The Rangers made some significant moves this offseason, and one thing they made the most changes to was their defense core. The only significant loss was Will Borgen, whom they moved to Boston for a third-round pick, while Sean Durzi was added in a return for Trocheck, and Marcus Pettersson came back in a deal with Vancouver for a 2030 1st rounder. Are they better? Let's take a look.

Gavrikov was brought in from the L.A Kings last summer and really did not disappoint. He did dip a bit defensively but still solid while his play driving metrics dipped heavily I will chalk that up mostly to a bad year all around for the Rangers who seemed to have many players checked out and or struggling. He still managed to pot 14 goals and was one of the few consistent performers on the team. I would heavily lean to him having a stronger year this year with more familiarity and a better team energy in general.

I am not sure there is any defenseman that takes more unfounded criticism than Fox. Last year he did play against lower competition than normal but that can be more attributed to injuries and the fact that Sullivan was giving some younger players a shot against elites to see where they were at. He is a beast and one of the best in the game. Especially considering he is a righty.

This was simply an excellent pick up for the Rangers who appear to be attempting a very quick retool with their moves. Much like Gavrikov I would scratch last season's play driving metrics and chalk it up to a poor situation in Vancouver. Pettersson is one of those low-key defensive D men that plays a very strong positional game in all three zones that rarely gets recognized. Coaches trust him against elite comp. because of his smooth skating ability and gap control often and he is very solid on the P.K. Sullivan coached him in Pittsburgh as well so he can be a strong voice in helping players adapt to the new system and support its effectiveness. Always nice to have for a newer coach.

Durzi brings a purer offensive flavor to New York. Sean is used heavily in the offensive zone and is a fine pair for a more defensively aware player like Petterson. Durzi is a significant upgrade on last year's second pair RD Will Borgen in that he can skate the puck out more efficiently when it gets on his stick and drive play with stronger passes. Durzi is also fairly adept on the power play that should give Gavrikov more 5 on 5 time which would be more ideal. 

Robertson has done well i his development to position himself to have eventual 2D upside or at the very least strong 3D. Matthew is another Rangers D man with a strong skating stride and solid play driving ability. He does get overwhelmed still against more elite players at times as he is still working out some positioning issues and can get caught reaching or holding as his low penalty score suggests, That score does take into account his physicality and aggressiveness which you want to see in a player with his size. In the 3D spot Robertson is more than serviceable though and has significant upside.

Another player for the Rangers that gets slagged quite a bit by fans it seems that probably is a little unwarranted. Although I can understand where many fans are coming from from a eye test perspective, the main issue really has been the Braden has had to play higher up the lineup than he has been ready for. Now that Durzi is on board Schneider can continue developing with more protected deployment and I think that will serve him well. Schneider is never going to be the game changer many might of thought he might become but a trajectory towards a serviceable RD that can be trusted to support more talented players is certainly likely. 

Conclusion

I feel New York has done a very good job upgrading their defense core from last year. This is a very mobile bunch that has a few more tools in the toolbox for coach Sullivan to work with. I could see nice jumps in effectiveness from the young players in Robertson and Schneider and with more support from the second pair that are a significant upgrade from lasy year we could see some big years from Gavrikov and Fox. I do have my concerns with some forward support issues that could make things look tough to the eye test for this D core, but if those are ironed out through better manpower in the forward depth area I think we see a much better-looking Rangers team this year. Overall, at least from a defenseman standpoint. This was nice work from Drury and his staff.