Three reasons the Rangers will be taking a big step forward this season
The New York Rangers are poised to be one of the top teams in the league next season, a team that not only continues to play elite hockey but also takes another step forward in 2022-23.
The Rangers finished this past season with a record of 52-24-6. They were the second-best team in the Metropolitan Division and they went on a run to the Eastern Conference Final where they lost to the then two-time defending cup champs.
The Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games, they beat the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games, and they took the Lightning to six games. While their season ended without the Stanley Cup, this is about as successful of a run that you can get out of a team just turning the corner to contention.
This was the Rangers’ first year in the playoffs since rebuilding. Their first trip to the postseason with their current stars and boy was it fun to watch.
The Rangers were led by Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider on their top line. Those players were and are the driving force of this team. Behind them, the team also had players like Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Strome to help bump up the top six, and after that, it was the kids’ line making the Rangers one of the most fun teams to watch in hockey.
This was a fun team to watch in 2021-22. They were a young team trying to prove themselves for that first push to the playoffs, now the narrative is different and this roster is poised to take a bigger step forward in 2023. Let’s go over three reasons this is the New York Rangers’ year to improve.
The New York Rangers have their star goalie, Igor Shesterkin.
Igor Shesterkin is still the goalie in net for the New York Rangers. The last time I checked, that is all that really matters for this team. Shesterkin put up MVP-caliber numbers in 2021-22 and was rewarded with the Vezina Trophy. I personally think it shouldn’t have stopped with just the Vezina for Shesterkin.
He had a remarkable season putting up 36 wins and putting up a .935 save percentage having played in 53 games. He had six shutouts and put up some pretty remarkable numbers in the playoffs as well after he got through the Penguins who caused some issues.
Shesterkin is still the guy that will back-stop this team to victory. Their backup, Jaroslav Halak is a fine backup despite being 37 and is someone the team can count on to win a few games and give Shesterkin a rest.
This team is electric in the offensive zone when they know they can take chances that their netminder will bail them out on if the play goes the other way, and more of that in 2022-23 will ensure this team takes a big step forward.
The future top line is going to find an entirely new level in 2022-23.
The 2022 playoffs were fun to watch for many reasons, one of which has to be the kid line in New York. Filip Chytil, Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko made up the kids line this past season. They were the quote-on-quote third line for this team after Zibanejad and Ryan Strome and now in 2022-23, they will start to take that next step forward into the top six at times.
I doubt the three will stick together as one line for the entire season, but without a doubt, this was a great move by Girard Gallant to let the three young guns all play together. Kakko and Lafreniere were only 20 this past season and Chytil was only 22.
Those three players are the future of this team as they have the potential to be elite stars all being former first-round picks including Lafreniere who was drafted first overall. If they all take even just a small step forward this team will be better because of it.
Whether it be their confidence improving after a trip to the Conference Final, or their ability to just play taking a leap forward, this 2022-23 season is going to be fun to watch for the three of them.
Some big offseason additions lead the charge in New York.
Lastly, the big addition of the offseason has to be the signing of Vincent Trocheck to a seven-year deal. Trocheck really is here to be the replacement for Ryan Strome who did not re-sign with the Rangers this past offseason.
He is coming over from the Hurricanes, a team that the Rangers met in the playoffs. Trocheck is going to be a good fit to be that second-line center this team needs as he is good in the faceoff dot winning 54.6 percent of his faceoffs this past season and he is even someone who will throw his body around not afraid of laying out some hits.
Trocheck has the assets to be a great playoff player as his skill is fit for playoff hockey. He led the Hurricanes with six goals last postseason. He also has experience with the Rangers’ current coach Gerard Gallant as the two spent time together in Florida from 2014 to 2017.
More. One contract the Edmonton Oilers have to be regretting. light
Outside of the Trocheck signing the team also added Louis Domingue and Jaroslav Halak to their goaltending depth. They also signed Ryan Carpenter in a move that gives the team a good fourth-line center with experience in the playoffs in the past with teams like the San Jose Sharks and the Vegas Golden Knights.
The 2022-23 season is going to be a fun one, and I definitely think it is going to be a season filled with many good memories for New York Rangers fans as their team pushes for the playoffs again!