Last night felt more like a random one hockey game beer competition then an NHL game. Dueling hat tricks from Taylor Raddysh and Macklin Celebrini, terrible defense from both teams, poor games from both goalkeepers and big scores, it was as if both teams just went out with no plan. If you were a fan in attendance, I assume you got your money’s worth, even if Rangers handed you another frustrating loss.
It’s only game 9, but it’s starting to feel like the best version of the current team just isn’t good enough to compete consistently. Giving up the Sharks’ first win of the season in overtime, just like in October 2022, is not something you should make a habit of. The Rangers really had no respect for their opponent and thought it was going to be a cakewalk, and they had nothing other than an early 2-0 hole to show for it. Simply put, it’s not what you want.
The offense finally managed to score on home ice, but this time the defense and goaltending let them down. It’s now October 23 and the Rangers have yet to win on home ice this season. With a pedestrian 3-4-2 record, it’s hard to say when the team will turn the corner. They had impeccable goaltending in the first few games and still lost, and now the goals are coming, but they are sacrificing team defense to do so.
The Rangers cheated for a foul, but left the front of the net to commit that foul. Igor Shesterkin was besieged with high chances of danger throughout the match, something he probably hoped was a thing of the past. We knew there would be a difficult adjustment period, but we also thought the Rangers would still be able to deal with bad teams early on. Clearly we were mistaken.
Adjusting to a new system is painful, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that the roster just isn’t that good right now. The Rangers traded their offense for pennies on the dollar this offseason without any replacements. The defense was composed to play a very conservative style of play with little puck movement. What exactly was the plan this year? Are the Rangers gambling a year and hoping for lottery luck? Does Drury really believe this roster, as currently constructed, could be a playoff team?
Or were the Rangers counting on more kids breaking camp with the Rangers, and that just didn’t happen? So many questions, and at this point, through 9 games, you probably won’t get an answer anytime soon. Elliotte Friedman’s November 1 stats are coming, and the Rangers are ranked sixth in the Metro Division at the time of this recap. It may take a miracle run at this point before you can really start racking up wins and points.
It’s hard to ignore Celebrini’s play when you look at the Rangers’ first overall pick on the other side. From the first year of a seven-year contract, Alexis Lafreniere has looked completely lost. He is not the only one (see: Cuylle, Will), but he is the one with the focus given the contract and his draft status.
On the one hand, you could look at this as if the Oilers had to get Nail Yakupov before they got Connor McDavid, but on the other hand, there’s no reason why Lafreniere shouldn’t at least contribute consistently playing with Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad. Zibanejad is perhaps the team’s most complete forward since the start of the season, and Panarin is Panarin even with a slow start.
It’s only nine games, but this team feels like they’re more likely to be tanking for Gavin McKenna than they are to be a playoff team. Inconsistency was expected, but we didn’t expect Rangers to face what should have been an inferior opponent. Perhaps this locker room needs to learn that they are no longer more skilled than most teams in the NHL, and that they need to work hard if they want to succeed.
#Rangers #Summary