The season is two weeks old already. It seems like it just began yesterday. Yet here we are, able to get some data on how the Rangers have looked under new coach David Quinn to start the season. Two weeks is not nearly enough time to accurately tell how the Rangers will look for the rest of the year, but it’s a starting point.

The first thing is the shot rates. We expected the Rangers to fall back a bit offensively, but at the very least do better at limiting shots against. That has not been the case so far, and the Rangers have been downright bad thus far on the shot rate side of things. They allow a ton of shots and don’t generate sustained offense. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, as Henrik Lundqvist has been forced to be marvelous, and, well, the Rangers can’t consistently generate offense.

The next look is at how the Rangers are performing in the net and in the offensive zone. Naturally, the Rangers have one of the higher save percentages to start the year, with Alex Georgiev’s game the one outlier so far. That was expected. What wasn’t expected was the 7% SH%, which is down significantly from last year. The Blueshirts don’t generate many rush chances anymore, which was a source of their high SH% under Alain Vigneault. Regardless, it won’t stay that low for long. If they can up the shot totals, they will eventually positively regress to the mean.

This last one is pace of play, meaning the average number of shot attempts taken by both teams in a game. The Rangers were always near the top of this because many games became track meets, and it looks like very little has changed. Most of this, though, has been a product of shots against, and not shots for.

So what does all this mean?

As of right now, seven games and two weeks into the season, not much. It’s way too early to read into these numbers, especially with a new coach and system in place. The Blueshirts are going to need at least through November until the system becomes habit. At that point, I expect the number of shots against to go down. I also expect that the forwards are too good to be limited to this few shots for in the offensive zone. All this is tied together.

That said, the Rangers are not going to be a good team. They will be competitive, for sure. They have the goaltending to keep them in games. They have a no-quit attitude, which is great. This is a rebuilding year, and the results will be as such.

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