The New York Rangers are heading into the 2021 season and there is a lot to look forward to as well as a lot that should be taken into consideration. Some good news is that the Rangers locked up all their Restricted Free Agents (RFAs), although they lost some players in Free Agency, such as Greg Mckegg, Jesper Fast, and Henrik Lundqvist.
Offensively, the Rangers were very strong this past season as they didn’t get shutout once by their opponent. Their Power Play was a key factor to their offensive game, finishing with a very solid 22.9% rating. Additionally, scoring was not an issue this season for the Rangers, as they finished 5th among the 31 teams scoring 234 goals for this past season.
The Rangers have one of the brightest futures in the league and are one of the youngest teams in the NHL. Some players from the young roster that come to mind are Igor Shesterkin, Alexis Lafreniere, Adam Fox, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko. Many of these players took a big step last season and are eager to keep moving forward in their NHL careers.
The Rangers recently bought-out goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who has been their go-to-guy for so many years. He is now with the Capitals. With Lundqvist gone, the organization is left with two strong, young goaltenders, Alexander Georgiev and Igor Shesterkin, who are looking to make their mark in the organization.
An area needing further consideration however is their defense. The Rangers were not a strong defensive team last season, which was a developing year for their defensive squad. They finished with a 3.14GAA (Goals Against Average) cumulatively on the season.
Lastly, despite having a lot of young offensive talent, they have zero depth of experience on their team. Chris Kreider is the only remaining player from the cup run from 2014. They’re a very young team and experience is something they lack heavily.
If the Rangers want to be a successful team, they need to fix their defensive system and get some additional offensive depth and maybe they can be a “cup contender” within the next few years.
Photo by: James Guillory/USA TODAY Sports
