Last Word on Hockey’s Puck Drop Previews are back for the 2024-25 campaign. As the season gets closer, Last Word will preview each team’s current outlook and stories to watch for the upcoming year. We’ll also project how things will go for each team throughout the season. Today, we’re previewing the 2024-25 edition of the New York Rangers.
2024-25 New York Rangers Season
A Recap of the 2023-24 New York Rangers Season
How good were the Rangers last year? Where do we even begin? We’re optimistic about the Blueshirts potential in the upcoming 2024-25 campaign, and it’s easy to picture another deep playoff run. They are coming off a season winning their fourth President’s Trophy as the league leader in team points. They won previous ones in 2015, 1994 and 1992. It’s no secret last season was a good one for the Blueshirts overall, since they had more wins than any other team in the league (55). Their goaltending and defence were potent, as they were one of the teams that got scored on the least (229 goals against). But let’s also emphasize their offence, since they scored 282 goals, in sixth place in the league last season.
We can thank Rangers general manager and president Chris Drury for roster additions such as star veteran centreman, 31-year-old Vincent Trocheck (who won’t be a UFA until 2029), goaltender Jonathan Quick, and following the 2023-24 season, veteran forwards Reilly Smith and Sam Carrick. Hopefully, their great vets plus their promising young players such as Alexis Lafreniere, K’Andre Miller, and Will Cuylle will give them a good shot at another deep playoff run and possibly Prince of Wales Trophy and Stanley Cup.
Competition in the Metropolitan Division
The Blueshirts dominated most of their division in the 2023-24 regular season. Aside from their east coast rival the Carolina Hurricanes, who had 111 points with a record of 52 wins, 23 losses and seven overtime losses, the Rangers were well ahead of the remainder of the Metropolitan Division in points. This should give us high hopes for making the playoffs again.
A Recap of the 2023-24 Off-Season
On June 18, the Blueshirts placed 31-year-old right-winger Barclay Goodrow on waivers. The very next day, his former long-time team, the San Jose Sharks, claimed the Toronto native. The Blueshirts 2024 playoff run was the best playoffs offensively of Goodrow’s NHL career, with him notching eight points (six goals & two assists) in 16 games, with a remarkable 40.0 shooting percentage in that time. Two of those goals were game-winners. He also notched an overtime goal to beat the Florida Panthers during Game 2 of this year’s Eastern Final.
Also, a big re-signing that happened over the summer was that of 26-year-old blueliner Ryan Lindgren. On July 30, 2024, he signed his current one-year contract worth $4.5M.
Projected Lineup for 2024-25 New York Rangers Season
Forwards
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere
Kreider-Zibanejad-Smith
Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko
Vesey-Carrick-Rempe
Top Six Forwards for 2024-25 New York Rangers Season
The 2024-25 New York Rangers season is projected to see two new players on the forward lineups, one top six, Reilly Smith, and the other bottom six, centreman Sam Carrick.
Reilly Smith
A big July 1, 2024 trade saw a deal for Smith, a Vegas Golden Knights Stanley Cup champion. Smith is projected to be a second-line right-winger alongside star centre Mika Zibanejad and left-winger Chris Kreider. Smith did not have his best NHL season offensively with the Pittsburgh Penguins last year (13 goals & 27 assists in 76 games). But Smiths projected linemates Zibanejad and Kreider combined for 82 assists last year, as well as 65 goals, as such, one should have faith in this second line’s scoring ability as a whole.
Artemi Panarin
Alongside goaltender Igor Shesterkin, 32-year-old left-winger and shot-sniper Artemi “Breadman” Panarin is the biggest name on the Blueshirts roster right now. His assets are offensive production, shot accuracy, and power play, with him projected to be on the first power play unit this year in addition to the top forward line. Panarin’s 16.2 overall shooting percentage last season puts him in the league’s 92nd percentile for his position. The Blueshirts scored 282 goals in total last season, sitting in sixth place in the league, which means Breadman scored just over 17 per cent of them (49).
Wingers Alexis Lafreniere and Breadman on the top line together in 2024-25 may be a lethal combination for high-danger opportunities and scoring from the slot. Panarin had an incredible 36.6 high-danger shooting percentage in 2023-24. With Panarin’s 71 apples (assists) this past season and natural offensive talent, it is easy to imagine him providing all manners of scoring opportunities to Lafreniere and star centreman Vincent Trocheck who can obviously capitalize. Offensively, Panarin’s NHL career has never been better, since he scored an NHL career-high 49 goals and 120 points in 82 games last year.
Alexis Lafreniere
The 2023-24 season saw a big breakout for the 22-year-old Lafreniere. The Quebec native is a fast skater and accurate shooter who can get close to the net, move around defenders, and score on high-danger opportunities. Throughout the 2023-24 season, the young player made 84 high-danger shots and scored 14 high-danger goals for a 16.7 shooting percentage. Lafreniere more than earns his projected top six spot on the first forward line alongside Trocheck and Panarin. The young man’s stats have steadily increased over his four seasons with the Blueshirts so far, and the only way to go is up.
Florida Panthers – New York Rangers – May 26, 2024 | NHL.com
Bottom Six – “The Youth Group”
A youth group makes up the bottom six forwards for this New York Rangers season. The exceptions are 31-year-old left-winger Jimmy Vesey and 32-year-old centre Sam Carrick. But the other four are 25 and under, with three paired up on the third line. The young guys all seem promising. Will Cuylle, a 22-year-old left-winger, is a highly physical player who notched 249 hits in 81 games last year (~3 per game). This makes sense since Cuylle stands 6’3 and weighs 210 pounds. He is similar to his peer. The even larger, 6’7, 241-pound Matt Rempe, projected to be right-winger on the fourth line, can also use his size, physicality and presence to generate more scoring chances. Cuylle joins young linemates – centreman Filip Chytil and right-winger Kaapo Kakko. Although Kakko struggled offensively last season (13 goals & 6 assists in 61 games), he missed many games due to an injury.
Plus, he’s young, and him plus all the others will hopefully shine in this year and beyond.
Defence
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Jones-Schneider
Top Four
The Blueshirts defence is strong in the stats down the lineups. Like a good defenceman should be, 26-year-old Ryan “Lindy” Lindgren is physical and a shot-blocker. In the 2023-24 season, Lindy notched 103 blocks, 114 hits, and 14 takeaways. He was re-signed and guaranteed another year. Hopefully, he can repeat and exceed these numbers in this coming season. His pairmate is expected to be star, James Norris Memorial Trophy-winning defenceman Adam “Foxy” Fox, another “worth it” expensive defenceman ($9.5M-cap hit). Foxy’s two-way defenceman abilities (17 goals & 56 assists in 72 games last year) are just the beginning of the discussion around him. Foxy’s defensive numbers shine too, with 123 blocks, 44 hits, and a whopping 47 takeaways.
Projected to be on the second pairing, team captain Jacob “Troubs” Trouba, who recently hit 30 years old, amassed 183 blocks, 191 hits, and 13 takeaways last year. Troubs’ young projected linemate, 24-year-old K’Andre Miller, shined in physicality and takeaways, with 148 hits and 57 takeaways in 80 games.
The top four seem robust. Now, let’s go over the two on the bottom.
Bottom Pair
The bottom blueliner pair will see two young men, 24-year-old Zac Jones and almost 23-year-old Braden Schneider. Schneider has played two full seasons with the Blueshirts, notching good defensive numbers last year (133 blocks, 167 hits & 25 takeaways). For Schneider, “keep doing what you’re doing” is key. As for Jones, he only played 31 games with the Rangers last year, and got 15 takeaways. This would make about 40 takeaways at an 82-game pace, so the young man has good potential.
Goaltending
- Shesterkin
- Quick
No surprises here. This speaks for itself. The Vezina Trophy-winning, 28-year-old goalie Igor Shesterkin already leads Rangers history for save percentage in a season for a goalie who’s played 25 games or more. He notched a .935 save percentage in 2021-22, the year he won the Vezina. The second is the veteran-and-a-half, 38-year-old netminder Jonathan Quick, whose time with the Los Angeles Kings is etched in NHL history. Quicker won 18 of his 27 regular-season games with the Blueshirts last year, with a .911 save percentage and 2.62 goals-against average. It is not news that excellent goaltending sits behind the defencemen.
Player to Watch for 2024-25 New York Rangers Season
Reilly Smith
It will be interesting to see how a proven playoff performer like Smith (specifically with the Golden Knights) may do on the second forward line. We are talking about a player with six seasons with 50 or more points. Considering the offensive talent he will skate beside, there may be some magic to watch.
Predictions for 2024-25 New York Rangers Season
Young stars poised to shine brighter, prime-of-life players doing well, and veterans who still have it, the Rangers have a bit of everything. With the roster tweaks over the summer and continued development of everyone involved, it seems fair to have high expectations of them.
Prediction: First in the Metropolitan Division
Main Photo: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
