Rangers players trending up and down after a crucial November

The Rangers finished the month of November one game over .500 with an 8-7-0 record which was sixth in the Metropolitan division, ninth in the east, and twentieth overall. There were times during this past month where it felt like the team was finally turning the corner after last year, but every high was followed up by a low that for some didn't come as surprising.

It's not all gloom though, there were a few Rangers that really stepped up there game after a disappointing October and really started to re-find their game.

Stock Up

Artemi Panarin

Panarin did not have the start he wanted headed into a contract year with the team, with only seven points in his first twelve games (four of them coming against the Montreal Canadiens) and he was a main point of criticism among many, myself included. Panarin was held pointless in the first couple games of the new month, and he decided enough was enough. The Breadman decided to shave his head trying to recreate the magic that he had in the 2023-24 season, and to say it worked was an understatement.

In Panarin's first game after shaving his head, he registered a goal and two assists in the Blueshirts road victory vs the Detroit Red Wings. It didn't end there as well, not only was Artemi by far the Rangers best point producer in November; but from the Detroit game all the way to the Lightning game, Panarin was fourth among all players in the league in points with 19, he'd also rank third in 5v5 points among all players.

Adam Fox & Vladislav Gavrikov

Not only was Adam Fox the best Ranger during the month of November, he was also arguably the best defenseman in the entire league during this past month. Among all defensemen that played a minimum of 100 5v5 minutes, Adam Fox's 60.21 expected goals share would be 12th, his 2.17 expected goals against per sixty (xGA/60) ranked 22nd, and expected goals for per sixty placing 18th. Even in all strengths, Fox was first among all defensemen in points without registering a single goal; on top of that the pair of Gavrikov and Fox consistently drew one of the tougher matchups among all defense pairs in the league.

Speaking of Gavrikov, Vladislav was one of the best shutdown defensemen in the league during the month of November. Among Rangers his 5v5 2.22 xGA/60 was fifth best among the team, and second among defenders (trailing only Adam Fox). Surprisingly as well, his 2.88 xGF/60 was second among all Rangers as well (once again trailing only Fox).

To take it a step further, when we look at it across the entire National Hockey League, Gavrikov's xGA/60 was 34th among 194 defensemen who played a minimum of 100 5v5 minutes in November, what's even funnier is that Gavrikov was ninth in the NHL in 5v5 points with nine. These two were everything you'd want out of a top defense pairing in the NHL during November.

Other Notable Names

Alexis Lafreniere
Mika Zibanejad
Jonny Brodzinski

Stock Down

J.T. Miller

It was another tough month for the Rangers captain, having seven points in thirteen games and only three at 5v5. There were also times where it felt he looked a bit lazy on the ice, and sometimes it resulted in a goal against the Blueshirts, one being a famous clip where former Ranger Sean Avery let him have it after a bad shift against Vegas.

There is a little room for optimism for Miller however; he was sixth among the team in their expected goals share (xGF/60) and one of seven rangers to even have their xGF/60 to be over 50% with a goal and an assist after returning from injury.

Other Notable Names

Carson Soucy
Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen
Braden Schneider
Sam Carrick
Taylor Raddysh

No Change

Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick were once again what you'd expect out of the both of them, each start made by the two gave the team a chance to win every night. Igor had the highest workload in the league making a league-high 304 saves during the month of November. A part of that is due to his twelve starts which was the most by any goaltender, but Igor's 8.26 goals saved above expected (GSAx) was eleventh in the NHL during this span.

Jonathan Quick was also outstanding, in only three starts Quick made 103 saves, which is an average of about 34 saves per game, and faced 10.86 expected goals against (xGA), a ridiculous average of 3.62 xGA per game. And despite this tough workload in just three starts, Quick had a 4.96 xGSA, seventeenth in the NHL, and an .871 HDSV%, tenth. The 39-year old's brilliant start has undoubtedly earned him more starts once he comes back from injury which in return will help Shesterkin's workload.

Brilliance is expected from these two, and November was practically another day in the office for their standards.