Rangers Recap: It’s not what you want

Last night felt more like a random beer league hockey game than an NHL game. Dueling hat tricks by Taylor Raddysh and Macklin Celebrini, horrendous defense on both teams, bad games from both goalies, and high-scoring, it was like both teams just went out there without a plan. If you were a fan in attendance, I suppose you got your money’s worth, even if the Rangers handed you another frustrating loss.

It’s only game 9, but it’s starting to feel like the best iteration of the current team is just not good enough to consistently compete. Surrendering the Sharks first win of the season in overtime just like in October of 2022 is not a thing that should be made a habit. The Rangers really disrespected their opponent and thought it was going to be a breeze, and they had nothing but an early 2-0 hole to show for it. Simply put, it’s not what you want.

The offense finally figured out how to score on home ice, but this time the defense and goaltending failed them. It is now October 23rd and the Rangers haven’t won on home ice yet this season. With a severely pedestrian 3-4-2 record, it’s hard to tell when the team will turn a corner. They had immaculate goaltending in the first few games and still lost, and now the goals are coming, but they’re sacrificing team defense to do it.

The Rangers cheated for offense, but vacated the front of the net to get that offense. Igor Shesterkin was under siege with high danger chances all game, something he was likely hoping was a thing of the past. We knew there would be a rough adjustment period, but we also thought the Rangers would still be able to take care of bad teams early on. Clearly, we were mistaken.

Adjusting to a new system is painful, but it’s hard to ignore that the roster simply isn’t that good right now. The Rangers traded away offense in the offseason for pennies on the dollar without any replacements. The defense was assembled to play a very conservative play style with little puck moving ability. So what exactly was the plan this year? Are the Rangers punting a year and hoping for lottery luck? Does Drury really believe this roster, as currently assembled, could be a playoff team?

Or were the Rangers banking on more kids breaking camp with the Rangers, and it simply didn’t happen? So many questions, and right now through 9 games, you probably won’t get an answer anytime soon. Elliotte Friedman’s November 1st statistic is upcoming, and with the Rangers 6th in the Metro division at the time of this recap. It may take a miracle run at this point to really start accruing wins and points.

It’s hard to ignore Celebrini’s game when looking at the Rangers first overall pick on the other side. Starting the first year of a 7 year deal, Alexis Lafreniere has looked completely lost. He’s not the only one (see: Cuylle, Will), but he’s the one with the focus given the contract and his draft status.

On one hand, you could look at this like the Oilers had to get Nail Yakupov before they got Connor McDavid, but on the other hand there’s zero reason why Lafreniere shouldn’t be at least contributing consistently playing with Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad. Zibanejad has arguably been the most complete forward on the team since the season started, and Panarin is Panarin, even with a slow start.

It’s only nine games, but this team feels like they are more likely to tank for Gavin McKenna than they are a playoff team. Inconsistency was expected, but we didn’t expect the Rangers to mail it in against a what should have been an inferior opponent. Perhaps this locker room needs to learn they are no longer more skilled than most teams in the NHL, and they will need to put in the work if they want to succeed.