Three players who can make or break the New York Rangers season
The New York Rangers might have lost in the first round to the New Jersey Devils this past season, but it is time for a new year and a new look roster in New York.
The Rangers are looking to make the playoffs for the third year in a row this upcoming season. While exiting in the first round might not provide as much confidence as a conference final exit in 2022, there are still a lot of reasons to be hopeful entering the 2023-24 season.
New York will have a new head coach this upcoming season. Peter Laviolette was hired this past offseason to replace Gerard Gallant after just two seasons in New York. Personally I am a big fan of Gallant, but Laviolette is also a great coach.
He a veteran coach who has taken three different teams to the Stanley Cup Final and has even won a cup. While his last coaching stint in Washington might not have been that great, Laviolette is someone who could elevate the Rangers this season and help get the players producing on a higher level all season long.
The Rangers will look a little different when October comes around in a little over a month. But at the end of the day success in New York could be determined by a few make or break players.
Three players who can make or break the New York Rangers season
In this group we have three players in drastically different positions in their career. We have a franchise altering goaltender, a star winger and a young first overall pick still trying to find his game.
1. Igor Shesterkin
Igor Shesterkin is a former Vezina Trophy winner and Hart Trophy finalist. In 2021-22 he helped lead the Rangers into the playoffs and even backstopped the team to a Conference Final run, but this past season he just was not as great.
In 2021-22 Shesterkin put up a .935 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.07, those were some impressive numbers from the young goalie as the Rangers went 36-13-4 when he was in the net.
This past season his numbers were still good, a .916 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.48, but the Rangers need him to be a difference maker night in and night out.
Success for the Rangers does hinge on Igor Shesterkin, but at the same time that is tough to say because he really has been one of their best players the past few seasons. The Rangers were fourth in the league last season giving up just 219 goals against, in large part that is thanks to the great play of Igor Shesterkin, now he has to have a great performance like that again.
2. Artemi Panarin
Artemi Panarin has one of the most expensive contracts in the entire NHL, yet he did not score a goal this past postseason. In the Rangers first round series against the New Jersey Devils, Artemi Panarin put up 15 shots on goal and only managed to register two assists.
It was actually Chris Kreider who put up a team leading six goals in the postseason, in a close series that went to seven games you can’t help but wonder how big of a difference a few goals from Panarin could have made.
Getting things done in the playoffs has been an issue for Panarin going back to his first few seasons in the NHL. Going back to 2016-17, Panarin, then a member of the Blackhawks, was swept at the hands of the Nashville Predators, Panarin registered just one assist despite putting up 74 points that season.
Flash forward to the present and the Rangers are having a similar issue with their star forward. In fact even during the Rangers electric Conference Final round, Panarin was not leading the charge. He was tied for third in 2021-22 amongst postseason points. Both Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox had more points than Panarin and he was tied with Chris Kreider.
The Rangers are paying Artemi Panarin a lot of money to be the face of this franchise. He is the highest paid player on this team for a reason, yet when it finally comes down to it Panarin has not been able to lead the team when it matters most, in the playoffs.
3. Alexis Lafrenière
Alexis Lafrenière was once a lock to be a star player in the NHL, now signing him to a second contract has become a gamble for the Rangers. Lafrenière was drafted first overall in 2020 by the Rangers and since then he has played in 216 NHL games putting up 47 goals and 91 points over the course of the three seasons.
Lafrenière has barely been able to crack the top six in that time and has basically become a third liner up to this point in his career, while that might seem like a good trajectory for an NHLer, for someone drafted first overall that is not a success.
This past season Lafrenière was ninth on the Rangers in points and seventh in goals, this upcoming season he needs to be more productive offensively. Lafrenière needs to be the top six player the Rangers expected when they drafted him, or at the very least a third liner that can provide a heck of a lot of depth scoring.
Lafrenière should be benefitting by playing in the bottom six the past few years. That means the opponents top defensemen are giving him better matchups as they try to defend the team’s top stars, yet he only managed to put up 16 goals this past season.
Hopefully this upcoming season will be a breakout year for Alexis Lafrenière. While there are a lot of bigger stars on this team, the season really does hinge on him finding his game, because if he can’t that will be one heck of a wasted asset for the team.