The top offensive players on the New York Rangers have gotten most of the headlines this season, but their bottom six players are vital to their hope for success. How do the Blueshirts compare to their playoff rivals?
Entering the last stretch of this season, the New York Rangers’ most recent bottom six players consisted of players who were mostly new arrivals. Although the Rangers are front-loaded with a lot of talent, the club must ensure all of their lines can contribute to team success as they transition into an era of becoming a postseason contender once again. As we take a look at the other teams trying to crack the playoffs, we will compare the caliber of two teams’ bottom six.
While hockey fans acknowledge the fact that the bottom six forwards are not the ones who lead the team, there is value in looking more closely at this part of the roster, especially during this time. Since the formula for winning a Stanley Cup requires a team to have adequate depth in their scoring, the New York Rangers should ensure that the pieces they have can be upgraded or developed into a group of steady contributors.
Lately, the Rangers’ bottom six were a mix of Filip Chytil, Brett Howden, Kaapo Kakko, Brendan Lemieux, Greg McKegg, and Julien Gauthier. The good news here is that these lines consist of young players. While there is room for improvement, this group gives the organization a decent foundation.
Two of the other NHL teams also in the midst of a playoff push similar to the Rangers include the New York Islanders and the Nashville Predators. We will take a look at their bottom six and see how these teams stack up in terms of depth.
Over the course of the past few seasons, it has become apparent the Rangers need more depth in their roster. They will need a higher quality core of bottom players to be a threat in the league, especially the grueling Metropolitan division. Because the club is extremely young, it will be interesting to see how the organization plans to achieve this– will they trade or trust in development?
Additionally, statistics cannot provide a comprehensive evaluation into the whole effectiveness of a team’s line. Each player or each line can serve a different purpose— to grind down the opposition, out skate the other team or keep veterans together. Again, the function of the bottom six in totality is to provide depth, and since this team is run by a coach such as David Quinn who holds every single player accountable regardless, the team will need to come as close to perfect as they can with all four lines.