Who should fill the vacant role on the top power play unit?

With training camp just around the corner, a question now arises regarding the New York Rangers’ top power-play unit. That is, who should fill the newly vacated spot left by Ryan Strome in his departure to Anaheim? For the last three seasons, the unit has been the one true constant for this Rangers squad.

The addition of Artemi Panarin in the 2019 offseason led to the group being one of the most successful and automatic units in the entire league. The band of merry men, consisting of Strome, Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, and Adam Fox has made opposing teams weary of taking too many infractions.

The Rangers’ power play has operated at 22.9 percent, 20.7 percent, and 25.2 percent in the 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22 seasons respectively (those numbers ranked them 7th in 2019-20, 14th in 2020-21, and 4th in 2021-22).

Thus, with the success this top unit has had in recent years, there never truly seemed a time to question the makeup of the squad. Whether or not fans agreed with the decision, former head coach David Quinn and current bench boss Gerard Gallant both felt that Ryan Strome fit in best on that top group as the 5th man.

Since Panarin’s arrival, Strome had recorded 49 points on the power play, with just 11 of them being goals. Strome, a traditional distributor of the puck, rarely elected to shoot when on the power play. Combined with fellow, more elite passers in Panarin and Fox, there emerged only one true shooting threat with the man advantage. That being top-line center Mika Zibanejad, of course.

All of this discussion is a roundabout way of emphasizing the importance of adding another shooter to the top unit. Despite the consistency, the Rangers’ power play has operated in the past few seasons, one common symptom that seemed to plague the group was the lack of shooting threats.

Who is the best option?

A simple method of identifying the most trigger-happy player to add to the top power-play unit would be to find the individual still with the club who recorded the most shots in the last three seasons. That would leave Jacob Trouba as the next man up to fill the role, who has piled up a whopping 442 shots since joining the team back in 2019-20.

Fascinating idea, but I think I’ll pass. Trouba has been a proponent of quantity over quality when it comes to blasting shots from the point. As much as the Rangers need another shooter on the top unit, shot selection is not Trouba’s strong suit. Next up on the list is a unique choice, one that would likely garner more consideration than the previous. Filip Chytil has fired 325 shots on the net in the past three years.

Another volume shooter, Chytil has a shoot-first mentality, which has been a benefit with him being featured on a line with playmaking wingers in Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko. However, as much of a proponent of Chytil as I am, he would not be the best fit for that top group. Chytil is a player that creates chances for himself when the puck is on his stick, a scenario that will likely not occur with the likes of Zibanejad, Panarin, and Fox out on the ice.

The name that particularly jumps off the page for me is Alexis Lafreniere. While fellow lottery pick Kaapo Kakko could also be a fit there, Lafreniere possesses the more lethal shot. That, combined with his awareness on the ice and improvement in decision-making with the puck, Lafreniere has become the prime candidate to receive the first look on PP-1.

A surprising note

Should Lafreniere get the job on the first unit, one shocking metric will likely improve dramatically: in his 135 career NHL games played, Lafreniere has yet to record a power play goal. All 31 of the young man’s NHL goals scored have been at even strength. Furthermore, Lafreniere has just two assists on the power play while averaging just 1:13 power play time-on-ice per game.

No, that is not just last season. Again, we are talking about career numbers here. That is simply astonishing that a 1st overall pick has yet to record a power-play goal in his first two seasons. For some context, 2012 1st overall pick Nail Yakupov had reached double-digit power play goal totals (10) in his first 111 career NHL games.

Yes, that Nail Yakupov. The one currently playing in the KHL with his NHL tenure over. Even 1999 1st overall selection Patrik Stefan scored a power-play goal in his first two seasons. Was it exactly one power-play goal in those 138 career games at the end of year two? Sure, but that paints a picture nonetheless.

It cannot be understated how vitally important Alexis Lafreniere is to the future of this organization. His on-ice success is paramount, and thus moving him to the top power-play unit to get some quality time with the big guns would be an excellent way to kickstart that success.