We have at least two months until NHL hockey, possibly longer. That leads to a bit of writer’s block. I did an impromptu –and liquid courage fueled– AMA on Twitter and one question actually gave me a good post idea. how about that? Since the season is up in the air, expectations for the NY Rangers season will be discussed regularly. So who will exceed expectations?
Filip Chytil
Filip Chytil, it looks like, will get a big opportunity as the second line center. Most likely he will be playing with Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko. Chytil, whose underlying numbers suggest he will be fine in the role, has never played with someone like Panarin before.
Chytil is entering his third season in the NHL. What he has going for him is he improved significantly from his first season to his second. Given the underlying numbers and continued improvement, there’s an argument to be made that Chytil could have a breakout season.
If there’s one NY Rangers forward who will exceed expectations, it’s going to be Chytil.
I hope.
Julien Gauthier
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I am very high on this kid. What impresses me is his skating with his size, making him a tough matchup. He’s no Chris Kreider on his skates, but he’s still good enough to not be a liability.
As of now, Gauthier projects to be the 3RW on the team with minimal expectations. An injury might propel Gauthier to a top-six role, where I think he would actually hold his own. The team will miss Jesper Fast, but growth from Gauthier will help the Rangers deal with that loss.
Kaapo Kakko
It’s a little odd to have Kaapo Kakko here, but he is. Kakko had a rough rookie season. He played primarily with Brett Howden while having to adjust to North American hockey. That’s two tall orders for a rookie.
There was a vocal minority that wanted to trade Kakko, which was absurd. Kakko can only get better, and as the penciled in 2RW, he’s primed to play with Panarin and possibly Chytil. Those are two very promising and skilled youngsters playing with a guy who carried Ryan Strome to career numbers. Kakko will take a major leap forward.
Jacob Trouba
Is it easy to say Trouba will be better in his second year with the Rangers, if only because the Rangers have an actual defensive assistant coach this year. While Trouba was not as bad as advertised, the vocal crowd said he was terrible. He was serviceable, but not an $8 million defenseman.
This year will be different. Trouba thrives with defensive minded defensemen, and the Rangers will give him just that. Expectations for Trouba appear to be either third pairing defenseman or elite 1D who carries a pairing. The reality is the middle. He’s a top-four defenseman who will have a great bounce back year.
Libor Hajek/Brett Howden
People are expecting them to be the worst in the league. Anything other than that is exceeding expectations. Yes, I’m cheating here.
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