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New York Rangers: Treading water or moving forward?

By Steve Paulus

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 12: The New York Rangers celebrate their 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins after an overtime goal by Kaapo Kakko #24 at Madison Square Garden on November 12, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 12: The New York Rangers celebrate their 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins after an overtime goal by Kaapo Kakko #24 at Madison Square Garden on November 12, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal
Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal /

Centers

When it comes to forwards, we should look at wingers and centers separately.  Every great team has featured strength up the middle and in 2018 that is the first area that needed attention especially after the trade of Derek Stepan in the summer of 2017.

Pre-2018 deadline,  the team’s centers were Mika Zibanejad, Kevin Hayes, J.T. Miller and David Desharnais.  Gorton had stolen Zibanejad from the Senators,  but he had yet to establish himself as one of the NHL’s elite.  The trio of Hayes, Miller and Desharnais didn’t strike fear in any opponents and center ice was clearly a weakness.

Today, the centers are Zibanejad, Ryan Strome, Filip Chytil and Brett Howden with Greg McKegg available as a fill-in.   At first glance  the old and the new are pretty similar, but dig deeper and the current Rangers win out.

Zibanejad is now one of the top centers in the NHL, though he has yet to get that recognition. Strome has established himself as a consistent and solid pivot for a season and a half.  He’s close to becoming the player everyone though the would be when he was drafted fifth overall in 2011.  Never mind that his numbers are much, much better than those of Kevin Hayes.

Although J.T. Miller has become an elite forward for the Vancouver Canucks, there was no guarantee that he would get there in New York (he didn’t in Tampa) and this season, at 20, Chytil has become a true third line center.  The jury is out on Brett Howden, but there is no one in the hockey world who would  trade him for Desharnais.

There is reason to expect that this group of centers can remain intact for many years to come.  If they can re-sign Strome after this season, they will be set.  Lias Andersson was a viable option for a third or fourth line role but he  has burned his bridges in New York.  If Howden is not the answer, look for Morgan Barron of Cornell to turn pro after this college year and he could be ready to step in as early as next year or by 2021-22.  Karl Henriksson will not be far behind.

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