NY Rangers: Kevin Shattenkirk makes New York Stanley Cup contenders
The New York Rangers acquired their top free agent target by signing defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. He should make the NY Rangers an immediate Stanley Cup contender.
For several years now, the New York Rangers blue line has needed a makeover. Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, the leaders of the NY Rangers blue line under former head coach John Tortorella, became obsolete in Alain Vigneault’s system. Those two are best utilized in a system that focuses on shot blocking and positioning. On July 1, the Rangers made a huge splash by signing free agent defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk.
In many ways, the Rangers and Shattenkirk are perfect for each other. New York needed an elite puck mover to join Ryan McDonagh and Brady Skjei. Meanwhile, Shattenkirk wanted to play for his hometown team. He left money and years on the table, reportedly, to play for the Rangers. The NY Rangers should be a serious Stanley Cup contender with their new look blue line and Shattenkirk leading it.
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Let’s compare their blue line from last year to the free agent acquisition. CF percentage refers to CorsiFor percentage, which measures shot attempts that go in a team’s favor when an individual is on the ice. SCF percentage stands for scoring chances for percentage. It tells you the percentage of on-ice scoring chances that go in a team’s favor when an individual is on the ice. HDSCF percentage stands for high danger scoring chances for percentage. It does the same, except with high danger chances. If this sounds confusing, you can read up on it here.
Red players are departures. Girardi has been bought out and Kevin Klein is considering retirement. Blue players are additions. Brendan Smith and Shattenkirk are the additions. Anthony DeAngelo has a good shot of making the roster, but hasn’t played enough meaningful minutes to make a fair assessment. He wasn’t a possession anchor in 547 minutes with the Arizona Coyotes, so that’s promising.
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As you can see, Shattenkirk is immediately the Rangers best possession defenseman by a mile. But let’s provide some context. Ryan McDonagh’s numbers look terrible, but he was much better away from Dan Girardi. If he’s with Shattenkirk, his possession numbers will see a dramatic rise. Signing Shattenkirk makes every pairing better. Vigneault can put Smith, who has experience playing on his off-side, with promising puck mover Brady Skjei.
Nick Holden and Staal would be an expensive third pairing, but it would also be an effective one if they face lesser competition. The former can move the puck while the latter, though slowing, is still an effective penalty killer. DeAngelo would be an intriguing addition to the lineup, but he has proven he has trouble staying in it, mostly because of behavior issues.
It would be negligent to talk about Shattenkirk’s value on the power play. Over the past three seasons, no defenseman has been more prolific on the power play than him. The Rangers have long needed a point man on the man advantage, and Shattenkirk’s the most impactful option they could have added.
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Shattenkirk turns the Rangers blue line from mediocre to great. And he’ll do it at a very reasonable price. The Rangers still have to find a replacement for Derek Stepan, but signing Shattenkirk is a huge step in the right direction for their Stanley Cup chances.