The New York Rangers are about to celebrate their 100th season. Now, halfway through this decade, we can look at five players who have influenced the team the most. Here are the top five rangers of the 2020 so far.
#5: Adam Fox
Adam Fox was prepared by the Calgary Flames and traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, but the only place he wanted to play was for his youth team. The hurricanes exchanged his rights to the Rangers in April 2019 for two picks in the second round, and they did not look back. From the moment he made his NHL debut in the 2019-2020 season, Fox was by far the best defender in the team. In 431 games in the regular season he has 63 goals and 306 assists. He is in fifth place in points by a defender since he entered the competition, and he is only 27.
It was not long before the competition recognized his talent. He won the Norris trophy as the best defender of the competition for the Covised season of 2021, his second in the NHL. He helped the Rangers to reach the final of the conference twice and scored five goals and 39 points in 46 Playoff games for career. While the team has usually been successful during his time in New York, Fox can reach a different level To help the Rangers become cup competitions.
#4: Igor Shesterkin
The Rangers have had solid goal congregation since 2000. They went from Mike Richter to Henrik Lundqvist, and when it was time for “De Koning” to give up the crown, Igor Shesterkin took his place as the new “Prince” of New York. He was set up in the fourth Tour of the NHL design of 2014 and dominated both the Kontinental Hockey League and the American Hockey League before he was called to the Rangers in January 2020.
From the moment he arrived, he was one of the most dominant goalkeepers in the competition. He has a record of the regular season of 162-88-22 with a 2.52 goals-to-average (GAA) and a .917 savings percentage (SV%). His best season was in 2021-22, when he went 36-13-4 with a 2.07 GAA EN .935 SV%, which was good enough to win the Vezina trophy as the best goalkeeper of the competition and is nominated for De Hart Trophy as League MVP.
Shesterkin has mainly proven its value in the play -offs. In his three playoff runs he still needs an SV% below .927, and he is the main reason why the Rangers have two conference performances in the past four seasons. He has a career playoff record of 23-20-0 with a 2.41 GAA EN .928 SV%. He will probably remain the backbone of the Rangers for the next eight seasons, after signing a massive extension last season, making him the best -paid keeper in the competition.
#3: Mika Zibanejad
Mika Zibanejad enters his 10th season as Ranger. Zibanejad was traded in July 2016 on the Rangers of the Senators of Ottawa, and it was one of the best transactions in the history of franchis. When he arrived, he was only 23 and tried to still find his way in the competition, and he did exactly with the Rangers.
He played 649 games in New York and scored 250 goals and 589 points. It took him a while to settle, but when he did, he became the first -line center of the team. His breakout arrived during the 2019-2020 season, when he scored 41 goals and 75 points in 57 games.
Related: The business for Mika Zibanejad to be the third line center of Rangers this season
Zibanejad had some of his best attacking seasons in the 2020s, including scoring 81 points in 2021-22 and 91 points in 2022-23. He was also the best player of the team during their run to the Eastern Conference final in 2022, when he scored 10 goals and 24 points in 20 Play -Off Games. He scored 16 points in 16 games in their run to the Eastern Conference final in 2024, but only three goals.
Zibanejad has delayed a bit in the last two seasons, but in general he is one of the best attacking players in the Rangers in the first half of the decade, and if he stays with the team for the rest of his contract, he could go as one of the top players in the franchis history.
#2: Artemi Panarin
Artemi Panarin was one of the best signing sessions in history in history. In 2019 he joined the Rangers with a seven -year contract, he accepted less money than other teams offered, and helped the Rangers to accelerate their rebuilding (or that is a good or bad thing, is disputable). Since then he has proven that he is worth every dollar of his contract. In 430 games he scored 186 goals and 550 points – the most because of every ranger since he arrived and 119 more points than Zibanejad, who is second on the list, in nine fewer games. In his first season in New York, he was nominated for the heart trophy.
He led the team in points in each of his six seasons with the team and scored four times more than 90 points and more than 100 points. His best season was in 2023-24, when he scored 49 goals and 120 points and helped the Rangers to lead a trophy finish from a presidents.
Although he has been criticized for his lack of playoff production, he scored a number of big winners of the overtime in the late season, including a series clinch goal in game 7 in 2022. Panarin is the best attacking player during his time in New York, and now the question is Whether this will be his last season Or if he will negotiate with the team.
#1: Chris Kreide
Although he is no longer in the team, Chris Kreider saved his best seasons as Ranger for the 2020s. In February 2020, he had an expired contract with the team that was still in a reconstruction phase. Many thought he would be traded by the deadline, but instead he signed a contract extension.
Since 2019-2020 he has been playing 423 games and scored 193 goals (most ranger during this time frame) and 311 points. He played his best hockey after turning 30, and his outbreak came during the 2021-22 season, when he scored 52 goals and 77 points in 81 games. Kreider had never scored 30 goals in a season, let alone more than 50. He scored more than 30 goals in the coming two seasons and had a season of 75 points in 2023-24.
Kreider is also the leading play-off target scorer of the franchise with 48. In 123 Playoff games he has 76 points. He was another key factor to help the Rangers make the conference in 2022 and 2024, including a game 6-Hattrick against the Carolina Hurricanes in 2024 that hit the ticket from the Rangers to the last four. Nobody was more link for the team than Kreider. Although it is disappointing that his term of office with the team came to an end to this season (he was traded on the Anaheim Ducks), there is no doubt that he was the best player of New York during the first half of the 2020s.
The Rangers have seen this decade success, winning the trophy of the presidents in 2023-24 and making the play-offs four times. However, the team will not be successful if his players are not successful, and these five players have had the biggest impact on the team for decade, so far.
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