By: Mike Rifkin
After Monday’s 4-1 win over the Oilers the New York Rangers sat atop the entire NHL. I think most people will agree that this is a major shock. I think most people had them competing for a playoff spot. The Rangers have won three in a row including a home and home sweep of the two time defending Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning. The most impressive thing about the last two wins is they have done that without their best player Artemi Panarin who is in Covid protocols.
A lot of credit goes to first year General Manager Chris Drury and first year coach Gerard Gallant. Gallant had previously coached the Blue Jackets, Panthers, and Golden Knights. He had made the playoffs on three separate occasions including taking Vegas to the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season. Drury, who was the assistant GM under Jeff Gorton, was promoted once Gorton was fired. Drury inherited a very skilled team, but his mission this offseason was to get tougher for the team to play against, a lot of people point to the Tom Wilson incident late last season or how they played against the rival New York Islanders but if you go back and watch a lot of the Stanley Cup Champions over the past decade or so they all had a bit of toughness to them. Barclay Goodrow who was acquired from the Lightning brings playoff experience, versatility, among other things. Goodrow has played in every game so far this season he has seven goals including three in his last three games played and sixteen points and has a rating of +6. The Rangers also added enforcer Ryan Reaves this offseason. Reaves was coached by Gallant in Vegas and brings toughness to the team. He is currently third in the league in hits and has six assists. They also traded winger Pavel Buchnevich to the Blues for Sammie Blais. Blais in 14 games had four assists before tearing his ACL.
But like I said at the top Gallant and Drury inherited a very skilled team. That starts with Artemi Panarin the skilled left winger has 10 goals and 36 points in 31 games played. Panarin has missed the last two games due to covid protocols. Continuing down the left side there is the longest tenured Ranger Chris Kreider who leads the team with 20 goals a mark he has hit for the sixth time in his career and fourth consecutive. Kreider has never had a 30 goal season. Playing with Kreider is Mika Zibanejad who the Rangers gave a massive eight year contract to. Zibanejad has nine points in his last six games including a hat trick against the Lightning. Continuing at center there is Ryan Strome who is an impending unrestricted free agent has eight points in his last seven games, including four in the last two without Panarin. Then there is reigning Norris winner Adam Fox who is tied with Victor Hedman in points for a defenseman with 35. Fox averages 24:39 on ice per game. Jacob Trouba who the Rangers acquired from the Jets prior to the 19-20 season and signed a seven year 56 million dollar contract has played his best hockey as a Ranger posting six goals and fifteen points. But Trouba’s physical play is what sets him apart from most of the other Rangers defensemen. Then there is goaltender Igor Shesterkin who the Rangers gave a four year 22 million dollar contract in the offseason has a 15-4-2 record with a 2.09 goals against average and a .936 save percentage and two shutouts. The 2.09 GAA ranks fifth in the NHL and the .936 save percentage is fourth.
How can you talk about the Rangers and not talk about some of the youth on the roster. Alexis Lafreniere and Kappo Kakko each have 11 points on the season, but you can tell they play with more confidence than they had last year. Whether that has to do with the coaching change or the fact that both players got a full training camp but they play with more confidence. Then there is a player like Julien Gauthier who has five points in 25 games but he also is playing with more confidence playing every game since coming in for Blais. But the guy who has probably taken the biggest step forward is K’Andre Miller the second year defenseman has six points in 34 games, but you can see when you watch him that he also has a bit more confidence and is growing into one of the better young defensemen in the NHL.
A lot of credit should go to Jeff Gorton for putting a lot of the pieces on this roster. But combining the coaching change with the acquisitions of some veterans along with the growth of the young players has the New York Rangers in a very good position. What that means for this season I have no idea but it will be fun to watch
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