Expectations of the New York Rangers young guns
First year players
1,708 payers have made their NHL debut at some point between the 2007-08 and 2019-20 seasons. Of those 1,708 players, just over half (856) appeared in a minimum of 10 contests, averaging the following stat lines:
First year forwards – 569 players:
Age GP G A PTS +/- PIM TOI Fo% BLK TK GV HIT
21.83 37.81 5.75 7.70 13.45 -1.23 17.60 482.86 45.02% 13.99 14.00 11.66 41.55
First year defenseman – 287 players:
Age GP G A PTS +/- PIM TOI BLK TK GV HIT
22.15 37.97 2.28 7.87 10.15 -0.86 17.91 657.71 42.12 10.73 21.31 43.82
The New York Rangers had three players make their NHL debut during the 2019-20 season. Forwards Kappo Kakko and Julien Gauthier and defenseman Adam Fox. Let’s look at how they compared to the NHL average.
Expectations were set high for Kaapo Kakko after being selected second overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. He was deemed a special player by Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton. How did he do? Kakko turned 19 years old during the season, leaving him nearly three full years younger than the average NHL forward in their debut season. His 10 goals, 13 assists and 23 points are all nearly twice the average.
Kakko was a below average physical player with fewer blocks (11) and just under half the hits (20). With twice the average minutes played with 942 minutes of time on ice (TOI), he gave the puck away at roughly the same pace as his peers (21), while taking it away more than twice as much (35) and fifth among 2019-20 first year players. The sore point however, would be his -26 plus/minus rating, which was not only significantly worse than his peer average, but ranks tied for worst for ALL first year players.
Tied for that honor with Kakko was Jack Hughes. Coincidentally, Hughes was picked first overall, to Kakko’s second, in that same 2019 draft year by the New Jersey Devils.. As the first two picks of the same draft, the two players will be forever connected and compared. This is one comparison that both would rather forget.
Gauthier came to the Rangers in a pre-trade deadline deal with the Carolina Hurricanes. He dressed in only five games for the Hurricanes, but would finish the season with 17 after appearing in each of the Rangers 12 contests following the trade. Having turned 22 at the start of the season, Gauthier was older than most of his peers. He would score only three assists on the season, two with the Rangers, far below the averages of his peer group.
While appearing in roughly half of games, Gauthier only received a third of the ice-time (141 mins). Gauthier recorded 15 hits, pacing him to a slightly higher hits rate than his peers. This would indicating that the 6’4″, 230 pound winger was no more physical than the average first year player.
Adam Fox was another Ranger rookie entering the league with high hopes. The Carolina Hurricanes, set to lose his rights to free agency, traded Fox’s rights to the Rangers in exchange for two second round picks. The Rangers immediately signed him to an ELC and the first year right handed defenseman did not disappoint on either side of the puck.
Fox turned 22 years old during the season, nearly the exact average for a rookie defenseman. Not as physical as his peers, Fox recorded only 35 hits, but notched 92 blocks, more than twice the first year average. Fox played more than twice the average minutes (1323 TOI) and appeared in nearly twice the number of games in the COVID-19 shortened season.
He excelled in each offensive statistical category, recording three to four times the average with eight goals, 34 assists, 42 points and a +22. Defensively, Fox recorded 57 takeaways, tops among first year players and eighth overall in the NHL. Fox’s year may have been overshadowed by Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes but his debut season is a bright point for the New York Rangers.