As the Rangers continue to be unable to score consistently, or at all at home, fan frustration is starting to boil. The Rangers have all the right numbers, but their shots just aren’t hitting the back of the net. Reasons and excuses are made, some logical and some not. Many rightly point to the Rangers needing more from Artemi Panarin, while many also state the Rangers miss Chris Kreider. This is an interesting debate, as both are true, but who do the Rangers miss more?
Artemi Panarin has been invisible
A lot of digital ink has been spilled on Artemi Panarin’s future with the Rangers, much more than Panarin’s current–and possibly final–season with the Rangers. Panarin didn’t necessarily take a step back in the 2024-2025 season in the traditional sense, he just didn’t put up 120 points for a second year in a row. He “regressed” back to his career norms while the Rangers as a collective whole laid an egg on the full season.
Panarin’s awful start to this season–7 points in 14 games, but also 3 points in 13 games and a 6 game pointless streak–has essentially shut down the entire Rangers offense. Among forwards, Panarin is still second in scoring behind only JT Miller’s 8 points. That sounds great and can be spun to be decent enough, but second on a team that can’t score is like saying you’re the second best QB on the New York Jets.
Without Panarin’s point-per-game production, the rest of the offense suffers. It is not a coincidence that Alexis Lafreniere also can’t score when he’s usually on a line and powerplay unit with Panarin. Laf is not ready to be the focal point of a line yet, thus he needs Panarin to draw attention so he can benefit. When Panarin isn’t doing that, Laf and anyone else playing with Panarin is impacted.
To think Panarin’s struggles aren’t directly tied to the powerplay struggles, other player struggles, and why the overall product looks bad, would be to miss the point. Panarin drives the offense. If he’s not clicking, then his line isn’t clicking and the powerplay isn’t clicking. If he can’t score at 5v5, then the opposition focuses on the guys that are playing better, like JT Miller and Mika Zibanejad.
Panarin’s struggles aren’t the only reason why the Rangers can’t score, but they are certainly a major contributing factor.
No one replaced Chris Kreider’s production
The argument that the Rangers miss Chris Kreider is rooted in two points: Kreider is off to a hot start in Anaheim, and the Rangers never replaced his production. There’s some delicious irony that the two players forced out–Kreider and Jacob Trouba–are flourishing in Anaheim while the Rangers can’t score to save their lives. Trouba notwithstanding, Kreider is the big vacancy that was simply never filled.
When healthy, Kreider was one of the more consistent scorers in the NHL over the previous seven seasons. Even before his 52-goal explosion in 2021-2022, Kreider was a shoo-in for 25 goals over the course of 82 games. He likely wasn’t the 40-goal scorer he was over that three year stretch, but he also wasn’t the player we saw last season that played through vertigo and other injuries and still managed 22 goals in 68 games.
Kreider now has nine goals in nine games with Anaheim and looks like the same player he was before vertigo and a broken hand derailed his entire season. GM and fans alike ran him out of town and never replaced his production or role. It goes beyond just the 25 goals and (low estimate) 40 points. It’s how his net front presence was such an integral part of the Rangers offense and powerplay that they simply haven’t replaced and can’t replicate, even in the aggregate.
The closest player to replicating Kreider’s production is Taylor Raddysh, which is objectively hilarious when you remove the emotions of the Rangers struggles to start the season. Say what you want about getting more production from Lafreniere, Will Cuylle, or other players, the Rangers never truly replaced him.
Lafreniere’s best season was 2023-2024, putting up 28-29-57, which is likely where his career averages at his peak will be. If we use last year (17-28-45) as his low-end production at his peak, then even covering 50% of Kreider’s goals brings him up to a 35 goal pace. Lafreniere has never shown he can do that without powerplay time (as mentioned above, impacted by Panarin).
Cuylle broke out last year with a 20-25-45 line in 82 games. Adding 50% of Kreider’s production puts him at a 35-goal pace as well. Is that a fair projection for Cuylle with just one season under his belt? Playing primarily with JT Miller and Mika Zibanejad, Cuylle has also struggled to start the season.
Are Lafreniere and Cuylle capable of 35 goal seasons? Maybe, but the jury is still out.
And this just talks about quantifiable numbers like goals and points. We didn’t even get into moving the best net front presence in the NHL and a key piece of one of the most lethal powerplays in Rangers history without even thinking about how that role could be replaced. The combination of strength, awareness, and deflections is something this Rangers team doesn’t have.
So who do the Rangers miss more?
The boring answer is the Rangers likely miss both Kreider and Panarin equally. But to understand which one they will eventually miss more, we need to see Panarin figure things out. Ideally he gets going and has a waterfall impact on everything else: Lafreniere, the powerplay, secondary scoring, and everything in between. Until that happens, we won’t know if it’s Kreider or Panarin.
If, for example, Panarin figures it out at 5v5 and the Rangers still can’t score on the powerplay, then the answer is clearly Kreider.
If Panarin never figures it out, perhaps the answer is Panarin since he’s the guy that’s supposed to drive this team.
But you all want an answer: So to me it’s Panarin. The Rangers go as he goes. They can manage a shooting slump from Miller and Zibanejad is Panarin is going. They can take focus off Lafreniere or even get Lafreniere going when Panarin figures it out. The Cuylle-Miller-Zibanejad line would draw some easier defensive assignments once Panarin gets going. Then, and only then, will we see if Laf and Cuylle are able to replace Kreider’s production.
Or perhaps the answer is Vincent Trocheck.
More About: Players