There is a lot to like about what the New York Rangers have done this summer to improve their chances to make the playoffs this season, but that hasn't stopped national publications like The Athletic from calling into question how good the team can be this season. The Athletic just released a new set of rankings, done by tiers, and while the results for the Rangers aren't all that surprising to fans, it speaks to a larger problem that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.
Rangers' ranked 19th overall in The Athletic's latest duo rankings
The Athletic recently ranked all of the top-six center pairs in the NHL, and the Rangers' dynamic dad duo of Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller came in 19th overall atop Tier 6 which is named Below-average. For context, this duo is ranked behind the Winnipeg Jets (Mark Scheifele and Viggo Björck/Adam Lowry) and ahead of Dylan Strome and Pierre-Luc Dubois of the Washington Capitals.
In all honesty, the Rangers ranking this poorly isn't a huge surprise. Zibanejad was much better for the Rangers last season with 34 goals and 78 points, a stark improvement from the year prior, but Miller was hurt most of last season and put up poor numbers which include 53 points in the 68 games he dressed. Zibanejad turned 33 in April, and Miller turned 33 in March so both will be 34 by the time the season ends.
Ranking reinforces the Rangers biggest immediate need and the chain reaction it can set off
As long as the Rangers have Igor Shesterkin as their starting goaltender and Adam Fox as their No. 1 defender, the goal is going to be contending for a Stanley Cup. The hiring of Mike Sullivan only reinforced that mission, and the moves made this summer certainly suggest that the front office realizes that the team needed to get better.
There's only so much you can do during one office, but it is clear that they still need a bona fide No. 1 center. They have Noah Laba as a sophomore skater and added Cole Beaudoin in the Vincent Trocheck trade, but neither project to be the type of guy the Rangers truly needed. The sooner the Rangers can find that player, the better, because it will have implications on the rest of the roster.
If Zibanejad were currently penciled in as the No. 2 center and Miller were behind him as the No. 3 center, the entire context of the Rangers' center depth would be different. Zibanejad isn't the guy he was in his prime, but 30 goal and 70-plus points from a second line center is amazing. The same would apply to Miller who has shown he can be productive in recent years, but therein is the problem at hand, and that explains the recent ranking. If you take off the rose colored glasses, there's reason to wonder if Zibanejad's return to form was a fluke and not sustainable.
The bigger worry is whether or not last year was the beginning of an eventual great decline for Miller after having a very productive stretch of hockey that saw him as the league's 10th to 15th best center. You can explain his poor play because of his health, but as players age and start to break down that isn't something that just goes away. Miller is a far better player that Chris Drury was, but the Rangers' current President GM and former captain saw his career end at age 34 all the way back in 2010-11 due to a combination of chronic degenerative left knee condition on top of some other nagging injuries. Miller's main issue was his groin, and that's something to keep an eye on as the upcoming season progresses.
In any case, the Rangers will enter this season looking to prove the doubters wrong, and you'd have to imagine that Zibanejad and Miller are two prideful players who want to silence the critics. If they can turn back the clock a bit and be the players they are capable of, that bodes well for the Rangers. That being said, they can bring even more overall value to the roster if Drury can land a true No. 1 center which forces Zibanejad and Miller into lower leverage roles, which in the process would only add to the team's overall depth.
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