Analyzing the Rangers' 6-2 loss at Edmonton

A few days ago, it looked like the New York Rangers were turning a corner in the early portion of the NHL season. While they were not playing well as of late, two wins over the Seattle Kraken and the Vancouver Canucks - both of which New York was the better team - gave the Rangers fanbase confidence that this Rangers' team is starting to improve.

But, then in the back-end of the road trip, the Rangers put up two of their most underwhelming performances of the season, losing to the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers, 3-2 and 6-2, respectively. New York was vastly outplayed in both games, giving up over 40 shots in each contest, and struggled to play the compliemntary hockey that many became accustomed to under Peter Laviolette.

The Blueshirts are now 12-6-2 on the season, but what's most concerning is the patterns that have been going on for over a month now. If the Rangers aren't able to fix this, the season could go into a downhill spiral.

Is this an overreaction? Yes, maybe. But at the same time, there are many flaws in the Rangers that have been apparent for a while now, and that's a hard thing to overcome as a Stanley Cup contender.

It starts with their No. 1 center in Mika Zibanejad, who is off to one of the worst starts of his career. Zibanejad was a -4 in Edmonton on Saturday night, failed to make an impact around the ice and just has been overall underwhelming this season.

While these are all subjective terms, make it big picture- Zibanejad has four goals and 10 assists in 19 games this season, along with a -10 rating. The 31-year-old has not had a season-rating of below-zero since the 2018-19 season. At this speed, Zibanejad is also on pace to score 17 goals, which would be his lowest since the 2016-17 season, his first year with New York.

Zibanejad's play has been a major criticism so far in this early season, and it's justified. Since his new eight-year, $68 million contract went into effect in 2022, he has only had four games where he's had a point and assist at 5v5 play. Usually, he'd make it up on the power play, but not this season.

This is a major concern for a Stanley Cup contender. Look at the past few No. 1 centermen of the past few winners: Aleksander Barkov, Nathan MacKinnon, Steven Stamkos, Ryan O'Reilly, to name a few. All elevated their play, especially in the postseason. Going back to New York's Eastern Conference Final defeat against the Florida Panthers, Zibanejad failed to do that.

It's not only Zibanejad who struggles on this line. Chris Kreider has also failed to make an impact at even strength and does not have an assist yet this season. Reilly Smith, who was brought in this offseason, has had his moments, but not enough.

Moreover, New York failed to get production out of their lines besides one, which stars Artemi Panarin, Alexis Lafreniere and Vincent Trocheck. This has been the case for two games now, and it resembles last season.

What made New York a good 5v5 team to start the 2024-25 season was the play of the Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere line combined with Will Cuylle, Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil, who have not allowed a goal at even-strength yet this season. But, Chytil has been out the last few games and the line has not made much of an offensive impact. Cuylle is tied for second on the team in even strength points with 15 and is also tied for first on the team with a +12 rating; Kakko has a +12 as well.

Not to get into Chytil too much - he's missed the past few games with an upper-body injury and early signs show he should be back soon - but his injury is a major concern. He missed 72 games last season before returning in the postseason, then missed another game after returning to action. Without Chytil, this is a worse hockey team, plain and simple. But, he's had his share of upper-body injuries in his young career and at some point, his health has to be the priority over the impact he makes on the ice.

Defensively, the Blueshirts have some major concerns that have been-season long. Outside of Adam Fox, who adds so much on both sides of the ice, the Rangers have had problems defending. Jacob Trouba, K'Andre Miller, and Ryan Lindgren all have had defensive struggles. As a team, New York has been giving up more shots per game and have been spending way too much time in their its defensive zone.

At times, that's fine - the Rangers have one of the best goaltending duos in the NHL in Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick. But, the past two games against Calgary and Edmonton show how the Rangers cannot be so reliant on goaltending this entire season. With Shesterkin in net one game and Quick the other, the Blueshirts were peppered with shots, gave up goals, and lost.

Is this an overreaction? Yes, maybe. It's early in the season. But, it's an embodiment of the trends that have been the Rangers' shortcomings in the past - Zibanejad and Kreider underperfroming, poor even-strength play, injuries, defensive play in front of the goalies - and if they're not fixed, it once again will be in the future.

Right now, it's hard to call New York one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup in a year that many so-call a "do or die." There's too many problems across the board, and most were apparent in Edmonton and Calgary.

The Rangers need to fix this or their championship dreams will be all but extinguished.