New York Rangers: Are any players viable for fantasy hockey?

The New York Rangers figure to be amongst the league’s worst teams for the 2018-2019 season. Although the team’s record may be poor, the Rangers will feature a handful of interesting players for fantasy hockey.

In the heart of the hype for the buildup to fantasy football season, it’s time to fast forward an extra month ahead. Most fantasy hockey leagues won’t draft until mid September at the earliest, but it is never too early to start preparation. As a team that figures to create a ton of chances and give up just as many, the New York Rangers figure to be a team filled with potential bargain bin players for fantasy.

In the realm of fantasy sports, the goal is always targeting the lowest floor of a potential draft pick. Meaning that whatever a player’s worst case scenario for an entire season needs to be salvageable if a pick is used on them. So, for example, if Mika Zibanejad plays an entire season but for whatever reason doesn’t play up to his ability, he will likely scrape out 40 points. This is an extremely low level of production for a fantasy draft pick, and would likely force Zibanejad to the waiver wire as better players would be available on the waiver wire.

A unique feature of bad teams is their ability to produce quality fantasy players. Typically on the very bad teams, a big fish rises to the top of the small pond to produce at a high level at the expense of those around them. The New York Rangers are in a weird spot where their forwards will be decent but the defense will be a problem.

The Rangers always produce a handful of viable fantasy players to fill out the end of a roster or occupy bench spots. There are no Rangers worth a high round draft pick, but there are certainly candidates for roster spots.

Number five Chris Kreider

In the realm of fantasy hockey, pure goal scorers occupy a unique space. Players that are more balanced in their offensive production are typically more productive over the course of an entire hockey season. Pure goal scorers have cold stretches in which their shooting percentages regress to the mean and have weeks long cold spells. However, the risk is sometimes worth it as goals are worth more than assists in conventional leagues.

There is no Ranger that is more hot or cold than forward Chris Kreider. Over the course of his entire career, the Boston native has shown stretches of an elite power forward with game breaking speed. Kreider has also made a bad habit of disappearing for weeks at a time and failing to use his speed to create space.

For years there has been the hope that this upcoming season would finally be the one in which Kreider crosses over into the realm of elite forward. The Rangers have been starved for a game breaking talent for more than ten years and Kreider has the raw skills to be one. However, the forward for whatever reason has failed to cross the 30 goal threshold.

In terms of fantasy, a 25 goal scorer is worth a roster spot on most teams. If Kreider manages to set a career best in goals with more than 28, he could very well be a late round steal. Don’t go reaching for the forward in your draft, in all likelihood he may go un-drafted.

Number four: Kevin Hayes

If you’re a strong believer in a coaching change helping a player’s production, Kevin Hayes is your guy this upcoming fantasy season. In spite of Alain Vigneault’s every effort to torpedo Hayes’ offensive production, the forward managed to set a career high in goals playing the toughest minutes of his NHL career. There is a very real argument that Hayes was miscast as a defensive zone starting center and his true role is as a play maker.

As a rookie, Hayes led the entire league in primary assists with the right situation around him. Now, with a coach who recognizes how good of a two way player Hayes is in David Quinn, the recipe for a career season is there. In addition to having a new coach, the Boston native is playing for a new contract or auditioning himself for a trade.

Hopefully, like any coach should, Quinn prioritizes putting his players in a position to succeed over protecting his own job like Vigneault. An important part of Hayes’ fantasy value will be how he starts the season. There is a serious case that Hayes is the best trade chip at the center position that could be available. If he gets off to a hot start, Hayes could be dealt to a contender and further up his production.

Expecting Hayes to reproduce his goal scoring of a year ago is probably a fool’s errand, however, his overall offensive production stands to improve. Shooting for 50 points and 20ish goals out of Hayes is a realistic expectation for the forward going into his fifth season as a pro. Hayes is another fringe player that could potentially go undrafted and serve as a waiver wire flyer in a shallow league. In a deeper league, Hayes might be a solid bench guy that gets the right spot start.

Number three: Mats Zuccarello

As far as fantasy sports go, there is no trait more important in a player than consistency. Playing at least 65 games and having a bankable track record is a recipe for a dependable fantasy choice. The New York Ranger’s most dependable fantasy player over the past several seasons is forward Mats Zuccarello.

The Norwegian has managed to carve out a niche for himself in New York’s top six and produce at a high level. The forward has led the Rangers in points four of the five full seasons he’s played with the team. This past season he registered 53 points in 80 games which is nicely within his career average of 56.2 points and 79.2 games per season. Although Zuccarello is not the flashiest player, he is amongst the most reliable.

Zuccarello typically gets drafted in most leagues and is worth a late round pick. It should be noted that the forward produces nearly all of his offense at even strength which is an indicator of overall talent. If a player is dependent on power play time to generate points, they are liable to go dry if taken off of the man advantage. If Zuccarello were to sneak his way onto a power play unit, he could sneak into the 60s for points.

Number two: Kevin Shattenkirk

Moving into the players that will be drafted this upcoming season, the defensive position is important to capitalize on. There is the biggest disparity in production at the position between high end and low end players on the blue line. There are the defenseman that although they are effective they do not produce points like Jaacob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Coming off an injury marred season, Kevin Shattenkirk is looking to make an impact with the Rangers. The New Rochelle native produced at a high level for the first month of the season. In the Ranger’s first 18 games, the defenseman posted 17 points. Nine of Shattenkirk’s points came on the power play which should have served as a cautionary tale. A power play unit can only run perfectly for so long.

In terms of fantasy production, Shattenkirk always ranks amongst the best for his offense. Shattenkirk only ranks below elite defenseman like Brent Burns, P.K. Subban and Erik Karlsson for fantasy. As long as the defenseman can stay healthy he is a lock for at least 40 points this upcoming season. If Shattenkirk takes a role on the top defensive pair and quarterbacks the Ranger power play, he could probably flirt with 50 points.

This level of production would be a solid building block for any fantasy team. Shattenkrik figures to improve under a coach that values his type of play instead of blaming him for his poor play knowing that he was injured.