The Rangers are a little less stacked, but they still offer elite fantasy options as their quest for the Cup continues.

Outlook

Last season:
47-22-13, 3rd Metro, 9th overall. Eliminated Round 1 by New Jersey, 4-3.
3.33 GF/GP (12th), 2.63 GA/GP (4th), 24.1 PP% (7th), 81.2 PK% (13th)
49.80 5v5 CF% (17th), 54.05 5v5 GF% (10th), 49.10 5v5 xGF% (22nd)

The Rangers probably would’ve gone further in the playoffs if not for this silly divisional format we have right now. (I needed to get that off my chest). That, and making one move too many, trying to fit both Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, neither of whom looked 100 percent comfortable.

The Rangers enter the 2023-24 season a little less stacked, but perhaps a little more cohesive. They made few changes to their roster and the backbone remains the same: Igor Shesterkin. He remains their MVP and he’s easily a top-five fantasy goalie, a perennial Vezina candidate and a worthy successor to King Henrik.

The Rangers have five players each ranked in the top 100 in both the fantasy rankings and the banger league rankings, with Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Shesterkin at the top, and Adam Fox and Vincent Trocheck a little lower on the list. Trocheck, along with Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller, will rank higher in the banger league list due to their hits and blocked shots. With Fox generating most of their offense from the blueline, and the addition of Erik Gustafsson to aid the power play, Trouba and Miller’s offensive upside may be limited to just even-strength production, hurting their overall fantasy value.

Where the Rangers can really push themselves over the hump – both in real life and fantasy – is the continued development of top picks Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafrenière. Kakko made major headway last season playing all 82 games and finished with 18 goals and 40 points, and that was with third-line minutes and minimal power play time. His possession metrics have always been good and he passes the eye test despite the lack of production. Entering his fifth season, it looks like he’s really hitting his stride and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him go 25-25 this season. The Rangers just need to play him more.

The case for Lafrenière is a little more concerning. His lack of high-end speed and agility holds him back in a league that’s getting faster than ever, and he’s shown less offensive upside than Kakko in a top-six role. Lafrenière’s improvement last season wasn’t as stark as Kakko’s, but it’s still trending in the right direction… but more so as a two-way winger than a scoring winger. Lafrenière’s banger league ranking is higher despite the low-ceiling offense due to his physical play, reaching 141 hits last season. We might need to re-calibrate and project Lafrenière as more of a Brandon Hagel-type top-six left winger than the typical, offensively-gifted first overall picks we’ve seen in the past.

The projected lineup below has broken up the ‘Kid Line’ and split up Panarin and Trocheck, who played on separate lines to close out the season. If Filip Chytil becomes the No. 2 center on the scoring line, leaving Trocheck and Lafrenière in more of a matchup role, it’s easy to see Chytil turn into a 60-point player after a breakout 22-goal, 45-point last season. He’s ranked outside the top 200 right now, but Chytil could turn into a very valuable fantasy player.

Projected Lineup

Chris Kreider – Mika Zibanejad – Blake Wheeler
Artemi Panarin – Filip Chytil – Kaapo Kakko
Alexis Lafrenière – Vincent Trocheck – Tyler Pitlick
Barclay Goodrow – Nick Bonino – Jimmy Vesey

Ryan Lindgren – Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller – Jacob Trouba
Erik Gustafsson – Braden Schneider

Igor Shesterkin – Jonathan Quick

PP1
Kreider – Zibanejad – Panarin – Trocheck – Fox
PP2
Lafrenière – Chytil – Kakko – Wheeler – Gustafsson

Player Rankings

The Hockey News Fantasy Guide Top 3 Point Projections:
Artemi Panarin, 90 points
Mika Zibanejad, 90 points
Adam Fox, 73 points

(Purchase your copy of the NHL Fantasy Guide 2023-24 to see all player projections)

Top 300 Ranked Rangers (Full List, including individual player write-ups):
20. Mika Zibanejad, C
24. Igor Shesterkin, G
26. Artemi Panarin, LW
73. Adam Fox, D
99. Vincent Trocheck, C
119. Chris Kreider, LW
193. Kaapo Kakko, RW
210. Filip Chytil, C
228. Blake Wheeler, RW
280. Alexis Lafrenière, LW
293. K’Andre Miller, D

Top 300 Ranked Rangers (Banger League) (Full List):
22. Mika Zibanejad, C
28. Artemi Panarin, LW
39. Igor Shesterkin, G
53. Vincent Trocheck, C
58. Adam Fox, D
110. Chris Kreider, LW
116. Jacob Trouba, D
186. K’Andre Miller, D
233. Blake Wheeler, RW
237. Filip Chytil, C
255. Alexis Lafrenière, LW
287. Kaapo Kakko, RW

All positions courtesy Yahoo Fantasy.

Breakout Star

I’m sticking with Kaapo Kakko for the reasons noted in the outlook. Playing on a line with Chytil and Panarin will help him generate more offense, and without Tarasenko and Kane ahead of him, it also gives Kakko a chance to move further up the lineup, perhaps on a line with Zibanejad, where Kakko can operate as the main triggerman.

Regression Candidate

The Rangers still have plenty of runway in their Stanley Cup window, but I would be surprised if Mika Zibanejad scored close to 40 goals again. His 20 power-play goals last season was tied-third in the league but was tied-71st (with Kakko) with only 18 even-strength goals.

Power-play production can be sustainable and repeatable, but Zibanejad has never profiled as an elite goal scorer. A slight reduction in goals, factoring in a slight regression in shooting percentage, but maintaining a 50-something pace in assists still puts Zibanejad in the territory of 80 to 90 points. He remains the top-ranked Ranger in fantasy.

Goalies

No real thought has to be put into this – Igor Shestekin is an elite fantasy goalie. He is the fifth-ranked goalie in the fantasy rankings, but three of them – Connor Hellebuyck, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Ilya Sorokin – are ranked higher due to a bigger workload. On a per-game basis, Shesterkin could easily be No. 1.

Shesterkin’s 110 starts over the past two seasons ranks seventh in the league, 20 behind Hellebuyck and Juuse Saros, even though Shesterkin and Vasilevskiy are tied for the most wins with 73. I have a feeling Shesterkin’s workload might increase significantly this season – at least 60 starts – considering how unreliable Jonathan Quick was last season.