We are almost there, people. The season starts so soon. With it comes many expectations, anxieties, and most of all, hope for a run. This team can go on a run once the system is learned. Before breaking down games though, we at Blue Seat Blogs had to weigh in on some Rangers 2023-2024 season predictions.
We predicted the following criteria: What place in the metro the team will finish? Who will be the leading scorer? Who are we likely to target in mid-season acquisitions? Where does this team finish in the playoffs? Who on the team will win individual awards? With that, let’s get some responses from our blogging team!
Tyler McGillick
The Rangers will finish 2nd in the metro behind the Devils. I think as a whole, the Devils depth in the regular season and with familiarity with their coach will help them get off to a winning start. The Rangers will ultimately get on a roll and win a lot of games themselves, but it will take some time.
As for who will lead the team in scoring, I definitely see a dominant Artemi Panarin return-to-form season on the horizon. At the time of this post, he is slated to skate on a line with Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafrenière opposite his wing. We know Chytil is a shooter by trade, Panarin will have a great compliment to his playmaking style game.
Panarin of course will also still be on that lethal power play looking to find Zibanejad for the one-timer, or take a shot himself. I see Panarin cracking 100 points this year. Now can his game translate into the playoffs this time? We shall see…
The way the team is currently constructed, I do not foresee them making any big splashes into the trade market unless some catastrophic injury occurs. I think the team will likely seek bottom six depth more than anything for low cost to beef up the bottom of the lineup in the event of a long playoff run. I could see this team going after like a Corey Perry, or an Oskar Sundqvist type bottom six player.
The Rangers are not going to have a lot of cap space at the deadline, so the players they acquire would have to be very cheap and most likely on expiring deals. I think in reality, their “deadline acquisition” will be calling up some of the kids they sent down to Hartford like Brennan Othmann. Let’s see how the season plays out from here.
Anything less than a trip to the Conference Finals for this team is a failure. They have the depth, they have the goaltending, they have the top six to score, and they have arguably the best all-around defender in the game in Adam Fox. Not to mention, I expect K’Andre Miller to take steps, I expect Lindgren to even give a little more than he already has in his young career, I see Schneider taking a step, and we all know Trouba is the hands down best hitter in the game. He is polarizing, but what he does is so rare nowadays that he’s valuable for it.
Individual awards will be tough to predict for this team because obviously Shesterkin should win the Vezina every year, Adam Fox should win the Norris every year, but there’s a part of me that wonders for this year if Kreider will push for a Rocket Richard win again. What he did in 21-22 was the stuff of legends, and he is going to continue to climb the franchise goal records, might be see a Ranger win the Rocket? Drop the puck already!
Russ Hartman
New York Rangers Metro Division finish – 2nd place – 110
Points Leading scorers – Artemi Panarin – 105 points – Mika Zibanejad – 92 points – Adam Fox – 85 points
Midseason Acquisitions – Anthony Dulcair from the Sharks and Jason Zucker from the Coyotes
Playoff Finish – Stanley Cup Champion – NYR defeat EDM 4-1
Conn Smythe – Artemi Panarin with 31 points in the playoffs
Norris Trophy – Adam Fox
Selke Trophy – Kaapo Kakko
Rob Celletti
Regular season finish / Metro prediction
Last year, I picked the Rangers to finish with 49 wins and 105 points. I overestimated them by two wins but underestimated them by two points, due to the absolute nonsense that is the NHL points system. But I digress.
This year, I see similar wins and points totals: a final record of 48-28-6; 102 points; 3rd in the Metro.
Final metro standings:
NJ
CAR
NYR
PIT
NYI
CBJ
WSH
PHI
Leading scorers
Adam Fox – 16G, 70A, 86P
Mika Zibanejad – 40G, 44A, 84P
Artemi Panarin – 26G, 55A, 81P
Midseason acquisition
The Rangers are projected to have about $3M in salary cap space at the deadline. Last year, Chris Drury executed unprecedented cap gymnastics in order to shoehorn a half-washed Patrick Kane into the squad after having already added Vladimir Tarasenko. The “Video Game” approach didn’t work, especially compared to the prior season’s savvy acquisitions that addressed depth. I’d bank on Drury going that route again. Some interesting names: Kevin Labanc and Daniel Sprong.
Playoff finish
Is this the year? I want to say yes (and I do believe this team is good enough!), but unfortunately, it seems as though there’s just too much quality in the Eastern Conference. It’s a shame, but I’m picking the Rangers to fall in the second round to – big, dramatic sigh – the Devils again, in 7 games.
That said, some positivity: This Ranger team is capable of, and will win a Stanley Cup at some point within the next 2-3 seasons.
Individual award winners
Norris Trophy winner: Adam Fox
Vezina Trophy runner-up: Igor Shesterkin
Johnluke Chaparro
Finish in Metro: second place, 101 pts
Leading scorers: Mika, Fox, Panarin
Midseason acquisitions: Patrick Kane?
Playoff finish: ECF
Individual Award winners: Shesterkin Vezina
Dave Shapiro
Regular season finish / Metro prediction
The expected slow start from the Rangers is going to keep them from winning the division. That’s fine. They will still finish 2nd, ahead of the Devils behind Carolina, matching their 107 points from last season.
Final metro standings:
CAR
NYR
NJ
PIT
CBJ
NYI
WSH
PHI
Leading scorers
Mika Zibanejad – 40-60-100
Artemi Panarin – 30-70-100
Midseason acquisition
Injuries drive all of this, and that’s very tough to predict. With just $3 million in deadline cap space, they won’t be able to do much until deadline day. If the scoring runs dry, I can see them going after Jack Roslovic at 50% retained to shore up the middle six, or someone like him. I didn’t want to steal anyone else mentioned above, so went off the board with Roslovic.
Playoff finish
I believe the Rangers can win the Stanley Cup, and I think they will. So let’s go round by round:
Round 1: Rangers over Devils in 6
Round 2: Rangers over Canes in 6
Round 3: Rangers over Maple Leafs in 7
Stanley Cup Final: Rangers over Stars in 5
Individual award winners
Conn Smythe: Adam Fox
Norris Finalist: Adam Fox
Vezina Finalist: Igor Shesterkin
Hart Finalist: Adam Goat Fox
Share:
More About:Musings