2022-23 NHL Team Preview: New York Rangers

To see all the Daily Faceoff 2022-23 NHL team previews, click here.

LAST SEASON

A Vezina Trophy-winning season from Igor Shesterkin helped guide the New York Rangers to 110 points and a deep playoff run.

After a regular season that saw him post a 36-13-4 record, a .935 save percentage and a 2.07 GAA, he kept his play up, helping take the Rangers to a Game 6 loss vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final. It marked the deepest run for the Rangers since another trip to the Conference Final in 2014-15 and a great sign of life for an organization that missed the playoffs just a year prior.

A big difference maker was head coach Gerard Gallant, who in his first year was a driving force in the Rangers’ playoff run. While Shesterkin and Gallant undoubtedly played big roles, the Rangers had some key players up front perform at very high levels.

Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad each scored a point per game or more — 22 goals and 96 points for Panarin and 29 goals and 81 points for Zibanejad — while Chris Kreider scored 52 goals. It was the first time Kreider his that mark in his career, and a huge help up front for their offence.

KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES

Additions
Vincent Trocheck, C
Louis Domingue, G
Jaroslav Halak, G
C.J. Smith, LW
Any Welinski, D

Departures
Andrew Copp, C (Det)
Ryan Strome, C (Ana)
Frank Vatrano, RW (Ana)
Alexandar Georgiev, G (Col)
Patrik Nemeth, D (Ari)
Tyler Motte, F (UFA)
Justin Braun, D (Phi)
Kevin Rooney, C (Cgy)
Greg McKegg, C (Edm)
Keith Kinkaid, G (Bos)
Justin Richards, C (NYR)

OFFENSE

As a whole, this group will look more familiar than some may think. Andrew Copp, Frank Vatrano and Tyler Motte were all acquisitions last season and while Ryan Strome will be missed up front, the team has brought in Vincent Trocheck to replace him at the No. 2 center position.

Otherwise, this is a group that largely stays intact. We’re projecting Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko to both step into top-six roles for the Rangers this year, and they’re going to need to take significant steps forward in their development. Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider will all need to keep up their offensive production, too.

Offensively, the Rangers struggled at 5-on-5 last year, scoring just 2.35 goals for per 60 minutes of ice time – a number that ranked them 21st in the league. This is an area they’ll need to improve on in short order, but a lot of their offense last season came in the way of the fourth-ranked power play that operated at a 25.2 percent clip.

Down the lineup, Filip Chytil was a part of a key line for the Rangers last year in the postseason, though it’s possible he’ll have different linemates than Lafreniere and Kakko going forward, and Sammy Blais, who is coming off a torn ACL, will look to contribute in a depth role this year, too.

DEFENSE

Adam Fox’s rise to being one of the best all-around defensemen in the NHL has been a swift one. After a 2020-21 sophomore campaign that saw him win the Norris Trophy as the top defenseman in the league, Fox ran it back last season, scoring career highs in goals (11), assists (63) and points (74). This year marks the first of seven in a massive extension he signed that will pay him an AAV of $9.5 million. He’s a key piece of this Rangers team.

Around him, the Rangers have a mix of some other solid defensemen. Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller have become quite consistent, but the Rangers project to have a young third pair of Zac Jones and Braden Schneider.

With $1 million in cap space according to CapFriendly, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them add a veteran rearguard on a cheap deal before training camp for some organizational depth.

GOALTENDING

Igor Shesterkin. That’s it.

OK, but seriously, he’s really good. Coming off a Vezina season, his emergence to the top of the goaltending ranks has been swift. He played the lion’s share of the Rangers’ games last year with 53 and his top “competition” was Georgiev, who was traded to the Avalanche this offseason. Georgiev posted a 15-10-2 record, a .898 save percentage and a 2.92 GAA.

Jaroslav Halak, who comes in after a 4-7-2 season with the Canucks, might be asked to play a bit more this year as the hyper-athletic Shesterkin is not built for 65-plus games a year. Halak posted an underwhelming .903 save percentage and a 2.94 GAA last season.

COACHING

Gallant oversaw a staggering increase from a .536 to a .671 points percentage last year in his first season behind the Rangers bench. He finished third in the Jack Adams voting last year and he very well could be in that range again, though the underlying numbers last season showed that Shesterkin made the Rangers look better than they actually were. Gallant did activate tons of offense from a guy like Chris Kreider, who scored 0.29 more goals per game than his career average and took 0.85 more shots on goal per game than his career average.

I liked a lot of what the Rangers were able to do last year and they’ll find themselves in the mix once again for top spot in a stacked Metropolitan Division.

ROOKIES

We won’t see much in the way of true rookies for the Rangers next year. The aforementioned Jones and Schneider will be the youngest players. While the former has 22 games under his belt between each of the last two years, Schneider played his rookie season last year scoring two goals and 11 points in 43 games. Vitali Kravtsov is another name to watch. The 2018 Draft’s ninth-overall pick returns to North America to compete for a job in the forward corps after playing in the KHL last season.

BURNING QUESTIONS

1. How far can Igor Shesterkin take the Rangers? As far as he wants to. Much has been talked about the success he had last year in the regular season and the playoffs, and now he’s likely to play in more games than he had in any season, at any level.

2. Will Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko take the needed leaps in improvement? Much has been talked about these two in the Big Apple and neither has hit his potential as first and second overall picks, respectively. Lafreniere took a step forward last year setting career highs in goals (19), assists (12) and points (31) in 79 games played, while Kakko had seven goals and 18 points in 43 games. Both need to realize their untapped potential.

3. How much can Adam Fox play? Fox’s career high for minutes came in his Norris winning 2020-21 campaign at 24:42 per night. He saw a slight decrease down to 23:54 last season. With what looks to be an inexperienced third pair, will the Rangers try and get more minutes out of Fox this season? I don’t think it’s out of the question to see him play 25 minutes a night next season.

PREDICTION

The Blueshirts will get as far as Shesterkin carries them and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see them compete for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final next year. They seem to have the right mix of players, a blend of top-end offensive skill and heavy grit.

_____

POINTSBET IS LIVE IN ONTARIO

Think you know sports? PointsBet Canada is live in Ontario!