Oh, I know it might be a little premature to believe that the NY Rangers are back, but at least they’re finally giving fans some entertaining hockey. Whatever was going on before put just about everyone through a state of panic, but maybe now, they’ll look like that Presidents’ Trophy-caliber team again.
And with that should come scoring. A lot of scoring, really. And heading into Friday’s slate of games, the Rangers are 17th in the NHL with 144 goals scored. That’s not a bad number, but just one player has hit the 20-goal mark, and that’s star forward Artemi Panarin.
Is Panarin the only player out there who will snag 20-plus for the Blueshirts this season or are there other takers? While nobody on the Blueshirts is crazy close to 20, we should see at least a few hit 20 goals at some point before mid-April signals the playoffs have arrived, which the Rangers may now find themselves in.
One of those players is Chris Kreider who, despite some struggles, is second on the team with 15 goals. And since his playmaking has been nonexistent all season, look for him to finish sequences. He should remain a go-to when on the ice and when the Rangers sneak into the offensive zone, so expect Kreider to hit the mark often.
Five NY Rangers players have a realistic chance to hit 20 or more goals
Behind Kreider, we have two players with 13 goals on the year and another with 14. Our 14-goal scorer, Vincent Trocheck, is converting 11.0 percent of his shots on net. But he’s attempted 222 of them this season, meaning he only needs to keep firing the puck the way he has, and I can see him crossing that 20-goal mark.
Alexis Lafreniere and Will Cuylle are our 13-goal scorers. And right now, both are on pace to find the net 22 times if they keep up their current trajectory. A multitude of factors will decide if that’s the case. But since the Rangers look like a hot team again, I’ll project both players to cross the mark.
We also have Filip Chytil and Reilly Smith in the running, who have 11 and 10 goals, respectively. They’re fringe, and unless one of them enjoys a hot few weeks, I highly doubt either will reach the 20-goal mark. Still, you never know.
So, overall, I got four more players ending the regular season with 20 goals on what may be the comeback kids of the NHL. And if the circumstances are right, we could just see as many as seven 20-goal scorers.