Despite not changing up the lines at even strength for now, Gerard Gallant debuted some new NY Rangers powerplay units today. Notably, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider were moved to PP2 in favor of more balance across the powerplay.
New power play units. Looks like GG is looking for more balance.
PP1- Fox, Panarin, Trocheck, Kane and Laf
PP2 – Trouba, Zib, Chytil, Tarasenko and Kreider#NYR
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) March 7, 2023
This is only the first example of the patience required throughout this process as the Rangers figure things out. We expected the 5v5 lines to remain the same for now, but we did not necessarily expect PP1 to get blown up.
The good news is that Alexis Lafreniere is finally getting PP1 time. The bad news is that PP1 looks like it doesn’t have a finisher, while PP2 has the two best shots on the team in Zibanejad and Vladimir Tarasenko. Flipping Kane and Tarasenko does the trick, but we will see a lot of leash given to Kane and Panarin before that happens.
Share:
More About:Lineup Changes