New York Rangers: Three Tricks of 2023-24 Season So Far

Currently, the New York Rangers have a 7-2 record and have won five straight games on their West Coast road trip, surviving the scares of the Winnipeg Jets and Vancouver Canucks. But we’ve seen the Blueshirts find ghosts in the closet and under the bed that have haunted them throughout their illustrious history.

Fellow loyal Blueshirts will know that the pain of following this team will always force you to resort to your belief in Murphy’s Law. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. But on Halloween 2023, there has been very little to complain about during the early 2023-24 season. It’s a weird position for New York sports in general. When was the last time a team had this kind of success to start a year?

Regardless, the Rangers have enjoyed life under Peter Laviolette. Since making the coaching change after the game seven elimination at the hands of the New Jersey Devils, the Rangers have started to live up to the roster’s potential. Kids are making steps, veterans are playing well, and the team seems to be working as a unit with multiple ways to beat opponents and a unity that wasn’t there under Gerard Gallant.

We have been honestly treated to start the new season with players warming up and getting back to their best. Players are developing well under the coaching staff, and with the young talents coming through, we’re in a position to see the Rangers continue to benefit from their decision to rebuild while maintaining a competitive roster with the players the group currently has.

So, if we’re being treated to see the Rangers succeed, what have the Rangers done wrong? Where can the Rangers continue to improve off the back of this long winning streak they currently find themselves on? How have the Rangers lived up to the expectations placed upon them before the season, and where have they struggled to meet the bar?

Igor Shesterkin’s Early Season Struggles

Probably the biggest concern of the young season is Igor Shesterkin‘s early season issues. Through six games, Shesterkin’s got a 2.56 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage with a 5-2 record. While this is far from the worst numbers a goaltender could post, you would expect a lot more from Igor Shesterkin, who is trying to win the Vezina Trophy for the second time.

You can look at this in a couple of different ways. Shesterkin has had 179 shots thrown at him. That’s insufficient to get a good idea of whether his save percentage is accurate. This is because sample size does matter. His save percentage could be dragged down to .905 because of the poor showing the Rangers had against the Predators. This doesn’t exonerate Igor, but it explains why he has such a poor numerical display in that category.

You can also look at the record and justifiably make the case that Shesterkin has been satisfactory despite the statistical struggle in his GAA and save percentage due to the one lousy performance he has had against the Nashville Predators. However, it’s still not what you expect from the Rangers’ next generational netminder. It’s been a concerning start to the NHL season for the Moscow native.

Now, of all the things in here, we can expect Igor Shesterkin to figure it out. If the Rangers are going to make noise in the postseason, they will need their star netminder to work it out. When Shesterkin rewrote the record books, he set himself a standard that he has failed to live up to since. New York will need him to get back to it soon.

Deflated Blake Wheeler

Moving from the Rangers’ best player to a newcomer who has struggled to get running in the iconic Blueshirt. After nine games, Blake Wheeler is still without a point during his tenure in New York. After being bought out in the summer by the Winnipeg Jets, Wheeler joined the Rangers on a league-minimum deal, trying to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in his career while playing in the best city in the world.

Now, the issue with that is to win the cup, players like Wheeler will have to contribute, and the 37-year-old Plymouth, Minnesota native is still struggling to get to the success he found in Winnipeg. While this is new for him since he had been in the Jets organization since they were the Atlanta Thrashers, he’s not been introduced to a new organization since his trade from Boston almost 15 years ago.

Wheeler has the talent level to be a key contributor for the Rangers when he gets everything to start clicking. If he can show that off in New York, we will see a fanbase that is demanding more out of the eldest member of the skating group ease up on the calls for him to continue to grow. This Rangers roster has its star talent paper over the cracks right now, but they need players like Wheeler to figure out how to get on the scoresheet soon.

To be fair to Wheeler, he should have had his first point as a Ranger already. He had a beautiful pass to Will Cuylle that Cuylle put into the back of the net that was deemed a kicking motion during the game in Calgary, so there’s evidence to say that he can still create. If that has stood, the confidence he could have collected from it could have helped him ease into the Rangers system.