game in the neutral and offensive zones, and using his surprisingly strong skating to break in on Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom for a golden scoring opportunity that was turned away in the third period of a 3-1 win.
Cuylle Has a Backer In New Coach Peter Laviolette
At 21, Cuylle looks the part of a rising young player who is so far thriving under new coach Peter Laviolette, who clearly has faith in the 2020 second-round draft pick.
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“Will is a young player,” Laviolette said earlier in this young season. “I haven’t seen anything – there’s always something, right, defensively? But there hasn’t been these ‘uh-oh’ type of moments with Will. He’s done a really good job of playing defense and using his size and his power and his physicality and his speed to play good defense and to try to generate offense. I think he’s done a good job.” (From ‘Rookie Will Cuylle Continues To Impress Rangers On Both Ends Of Ice’, New York Post, 10/20/23)
What he’s done, in partnership with Trocheck and third linemate Blake Wheeler, is given the Rangers some hope that a cohesive, impactful third line is emerging to give the Blueshirts depth and a potential advantage when matching up with opponents’ bottom-six forward groups. For years, the club’s third and fourth lines have often amounted to a hodgepodge of players, thrown together in the hopes of finding chemistry and any sort of production to support the stars on the top two lines, but often lacking clear identity or purpose.
The Kid Line of Filip Chytil, Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko formed an occasionally potent trio at times over the past two-plus seasons, but those players have graduated to the top six this season. With Cuylle off to a strong start and Trocheck looking dynamic in a hybrid checking/offensive role, the third unit is coming at opponents with an edgy, physical bent that has made a difference through the first six games.
Even more encouraging, there’s potential for the line to become all the more impactful. Wheeler, the 16-year veteran signed to a one-year contract after being bought out by the Winnipeg Jets in the offseason, has yet to find his stride with his new team, struggling to a minus-3 rating and 48.8 Corsi for percentage. If Wheeler, who’s recorded 550 career assists, can get his game going, his pass-first mentality could be an excellent fit for the straight-ahead style of Cuylle and Trocheck. Wheeler delivered a deft stretch feed to Trocheck against the Flames, with Trocheck corralling the puck and breaking in on Markstrom for a scoring chance.
If the 37-year-old Wheeler can’t get in gear, the Rangers have the option to call up 2021 first-round pick Brennan Othmann from the Hartford Wolf Pack. Othmann’s speed, irritating game and scoring touch might prove to be an outstanding fit and continuation of a theme with Cuylle and Trocheck, who have posted a 60.7 Corsi for percentage in 13:09 together (courtesy naturalstattrick.com). With Wheeler included, the line drops to a 48.5 CF% in 56:49, so there’s room to grow, either through Wheeler’s improvement or perhaps Othmann’s much-anticipated arrival.
Cuylle’s Physicality Filling a Long-Time Void in Rangers’ Lineup
That’s a decision for the perhaps not-too-distant future. What’s clear now is that Cuylle is looking like a handful, strong and quick and able to get to the middle of the ice and cause trouble down low in the offensive zone. It’s the kind of element the Rangers have desperately sought for years. He does not lack for confidence, either.
“I think I’m a pretty versatile player. I can play up and down the lineup I think, being physical and getting to the net, scoring dirty goals,” Cuylle said after making the roster. “Special teams as well, I’m think I’m pretty dynamic, so obviously we’ll see what happens, but like I said I’m just trying to come in every day and see what happens and work hard.”
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For all the justified excitement over the Rangers’ new second line of Panarin, Chytil and Lafreniere, there’s ample reason for optimism over what the club’s third line can become. The early effectiveness of the trio has given the revamped fourth line with Nick Bonino centering Barclay Goodrow and Jimmy Vesey or Tyler Pitlick some space to find its footing. Bonino has been excellent in the faceoff circle with a 58 percent win rate, but the fourth line is sporting ugly possession numbers to this point, albeit in the limited minutes afforded the last forward unit.
The fact that Cuylle looks ready to contribute consistently at the NHL level perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise. His growth was obvious with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League last season, when he piled up 25 goals and 20 assists in 69 games. If his upward trajectory continues, the Rangers will have reaped quite the reward from former general manager Jeff Gorton’s ability to turn Lias Andersson, his bust of a seventh overall pick in 2017, into the pick he used to take Cuylle, a selection he acquired from the Los Angeles Kings for Andersson during the 2020 draft.
Cuylle was projected to top out by many evaluators as a third line-type of player. Perhaps there’s more than expected to the Toronto native’s game, but for now, he’s fulfilling that vision in what looks like the perfect spot alongside Trocheck. At least in the early going, the Blueshirts are clearly benefiting.
