It’s been just seven games, but there are some interesting Rangers stats to watch for as the season continues. Much discussion has been had about the Rangers’ possession stats, expected goals stats, and other stats. But there are other things to look at. No one stat tells the entire story –and anyone telling you otherwise is fooling themselves– through seven games. But a combination of stats, combined with what we know about their possession numbers, paints a picture.
45.7%
45.7% is the Rangers faceoff win percentage this season. That is good for 30th, ahead of just Arizona, which doesn’t count this year, and Vegas. To say that faceoffs are a problem for the Rangers would be both an understatement and an exaggeration at the same time.
It’s an understatement because situational faceoffs matter, especially on the powerplay and they key late defensive zone draws. No one will say the singular faceoff doesn’t matter. As a whole, though, faceoffs are generally overstated in the macro. The reason why you want a higher FO% is so that you have a higher success rate on those singular faceoffs that matter.
64.3%, 3, and 4
The Rangers have collected 64.3% of all points available to them thus far this season. They have three regulation wins and four ROW wins. They have not needed the shootout to get a win. While this doesn’t necessarily mean much in October, banking points now does matter. The Rangers are expected to be inconsistent under a new regime well into November. They can’t make the playoffs in October, but they sure can miss them. As of now, they are ensuring they stay relevant while they figure stuff out.
2
Two games with the full lineup. They went 0-1-1 in those two games. They went 4-1-0 in the other five.
0%, 4.8%, 8.3%
The shooting percentages for Ryan Strome, Mika Zibanejad, and Artemiy Panarin, respectively. You can excuse Strome for being goalless, since he missed four games. Zibanejad and Panarin are shooting at less than half of their career percentages. While Panarin’s struggles are powerplay related, expect both of these numbers to shoot up when they get rolling.
28.49
The Rangers average 28.49 hits/60 minutes (4th), and 202 total hits (2nd). Grittier? Sure. But remember the more you hit, the less you have the puck.
-26
Net takeaways vs giveaways. The Rangers have 76 giveaways and 50 takeaways. Their 10.72 giveaways/60 is 10th worst in the league.
Interesting Rangers stats – but what does it mean?
We do focus on some of the more meaningful stats, like possession numbers, but these are some interesting Rangers stats that paint a picture of their offseason strategy. The Rangers certainly are more careless with the puck, while also delivering more hits. This has had a bit of an unexpected impact on star shooting ability. However that should work itself out over time.
The biggest concern, at least to me, is the hits/60. It seems the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction when it comes to focusing on hits versus offense. A team with more hits has the puck less, which checks out with the possession numbers. That said, the Rangers don’t appear to be taking themselves out of position when delivering hits, which is often a key detractor in hit effectiveness. Playing physically is great, and not taking themselves out of position is also great. However they do need to control the puck more and get more sustained offense.
Perhaps the biggest issue right now is the number two: Two games with the full lineup. We don’t know what the Rangers are yet because we haven’t seen the real Rangers. Adjustments aside, it’s tough to get a read on a team when they aren’t healthy. Interesting Rangers stats might be something we revisit from time to time, to see how this team is trending.
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