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The Rangers are off to a magnificent start this year, and the feel is different from last season. At the risk of beating this drum again, the Rangers were heavily reliant on goaltending during their run last year. This season they are steamrolling opponents through sheer domination of scoring chances. It’s a full four lines that are able to press on the opposition.
In terms of scoring, the Rangers are getting contributions up and down the lineup. As of the writing of this post (before the Vancouver game last night), the Rangers have ten skaters (Miller, Hayes, Grabner, Nash, Stepan, Zibanejad, Kreider, Vesey, McDonagh, Zuccarello) with at least ten points, another two (Skjei, Pirri) with nine points, and another two (Buchnevich, Fast) with eight points.
Putting that into perspective, their entire top-nine has ten points in 16 games. There are 101 players in the NHL with 10 points at the moment, and the Rangers have 10% of them. The next three forwards have at least eight points. Two defensemen have at least nine points.
All this comes with two of their top nine missing a decent chunk of time thus far with upper body injuries. It’s a true testament to the depth that Jeff Gorton built in the offseason, rebuilding the forwards to a speed team that the opposition simply can’t catch.
Not everything is perfect. The team is not perfect, but this is pretty close to best case scenario for the Rangers through 16 games. The coaching staff adjusted. The forwards appear to be electric. The defense is holding its own. Time will tell if this is sustainable, but right now the team is definitely fun to watch.
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