Can the Rangers win with the new Zibanejad line?

The New York Rangers have exceeded all expectations and boast one of the best records in the NHL.  They continue to find ways to win and they have a sparkling record in one goal games.   Despite allowing as many goals as they have scored, they have lost only four games in regulation, 18 games into the season.  The last time they went this deep into a season with only four losses was 2015-16 and that team finished with 101 points.   In fact, in the expansion era of the NHL, only that team along with the 1978-79 and 1971-72 squads have gone deeper into the season with only four regulation losses.

The Rangers’ stellar record has disguised an issue that needs to be resolved if this team wants to continue to win and go deep in the playoffs.  It’s the lack of forward depth, exacerbated by the loss of Sammy Blais to a season ending knee injury.  The question has to be if the Rangers can continue to win with players like Barclay Goodrow or Dryden Hunt on the top line?

A couple recent developments have made this issue even tougher to resolve.  Kaapo Kakko could have been a solution on the top line, but he has shown chemistry with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome and it would make no sense to break them up.  Also, Filip Chytil has been the subject of perpetual rumors of a move to the wing, but the third line with Julien Gauthier and Alexis Lafrenière has excelled lately and must be given time to develop.

The fourth line has always featured Ryan Reaves and Kevin Rooney and has been best with either Hunt or Goodrow on the wing.  Fundamentally, the bottom nine has become set and they need to remain together.

So far this season the issues with the top line have been camouflaged somewhat by Chris Kreider’s fabulous start and a power play that has been reasonably efficient.

It’s worth noting that while Kreider has thrived this season, it has been on the power play.  Five of his 13 goals this season or 39%,  have come at even strength.  In the three year prior, Kreider scored 62 % (45 of 72) of his goals at even strength.

Poor Mika

The player who has suffered the most has been Mika Zibanejad.  Expectations were high for the Swedish center after he signed his eight-year, $68 million contract.  While he has 15 points in 18 games, he has scored only four goals.  Over 82 games, that projects to a total of 18 goals, not what you would expect from an $8.5 million-a-year player.

To compare, in his last 18 games of the 2020-21 season he scored 11 goals, a 50 goal pace.  If he continues at this season’s rate, he will score the fewest goals in a full season since 2012-13 when he was a 19-year-old.

And that’s why hockey insiders like Darren Dreger are reporting that Chris Drury is on the prowl for a forward.

It also leaves Drury open to massive second guessing over his trade of Pavel Buchnevich.  The Russian signed for $5.8 million for four years with the Blues and the question has to be whether the Rangers were to rash in dealing him. After all, penciling in the KZB line every night was a no brainer and kept improving year to year.

It’s easy to add up the salaries paid to Sammy Blais and  Patrik Nemeth and argue that with that money and the more than $7 million they have in cap space, they could have kept Buchnevich.  It’s 2020 hindsight and they still would have needed a defenseman (Jarred Tinordi is not an answer) and the team had to believe that they were getting a diamond in the rough in Blais.  They did disregard his frequent trips to the injured list, something the Blues must have been well aware of.

The situation has to be tough for Zibanejad.  At the end of the Buffalo game, we could see his frustration boiling over when he was upended by Tage Thompson with no penalty called.  While Zibajenad has been a calm voice in the locker room, we were treated to the sight of him being berated by Gerard Gallant for giving it to the referees.

Gallant downplayed it in his postgame comments.

It’s concerning because we haven’t seen this side of Zibanejad before. A frustrated player is the last thing the team needs.

Kravtsov….ugh

These issues are making the Vitali Kravtsov situation even uglier.  After going scoreless in two games after scoring twice in his KHL debut, Kravtsov notched two goals in Traktor’s 3-2 win on Sunday over Admiral.  The first goal was on an odd man rush.

The second goal was a power play tally and was reminiscent of the power play goal he scored for the Rangers in the preseason.

  So that makes it four goals in four games in what we all know is an inferior league, but still the question remains, why is he even there?  And while naysayers will point to his two goals and four points in 20 games last season along with a plus/minus rating of -6, it was the first taste of the NHL for the 21 year old.   It’s worth noting that by the end of last season, only 11 players picked in the 2019 draft after Kravstov had played in as many as 20 games in the NHL.

Is he immature? Yes.  Did he make a mistake in refusing his assignment to Hartford? Of course.  However, we will never know the details of what went into the fracturing of the team’s relationship with Kravtsov and it’s fair to assign blame to both sides.

What to do

So, while the best possible organizational solution to their depth issues toils in Russia, the Rangers needs come up with a solution.  The short term answer appears to be Dryden Hunt, he of the seven goals and 18 assists in 107 NHL games.

Gallant spoke about moving Hunt to that line. “I just thought we were flat….I just wanted to change the make-up of our lineup a little bit.  I actually liked what I saw so we stayed like that for most of the game.”

When asked if it could be a long term move, Gallant said “I don’t know what we’re going to do next game, but I definitely like it and the coaches talked about it.  Huntsie’s been a good player for us right from the get go, he’s played different roles, he’s playing the fourth line and playing a little bit different role. I like what he brings, he’s got some offensive touch, he can really shoot a puck so it could be a possibility for sure.”

If there is one thing we have learned from Gallant is that he knows that the win is all that matters.  It’s why he replaced Alexandar Georgiev with Igor Shesterkin in the third period against Buffalo.  Gallant knows that the NHL is not the place to work out issues or a place for on the job training.  he cannot be happy with the situation and by using Hunt, he is making the best of a bad situation with no easy solution in sight.

In the meantime, we will get to listen to speculation about a potential trade with names like Kevin Fiala, Phil Kessel, Calle Jarnkrok being bandied about. One thing is certain, if the team thought that they had a solution in Hartford, we would have seen it.

So, can the Rangers win with these lines?

Hunt may be a better option than Goodrow at this point, but if the Rangers are to have any long term success this season, they need Mika Zibanejad and their top line to be firing on all cylinders.  And that means giving Zibanejad the tools to take advantage of his skill.