Rangers reveal surprising top-six shakeup ahead of Colorado Avalanche showdown

The New York Rangers are looking to rebound from a disapointing road loss against the Vegas Golden Knights, and Mike Sullivan is shaking things up ahead of tonight's matchup vs. the Colorado Avalanche.

Rangers break up their most successful line

Per numerous reporters at team practice, the new look top six includes a line of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, and J.T. Miller on one line, and Will Cuylle, Mika Zibanejad, and Alexis Lafrenière on another.

This move would breakup the Rangers' best line of this season, and their most frequently used combination of the last several seasons. Per Evolving-Hockey, the line of Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière has logged just under 82 minutes together at 5v5, and has a 73.32 GF%, a 59.82 CF%, and a 56.62 xGF%. The line is generating 6.09 goals for per 60 minutes, and surrendering 2.22 goals against.

Last season the line spent 667 minutes together and finished with a 56.58 GF%, a 55.94 CF%, and a 51.99 xGF% with a 3.3 goals for per 60 minutes and 2.53 goals against per 60 minutes split. What is clear here is that Sullivan is keeping the successful duo of Panarin and Trocheck together, and it looks like he wants to try and spark a struggling Miller by having him deployed on the wing. That's been an interesting development, as previously Miller had be brought in to play center in order to move Zibanejad to the wing.

Could Rangers be trying to recreate another successful line?

The corresponding result here will see Zibanejad center two up-and-coming kids in Cuylle and Lafrenière, and it's going to be interesting to see how it pans out. If you want to be nostalgic, this essentially is an homage to the Rangers' former KZB line which include Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich. Cuylle has many characteristics similar to Kreider, and Lafrenière is a young winger who the team looked at as a reason why they could move on from Buchnevich. There's no telling how things will pan out, but it is interesting that the adjustment being made is sacrificing what had been working thus far for the Rangers.

In other news... Borgen's status is in flux

The Borgen news is not great to here, as he's been a real bright spot for the team. The silver lining here is that this gives Scott Morrow an opportunity to show what he can do, and the Rangers can evaluate if he's able to be a player who helps them this year and beyond.