New York Rangers: Five players looking to progress this season

The 2016-2017 season was a down year for not only the New York Rangers, but also a down year for several players who were expected to have big seasons.

A second round departure from the NHL playoffs is certainly an undesirable result. The New York Rangers captured a wild card spot as the fourth place team in the Metropolitan division last season.

The Metro was quite a competitive division, with three 50 game winners. That is two more than the rest of the league combined. The Rangers seemed tired losing 7 of their last 10 into the playoffs.

Led by Mats Zuccrello, the Norwegian native posted 59 points, topping the Rangers. Rangers fans expected around 60 points for Zuccarello. Although Zuccarello came close to his expected production totals, a fair share of Rangers did not even scratch the surface of expectation.

Through an injury riddled season, to a sophomore slump, here are five Rangers looking to progress statistically this season.

Kevin Hayes

Coming off somewhat a strange season, Kevin Hayes went from rookie sensation, to slumping sophomore, and ended up last season in a statistic limbo. Statistically Hayes performed only slightly better than his rookie season, but, he averaged nearly 4 minutes less per game in his rookie season.

The defense to Hayes and his stagnant performance, could likely be his line-mates. Hayes spent a very large portion of his season sharing a line with Michael Grabner and J.T. Miller. According to Puckbase.com, the Hayes, Miller, Grabner line took the second most faceoffs of any line combo the Rangers played last season.

Hayes took a damaging blow to his overall center game as his Corsi For % dropped from a 48.9% to a harrowing 43.9%, this can be attributed to the increased competition that Hayes has faced as a consistent second line center.

It looks to be a rebound year for Kevin Hayes, with sites like DailyFaceoff and RosterResource putting the American center with possession driver Mats Zuccarello, and either Rick Nash or Chris Kreider. The increased support on the wings of Hayes will help provide offense and perhaps close up any defensive gaps left in his still young game.

A 60 point year is certainly not out of the question.

Mika Zibanejad

In his inaugural season in New York, Mika Zibanejad did not fail expectation. Had Zibanejad played a full 82 games, he could have produced 54 points. The young Swede is also returning to a team that desperately needs him to take control of the Center role. Left without a center after the Derek Stepan trade, the Rangers look for a #1 center in Zibanejad.

In November of 2016, Zibanejad injured his leg in overtime of a game against the Florida Panthers. This injury only knocked Zibanejad out for 26 games. Unfortunately he was certainly slow getting back into his groove upon returning from the injury.

ZIbanejad spent a majority of his season lined up with Mats Zuccarello and Chris Kreider. That line was together about half of Zibanejads faceoffs this past season. Projected between Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich, Zibanejad looks to have a productive season.  He has improved every season his ice time has increased, and this season should be no different.

I think it is fair to expect 65-70 points for Zibanejad, if he stays healthy.

Brady Skjei

The young American had a breakout rookie season, producing 39 points in 80 games. Skjei, sat as the 8th highest points scorer on the Rangers roster last season. Skjei impressed many with his play in somewhat limited ice time. In only about 18 minutes of ice time per game, Skjei provided a back end reinforcement on a defense that was lackluster.

The opportunity for Skjei this season will only be expanded and against higher level competition this season. Despite that, Skjei demonstrates the ability to increase production with an increase in playing time.

Skjei spent much of his time playing on the 3rd defensive pair. He also played more than the league average with the 6th defenseman, possibly holding him back, as shown by HockeyViz.

This season, it seems likely that Skjei will remain on the 3rd pair, without an absolute lock for his D-Mate, Skjei’s performance will be dependent on who he is paired with for the season.

I can see Skjei producing up to 40-45 points this season, provided his deployment stays where it was last season.

J.T. Miller

Putting up career highs, and being the second highest point scorer on the Rangers, J.T. Miller had a bit of  breakout year.  Each and every season Miller has progressed in production. Finishing the 2015-2016 campaign with 56 points and a career high 16:22 average time on ice. Miller took command of a Rangers team looking for a scorer.

A Rangers team without a prime scorer like Rick Nash, or Marian Gaborik was set to drown without production. A 3rd line Miller filled a production gap left by the missing top quality scorers. Miller, helped keep the Rangers moving offensively with an explosive season. The only player who produced more points was Mats Zuccarello, with 59.

Miller is projected to stay on the 3rd line with David Desharnais and Michael Grabner.  The seperation of the Hayes, Miller, Grabner line may prove difficult for Miller at first, but his production should rebound quickly and it would not be out of the realm for Miller to breakout.

Miller has the ability to hit 65 points this year based on line pairings and time.