The New York Rangers have given people plenty to notice this season, but their place in the latest NHL power rankings says not everyone is ready to fully embrace the turnaround.
New York is 10-8-1, a much better opening stretch than what the club managed a year ago, and that record has come even with Igor Shesterkin out for the season. That matters. Winning without your star goalie does not happen by accident, and it has pointed to a team with more depth than it showed in recent years.
That’s part of why the Rangers’ offseason approach made sense. After a couple of rough seasons, they went to work trying to fix things, using draft capital and cap space to improve the roster. The result has been a team that looks better than it did last season, even if the ride has included a few bumps.
Still, the outside view hasn’t fully caught up. Lyle Fitzsimmons of Bleacher Report ranked the Rangers 20th in his latest NHL Power Rankings, which is a jump from 24th last week but still feels low for a team that has steadied itself and is sitting third in the Metropolitan Division. If the season ended today, New York would be in the playoffs.
The recent results have been mixed, too. The Rangers saw a three-game winning streak come to an end after a four-game losing streak, but they responded well enough to get the road trip started with a win over the Seattle Kraken. They then came up short against Edmonton, a team led by Connor McDavid.
There are still two games left on the trip, and both look manageable on paper against the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks. If New York can handle those, a 3-1 finish on the four-game West Coast and Canada swing would count as a strong trip, with six points making it a very successful one.
For now, though, the Rangers remain a team that seems to be getting less credit than their start suggests. They may not belong near the top tier yet, but 20th feels a little too low. A couple more wins on the road could change that quickly.
In Other News...
Rangers Face One Big Test In Surprising Early Playoff Push
The Rangers have spent the early part of the season proving they can survive a difficult stretch better than most expected. At 10-8-1 and sitting third in the Metropolitan Division, they have kept themselves in the mix despite a wave of injuries, including the season-ending loss of Igor Shesterkin. Dylan Garand has helped steady the crease, and Joonas Korpisalos return has given the staff another option as the team tries to keep pace.
What makes the next stretch so interesting is how much it could shape the rest of the year. New York has already shown enough resilience to stay relevant in the standings, but the margin for error is still thin in a division that rarely gives much away. The Rangers are in position to push for a playoff spot, yet the question now is whether this early survival act can turn into something more sustainable once the schedule and the competition tighten up. [Read more 🡒]
Mike Sullivan Finally Saw The Rangers Team He Wants
The Rangers looked far more like the team Mike Sullivan has been pushing for in their second meeting with Edmonton, even if the final result still came back as a 3-1 loss. New York generated more shots and more high-danger chances than it had in the first matchup, and captain J.T. Miller said the group was better in a number of areas against one of the leagues toughest opponents. Jaroslav Chmelar provided the lone Rangers goal, giving the night at least one sign of progress.
Sullivan also had to deal with the familiar headache of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, two stars who can tilt a game even when the Rangers are doing a lot right. Edmonton goalie Devon Levi helped keep New York from turning that territorial edge into a bigger payoff with several key saves, leaving the Rangers with a performance they could point to and still a result they could not fully cash in on. The encouraging part is obvious. The frustrating part is just as clear. [Read more 🡒]
Mika Zibanejad Is Giving Rangers A Scoring Problem They Cant Ignore
Mika Zibanejads season has taken on a strange shape for the Rangers: the playmaking is still there, and in some ways it has been better than ever, but the shot volume has dipped to a level that stands out for all the wrong reasons. Through 19 games, he has been setting up teammates at a career-high rate while producing only three goals, a reminder that even when he is driving offense, he is not doing it in the same direct way the Rangers have come to expect.
The concern is not that Zibanejad has lost his touch. His shot velocity is still among the leagues best, which makes the drop in attempts even more notable, because the threat of his release has long been part of what makes New Yorks attack harder to defend. When he is firing less often, the Rangers lose some of that unpredictability, and for a team that leans on him to tilt the ice, that is a scoring issue they cannot simply overlook. [Read more 🡒]