The Rangers enter the season facing the kind of great expectations that haven’t loomed over the franchise in years.
That will be an obstacle in itself, but one that can be overcome with a strong team mentality, which was a trait the Rangers showed no shortness of during their second-place finish in the Metropolitan Division and run to the Eastern Conference finals last season. The challenge now will be to carry it over under much different circumstances than the underdog-team narrative that once surrounded them.
So much went right for the Blueshirts in 2021-22, in terms of injuries and Igor Shesterkin putting together a historic campaign that culminated in a Vezina Trophy as the top goaltender in the NHL. That is not guaranteed to happen again — no matter how promising Shesterkin’s play is — so the Rangers are going to have to take strides as a team and likely overcome some adversity if they want to have the same success.
Longtime No. 2 center Ryan Strome and the four March trade-deadline acquisitions (Andrew Copp, Frank Vatrano, Tyler Motte, Justin Braun) are no longer in the picture. As a result, a lot of responsibility will fall on the Rangers’ young core of players, who should be ready for it now that they’re all a year older and a playoff run wiser. At least, that’s the belief, and it’ll be up to them to see it through.
The Rangers are hurling toward a cap crunch, and that’s what makes this presumed championship window all the more important to capitalize on. With so much money committed to their top-six staples in Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and offseason addition Vincent Trocheck, as well as their top two defensemen in Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba, the recently named captain, the Rangers have their core set for the foreseeable future.
But competing in a stacked Metro Division under high expectations is no small feat for any NHL team. It’ll come down to team belief, the anticipated progress of the youngsters and, let’s be real, an encore from Shesterkin, if the Rangers want to build on last season and earn the right to compete for the Stanley Cup.
Offense
You can’t talk about the Rangers’ offense last season without mentioning how Kreider scored 52 goals, which blew his previous career high of 28 out of the water and was the third most in the NHL behind only the Leafs’ Auston Matthews and the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl. To declare it as a fluke would be unfair, especially since anybody watching the Rangers last season could see how freely he played under head coach Gerard Gallant. There is no reason why Kreider shouldn’t be able to have the same offensive impact this season, and he’ll have to if the Rangers hope to keep up with the other high-scoring teams in the East.
There is still a question mark hovering over the right-wing spot on the top line with Kreider and Zibanejad, whose 81 points last season was good for second on the team behind Panarin’s 96 points. It appears Zibanejad and Kreider will have to make it work with whoever ends up in that spot, just like Panarin will have to figure it out with Trocheck and whoever completes their unit.
Whether or not the Kid Line of Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko will get a shot together is unclear, but their offensive impact in the playoffs was crucial. Their five-on-five play was some of the Rangers’ best, which is an area in which the team as a whole needs to significantly improve.
Defense
The Rangers have some invaluable continuity with their top four defensemen and, as a result, their defense has been pretty sound. Fox finished last season with 74…
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