Are the New York Rangers a juggernaut?

Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk were joined by Jon Goyens for the Coaches Room, where he broke down the New York Rangers power play and why he’s not sold on this team being a juggernaut just yet.

Jon Goyens: I don’t think the Rangers are there yet. Statistically, we’re going to break this down, there’s a lot of similarities to last year to be honest, whether it be analytically or what I call the black and white stats. I just covered their game on Saturday night, and I get a great view from up top at the Bell Centre. Obviously there’s a couple guys out in Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil which would really solidify that top nine, and create a really solid identity line on the fourth line.

But I think that there’s upticks in certain areas that have helped them bump their winning percentage by 9% compared to where they were last year at this time. And I think that there’s also some teams that had slipped out of the gate that has also lent itself to the Rangers being first in their division versus them just being completely dominant the way they were out of the gate this year.

Frank Seravalli: So I’m a little bit surprised to hear you say that, because I’ve watched the Rangers pretty closely this year, and I can’t help but think back to last year and how over-reliant they were on Igor Shesterkin going back a couple years, because of the way that, I think eye test-wise, I think they played in their own end.

So when you take a look at this year, and some of the upticks that this team has had, what’s enabled to get to a 9% improvement in winning percentage compared to last year?

Jon Goyens: Well if we bring up some of the stats for this year, you look at the halfway point last year and you look at the 0.13 increase in goals for per game and 0.03 increase in goals against per game, all that type of stuff, but 5-on-5 scoring! Last year at this time of the year, they were a +13 in the 5-on-5 scoring, this year they’re actually at 0. The thing is that it’s close, all of the numbers are relatively close, but that power play uptick of 6%, they’ve actually scored more goals in 20 fewer opportunities at this time last year. Their penalty killing has improved, and they’re both in the top 10. Goaltending, the backup goaltending has improved.

Now, this year I also want everybody to kind of, and I’m not trying to be too negative in 2024, but you look at the winning percentage out of the gate in the first 21 games at .789%. PP and PK have relative stayed within the same range, but when you look at the wins and losses and the winning percentage, Frank’s a big winning percentage guy, is there’s a big difference from .789% in their first 21 games and .618% in their last 17.

Now, injuries play into that, some teams are starting to wake up and all that type of stuff. But I think that before I would label them as a juggernaut going into this second half of the year, it’s going to be that health needs to come back and help their lineup and their depth, and potentially a move or two.

Frank Seravalli: So let’s take a closer look at their power play and take a look at that video. What are you seeing here? What makes it so good to be the top in the league?

Jon Goyens: Their movement. Their decoys. Like, Chris Kreider is a decoy right here [19:55 mark]. There’s this is a give and go play with Vincent Trocheck. And at any given point, you have these four right-handed players and then you have one of the best net-front presence guys in the entire league. Again, Kreider’s known for his net presence, watch him play this little spot [20:08 mark], and then Trocheck with the give-and-go, and if you cover him, well then Artemi Panarin is open.

Now on a 4-on-3 [20:18 mark], you have Adam Fox, Norris Trophy winner, on the goal line. So now you have Panarin who’s the quarterback, and as these give-and-go’s happen, then Panarin’s able to really get on top of the slot.

Here [20:31 mark] it looks like a little broken play. Well again, everybody’s got you guessing, and they can quickly strike off of broken plays almost better than anybody, and their powerplay’s been consistent all year.

So again, [20:43 mark] who’s supposed to be the QB? Usually Fox, but now you’ve got Panarin there. They have the absence of a bumper, which I’m a huge fan of, and they really get you guessing, but watch this pick right there [20:54 mark]. Fox went to Harvard, and it wasn’t a safety school for sure. High IQ right there to block any opportunity of the PK to come out.

And then when in doubt [21:06 mark], Mika Zibanejad is just going to hunt this puck down. He looks like a hunter with that hair and that facial hair, and he strikes and he’s able to just tap it in.

And when in doubt [21:15 mark], you’ve got guys like Alexis Lafreniere and Blake Wheeler and Erik Gustafsson on your second power play unit and you need a quick strike, well, they’re going to bury this in six seconds right off the draw.

So it’s been moving real quickly, it’s interchangeable, you see guys in different spots, you see right now [21:32], Panarin’s on the one-timer spot, Zibanejad’s in the slot, and Trocheck’s back door. So, instead of being robots and going “X marks the spot”, they’re able to move around, interchange, and move pucks quite quickly while having a lot of body movement as well.

You can watch the full episode here…