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Surprise! The Rangers Are Scoring
by PuckStopsHere on 10/14/09 at 10:32 AM ET
Comments (2)
Early season trends often do not last for the whole season, but one of the more surprising ones so far is that the New York Rangers are scoring. They have more goals than any other team in the NHL with 24. They have averaged four goals per game, which ties them for the league lead with the Atlanta Thrashers (who have fewer games played). This is a surprise because last season the Rangers scored the fifth fewest goals with 210. They had the least potent offence among teams that made the playoffs in 2009.
It looked like things would be worse this season as most of their top offensive players from last year are not returning. Nikolai Zherdev, Scott Gomez, Markus Naslund and Nik Antropov were among the highest scoring Rangers last year (among returning players only Chris Drury outscored some of those players) and all have moved on to other teams. The question of who was going to score goals for the Rangers was a big one. It was one I wrote about this summer.
The question is who is scoring? For a large part the answer is guys who were not on the Rangers last year. Leading the team in scoring with nine points is Marian Gaborik, who was added as a free agent from Minnesota. Gaborik should be a good scorer, but it is unclear that he will remain healthy all season. Next up is Vinny Prospal. He is another free agent. The Tampa Bay Lightning bought him out this summer (he would be their second highest scorer if his seven points were in Tampa). Third is Brandon Dubinsky, who remains with the team despite a lengthy contract dispute this summer. Dubinsky has been the top remaining scorer for the Rangers. Next up are free agent signee Ales Kotalik and rookie Michael Del Zotto, who have five points each. Another rookie, Artem Anisimov is among the Rangers with four points.
It is highly unlikely that the Rangers will remain the top scoring team in the NHL as we get further into the season, but it seems reasonable to think that their offence is better than we expected. They probably will not be a bottom feeding team offensively. Their newcomers will likely not continue scoring at this rate - as several players project to having their best career seasons offensively at this early point - but they can score and will likely keep the New York Rangers from being among the lowest scoring teams in the NHL.
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Tags: Marian+Gaborik, New+York+Rangers, Vaclav+Prospal,
Comments
Wait..... wait for it..... here it comes..... any game now.....
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Gaborik’s injury.
Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 10/14/09 at 03:19 PM ET
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I think the very notion that the Rangers’ offense would be bottom feeding was absurd from the very get-go.
The biggest component of the Rangers’ offense right now is Gaborik; and naturally the concern is that he won’t be health, which is a completely fair assessment.
Even without Gaborik, though, the team is FAR better offensively this year than last. Kotalik and Prospal make good upgrades over Zherdev and Naslund; both of whom looked miserable under Tortorella. Mike Del Zotto and Matt Gilroy bring offensive potency to the blue line, especially on the power play (The Del Zotto-Kotalik combo along the blueline has been very good). Callahan exploded under Tortorella, and was easily the best Rangers of the second half. Dubinsky continues to thrive; and even without Gaborik, he still has great chemistry with Prospal. A healthy and contained Avery is always a threat to score goals in bunches. Brashear and Boyle bring sandpaper as well as more offensive upside than the Sjostrom-Betts-Orr fourth line of last year.
Most important of all, though: Tortorella. This team has a new look, new philosophy, and a new plan. He’s had a summer to get the guys he wants, put the team in shape the way he wants, and engrain the philosophy he wants. His system by it’s very nature is far more conducive to scoring goals than Renney’s system ever was.
We’d be in the lower middle third without Gaborik, I fathom. Not great, but not as bad as last year. Factor in some stellar goaltending from Hank and Staal-Girardi providing an excellent shutdown pairing, there’s no reason to think that the Rangers still aren’t a playoff team. Home ice advantage would be a pipe dream, but they’d make it.
Posted by Joe Ranger Fan from New York on 10/14/09 at 10:34 AM ET