Rangers regular season review: The top six

As we approached the start of this season, the expectations for the New York Rangers were incredibly high. There were hopes of the team bringing the Stanley Cup back to Manhatten for the fifth time in the history of the franchise and while that is still very possible, they have to go through the New Jersey Devils to do so. This is going to be a tight matchup and it is really difficult to predict this series.

As children, we are taught that the best indicator of the future is the past. If you do not believe this applies to hockey, look at the Toronto Maple Leafs. If I give you $1000 to bet on a series between the Leafs and Bruins, you should be betting on the Bruins. Why? Death, taxes, and the Leafs losing in game 7 at TD Garden are inevitable. It’s a good indicator of how those two cores will clash when faced against each other.

There is no recent history for the Devils and the Rangers so the best course of action in my humble opinion is to look back at the regular season and evaluate the production of the Rangers. While it has not been a smooth season for the Rangers’ top six, it has been good enough to justify their third place in the Metropolitan Division. They have shown that there are enough weapons on this roster to hurt teams that have issues defensively.

For clarification, when I say the top six, I am not talking about anyone that was in the top six prior to the trade deadline. I am talking about the players that make up the top six as of tonight here in the wake of the defeat to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the season finale. That is made up of the six players you will see here. I will do another piece for the bottom six, an additional one for the defense, and one more for the netminding.

Mika Zibanejad

For the Rangers’ number-one center, this was a fantastic season. Mika Zibanejad put up a career-high in points and he became one of the most dangerous goal-scorers in the NHL. This was going to be a tear where the Rangers needed to see that Zibanejad had what it took to be considered an elite talent, even better than he had been, and he proved that in so many ways this season.

With 39 goals, 52 assists, and 91 points, Zibanejad came through big time. When the Rangers needed someone to score, it was Zibanejad. If the Rangers were off to a slow start, falling behind the game, and needed a goal to kick the team into life? Enter Mika. He became such a clutch player as well as an elite talent this season and those are traits that the Blueshrits will need the Swede to have in the postseason.

On top of his base production, Zibanejad became one of the most vaunted powerplay producers in hockey tallying 20 goals on the man advantage, good enough for joint 3rd in the NHL, although he could drop to fourth with the two games going on tonight on the day of writing this. It became a year where Zibanejad’s shot was the major weapon the Rangers had and that needs to continue to be the case moving forward.

This was a really strong regular season for the Rangers’ Swedish center. He played in every game which had been an issue in previous years and finished one point back of the team lead in points from the Breadman. A fantastic season for a fantastic player when the team needed him to step up, he showed no problems doing exactly that and living up to the hype around him.

Artemi Panarin

Coming into the season, the Rangers had four major weapons at their disposal. Arguably, the most potent of those were Russian winger Artemi Panarin. For the breadman, this was a season where his issues were going to need to be sorted beyond game 82 because that is where his issues lie. We are all aware of how strong a regular-season performer Panarin is and the 2022-23 season remains more of the same.

As the team’s top producer with 92 points made up of 29 goals and 63 helpers, Panarin found himself being the playmaker for Mika so much that at times it felt like it was inevitable. Solid production and a good defensive season from one of the Rangers’ best players is a statement of how this team should be looking to go deep this season. If Panarin keeps doing this, they have as good a chance as they ever have.

Despite issues with scoring goals consistently, there were very few games this season where it felt like Panarin was not making an impact in some way. Whether that was positive or negative really seemed to feel like it dictates the direction of the team. When Panarin was playing well, the Rangers seemed to heat up. When he was slumping, it felt like that was when the Rangers started to stutter.

All in all, we cannot judge Artemi Panarin on this season yet. At the end of the day, his judgment will come in the playoffs. It’s not about the regular season for him. New York needs their stars to continue to produce if they are going to go deep this season and Artemi Panarin at his best is undoubtedly the best player on this roster. There are very few times he is at his best and isn’t the best player on the ice.

Vincent Trocheck

This was the first season on Broadway for New York’s number 16 Vincent Trocheck. Entering New York on the back of being the one big free-agent splash the New York Rangers made in the summer, there was some pressure on Trocheck to strengthen that second line that had been inconsistent at times under the guidance of Ryan Strome. New York wanted a second line to help produce.

Trocheck came in and lived up to that in every way imaginable. 22 goals and 42 helpers for 64 points saw Trocheck sit fourth on the roster in points and goals. While this does not seem like much, it is a major improvement over Strome’s production and it meant that the Rangers were able to win games when the first line was being contained by the opponent or just was not at the races.

Something we have seen that has gone under the radar with Vinny is that he is an annoying pest. In the postseason, players like Trocheck are worth their weight in gold. As the Rangers prepare for a round-one match-up with the New Jersey Devils, Trocheck is going to need to keep doing that. If he can get under the skin of the Devils and start to make them take dumb penalties, it could change the series entirely.

Coming from a defensively concrete team in Carolina, there was never any concern as to whether or not Trocheck would help the Blueshirts keep the puck out of their own net when he was on the ice. He had moments but overall it is safe to say that the addition of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native has worked very well to this point in time.

Vladimir Tarasenko

Heading into the season, there were some major question marks as to whether or not the kids could fill the holes in the right-hand side of the top six. As we eventually found out, the answer was no. It left management scrambling for an answer in the middle of February. They needed offensive help and they wanted to get it done way before the deadline. Who’d they pick up?

Vladimir Tarasenko. Tarasenko came into Manhatten and started to be the answer to the questions everyone had about this roster. Who was going to play on the right alongside Mika Zibanejad? Tarasenko did that in his first game and scored. While it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing through the remainder of the season after his arrival from St Louis, there was very little doubt that the Blueshirts would like this pickup.

How did Tarasenko reward the Rangers for removing him from a franchise he reportedly wanted out of months ago? 8 goals and 13 assists for 21 points in 31 games. While that isn’t awful by any means, that isn’t the player the Blueshirts paid that 1st++ for to acquire from the Blues. New York needs Tarasenko to help guide this team through the playoffs on a deep run and add some production where he can.

In total, Tarasenko finished the season with 69 games played because nice. Across both teams, he had 18 goals and 32 assists for 50 points. It’s a fine production, but if he can take that next step and really become one of the better weapons on this roster, there may not be anything anyone can do to stop the Rangers from steamrolling through the playoffs en route to grabbing the big mug that Bettman hands out.

Patrick Kane

After the Rangers acquired Vladimir Tarasenko from the St Louis Blues, there were reports coming out of Chicago that one of the best players in this history of the sport, and possibly the best North American player ever was unhappy due to the Rangers not picking up the New York native. It is suspected that upon hearing that, Rangers owner James Dolan tapped management on the shoulder and insisted they make it work.

Well, Patrick Kane is a New York Ranger now. While we may not know how this came about for a few years, we know that the Rangers’ right wing is stronger with the Buffalo native on it. The Rangers had to suffer up against the cap after picking him up. Despite never using LTIR, the Rangers were using 99.98% of their available cap space at one point just to show you what hoops they jumped through for Kane.

Since arriving in New York, Kane has produced modestly. After a slow start, Kane has put up five goals and seven helpers for 12 points in 19 games. It doesn’t seem like much but while remembering that Kane is dealing with an ongoing hip injury, the Rangers had to funnel him through the NHL’s version of the Virgin Islands to get him, and his want to be a New York Ranger, it’s better than nothing.

Kane is not the hall-of-fame caliber player he was back when he was spearheading the Chicago Blackhawks dynasty through the playoffs to reach the holy grail. He’s not going to be that for the Rangers. But this is a former Conn Smythe, Ted Lindsey, Calder, and even Hart winner. He’s won everywhere he’s gone and he’s got a ton of experience. He wasn’t brought in for the final 20 games of the regular season.