Without Adam Fox, who was on the injured reserve with an upper-body injury after falling awkwardly in the victory over the New York Islanders, the New York Rangers have deployed various people on that man advantage today. With Fox out, there's a lack of a defenseman to be the quarterback, and with J.T. Miller not practicing due to an illness, the Blueshirts were forced to try a couple of different players in those places.
We saw a rare iteration of a five-forward powerplay. Alexis Lafreniere, Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad, and Chris Kreider worked together. J.T. Miller will likely replace Kreider on that unit if he can go tomorrow because Kreider is still dealing with an injury. However, the five-forward powerplay unit is still a rare sight that can work in the Rangers' favor if they get the balance right. That is down to the actions of the team and coaching staff in the coming games.
New York's powerplay has been a crutch for the organization. They've relied on the man advantage to win games when their 5-on-5 offense hasn't been decisive enough to determine the outcome of close games. However, that was done with Fox pulling the strings because it takes a while to master the ability to quarterback a powerplay successfully, which leads to a question: why have the Rangers turned to five forwards?
Zac Jones could offer something with time on the first powerplay unit, right? However, that looks moot as the Rangers will pivot to having a different powerplay quarterback. Of the options on the man advantage in practice, the most logical answer is Panarin because he is the best passer. Still, Zibanejad filled in on the backend during the win over the Islanders, and his shot is deadly from anywhere meaning perhaps he is the better option to deploy deeper.