Blue Line Station
Fansided

Halfway into the Rangers’ season, the real story

By Steve Paulus

CALGARY, AB - JANUARY 02: New York Rangers Center Mika Zibanejad (93) warms up before an NHL game where the Calgary Flames hosted the New York Rangers on January 2, 2020, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CALGARY, AB - JANUARY 02: New York Rangers Center Mika Zibanejad (93) warms up before an NHL game where the Calgary Flames hosted the New York Rangers on January 2, 2020, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 3
Next
CALGARY, AB – JANUARY 02: New York Rangers Left Wing Artemi Panarin (10) warms up before an NHL game where the Calgary Flames hosted the New York Rangers on January 2, 2020, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CALGARY, AB – JANUARY 02: New York Rangers Left Wing Artemi Panarin (10) warms up before an NHL game where the Calgary Flames hosted the New York Rangers on January 2, 2020, at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB. (Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The New York Rangers have reached the halfway point of the 2019-20 season.  How are they really doing?

When the New York Rangers signed Artemi Panarin, traded for Jacob Trouba and drafted Kaapo Kakko, there was an assumption that the rebuild was over.  Some prognosticators had the team contending for a playoff spot, but most had them falling just short.  While the team is better, make no mistake about it, this is a rebuilding year.

It’s worth projecting the numbers for the first half of the season into a full 82 game schedule to see how this team compares to prior years.  It does discount any improvement in the back half of this season, but it’s a useful exercise.

The team numbers

The Rangers are winning more games than they did last year.  They are target for 38 wins on the season and 84 points.  Last season that had only 32 wins and finished with 78 points. They are a better road team, projected to win 18 games when they only won 14 last season.

Offensively, the Rangers have become a powerhouse (though at the expense of defense).  They are averaging 3.24 goals per game, a full half a goal per game better than last season’s 2.70.   Last season their goal differential was a ghastly  minus 46.  They are on track to be minus six.

Interestingly, despite the new firepower their power play is exactly the same, successful 19.4% of the time, the same percentage as last season.  What’s different is that they are scoring more power play goals, on track to score 54 compared to 44 last year.  They are drawing more penalties and are on a pace to draw over 50 more penalties this season.

More from Editorials

Their defense is virtually the same, averaging 3.32 goals against per game compared to 3.26 last season.  They are allowing slightly more shots per game.  Last season they averaged 33.8 shots against per game.  This season it is 34.7 shots against, second worst in the NHL.

They have been outshot in 29 of their 41 games.  That projects to 58 games, two more than last season. You have to go back to 2016-17 to find the last time the Rangers outshot the opposition in half of their games.

The Rangers are 23rd in penalty killing in the NHL, but that is due to two bad games. Take them out of the equation and the Rangers would be eighth overall.  Last season they were 27th overall.

The Blueshirts have an outside shot at the team record for shorthanded goals.  They already have eight this season.  The 1993-94 team scored 20 shorthanded goals.  The last time the team had as many as eight was in 2014-15 when they finished with nine.

For the second year in a row, the Blueshirts are leading the league in penalty minutes though they are on track to accumulate 988 minutes compared to 854 minutes last year.  Since David Quinn took over as coach, their penalty minutes have risen from 593 minutes in 2016-17 to this season’s projected 988.   Blame it on youth and a lack of discipline.

Faceoffs are a real problem.  They are winning only 46.2% of their draws,  That would be their lowest winning percentage in since the 2004-05 lockout.  Even worse, they are winning only 43.9% of their defensive zone draws.  Only the Buffalo Sabres are worse.

When it comes to advanced stats, the Rangers don’t look good. It’s mostly the product of their “pass happy” philosophy, but it is still the worst for the team since the NHL started collecting Corsi stats in 2009-10.   Their Corsi percentage  this season is 45.2% compared to 46.1% last season.  Their best season was 2013-14 at 52.4%.

As for injuries, the Rangers have been pretty healthy, losing 55 man games to injury.  That’s the eighth fewest in the NHL.  Compare that to the Penguins who have lost over 140 man games to injury this season.

So, the team numbers are good, but not great.  They’ve shown improvement in some areas, but have regressed in other.  How are they doing individually?

Home/Editorials