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) /
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CALGARY, AB – JANUARY 2: Tony DeAngelo #77 of the New York Rangers plays the puck against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on January 2, 2020 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images)
CALGARY, AB – JANUARY 2: Tony DeAngelo #77 of the New York Rangers plays the puck against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on January 2, 2020 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The players’ numbers

Individual statistics this season are much better and that is due to one man, Artemi Panarin. Panarin is on target to have the best season for a Ranger since the heyday of Jaromir Jagr.  We’ve written a lot about his season, let’s just say that it is superlative.

The ripple effect is that Panarin’s excellence and the continued improvement of Mika Zibanejad has improved their teammates.   They are on target to have five players on the team with 20 goals or more. They haven’t had that number since 2015-16.  You have to go back to 2001-02 to find a Ranger team with more than five 20 goals scorers.

As much as the forwards have improved, the story of the year is the offensive contributions from their blueliners.  Last season, the defense scored 32 goals and totaled 149 points.  This season they are projected to score 60 goals and finish with 226 points. 

The majority of the production is coming from the continued resurgence of Anthony DeAngelo and the arrival of Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba.  That trio is responsible for 64% of the defense scoring.

Speaking of Fox, the two top Rangers rookies are having solid seasons. Adam Fox is seventh in rookie scoring and Kaapo Kakko is tenth.   Fox trails only Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes among rookie defensemen in scoring.  Fox and Kakko are tied for fourth among rookies scoring on the power play.  The expectations were so high for Kakko that some are disappointed with his numbers, but if he finishes with 14 goals it will be the most since Jimmy Vesey had 16 in his rookie season and 32 points would be the most for a rookie since Kevin Hayes had 45 in 2014-15.

Other players worth noting include Ryan Strome and Filip Chytil, both of whom are having career seasons.  Rookie defensemen Ryan Lindgren and Libor Hajek have been impressive in all situations.

Chris Kreider is headed to the exact same 52 point total as last season while Brett Howden has regressed.  Pavel Buchnevich‘s goal scoring is off, but he is headed to a career high point total.

As for the goaltenders, Henrik Lundqvist started 22 of the first 41 games this season. If he starts 44 games over the full campaign, it will be the fewest number of games started in his career in a full 82 game season.  His statistics are almost identical to last season.

With 19 starts, Alexandar Georgiev will surpass his career high while his goals against average and save percentage are a little worse than last year.  Everyone in Rangerland is waiting for the arrival of Igor Shesterkin who is the best goalie in the AHL.

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