Despite stellar defense and goaltending, the Rangers' offense is sputtering, leaving them struggling to find the back of the net and win games.
After surprisingly plummeting down the Eastern Conference standings last season, the New York Rangers needed to make a statement coming out of the gate this year.
Unfortunately, six games into this season, they made a statement with their inability to score goals. The Rangers' 1.83 goals-for average is the second-worst in the NHL, better only than the Calgary Flames (1.80).
There’s really nothing wrong with the Rangers’ defense, as they’ve put up a league-best 1.50 goals-against average. Rangers star goaltender Igor Shesterkin has been every bit the superstar he’s being paid to be, posting an astonishing .962 save percentage and 1.00 GAA in five appearances.
Shesterkin is entering the first season of his whopping eight-year, $11.5-million contract as the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history. So far, he's kept his team in every contest.
So yes, there’s no question the problem in Manhattan revolves around the Rangers’ offense.
This is a relatively new issue, as the Rangers had the NHL’s 12th-best offense last year, scoring 3.11 goals per game. The Rangers did have five players who scored at least 20 goals last season, but one of the problems may be that Blueshirts GM Chris Drury traded one of them – veteran left winger Chris Kreider – to the Anaheim Ducks without replacing his offense.
Otherwise, while the Rangers do have some talented forwards, all of them are in major slumps.
How To Explain The Rangers' Lack Of Scoring
The weekend is here and so is Ask The Maven. Today's question is from Cynthia Goldup from The Bronx. Take it away, Cynthia:
Aside from Kreider, last season's top goal scorers for the Rangers were star left winger Artemi Panarin (37), centers Vincent Trocheck (26) and Mika Zibanejad (20), and left winger Will Cuylle (20).
In six games so far this season, Panarin and Trocheck haven't scored yet, and Zibanejad and Cuylle have one goal each.
All things considered, then, it’s no wonder the Rangers have a 2-3-1 record this season.
In both of their two wins, the Rangers have combined for 10 goals. In their other four games, they have one goal in total.
Getting shut out completely in half of their games this season is a worrying harbinger of what’s ahead for the Rangers, and they’re going to be in big trouble if this offensive trend continues much longer.
In our Metropolitan Division pre-season prediction, we didn’t have the Rangers as a Stanley Cup playoff team.
Granted, there’s too much talent for the Blueshirts to finish at the very bottom of the standings, but the Rangers’ questionable depth was exposed last season.
Therefore, they may only prove to be a 'mushy middle' team this year – too sub-standard to make the post-season, and too good to get near the top of the NHL draft.
It's still early in the campaign, but after a subpar start to the year, they’ve made the immediate road ahead much more difficult than it needed to be. If their offense doesn’t rebound sooner than later, their fate this season may be sealed – and not in a positive way.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.