The Rangers open up the 2022-23 regular season tonight at MSG against Tampa Bay.
The Rangers are expected to start with these lines:
- Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Kaapo Kakko
- Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Vitali Kravtsov
- Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil, Barclay Goodrow
- Dryden Hunt, Ryan Carpenter, Jimmy Vesey
- Ryan Lindgren, Adam Fox
- K’Andre Miller, Jacob Trouba
- Zac Jones, Braden Schneider
Adam Rotter: The season is here and so are the expectations for this group. They aren’t sneaking up on anyone anymore, they are now experienced after a run to the Eastern Conference Finals and for the first time since around 2016/2017 there are legitimate expectations for playoff success.
They have the best goalie in the league, one of the very best defensemen in Adam Fox, All-Stars in the top-six with Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin, possible consistent breakouts from the members of The Kid Line and a player in K’Andre Miller that seems like he may take the biggest step of them all.
Is this team better right now than the team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals? Vincent Trocheck replaces Ryan Strome, but there are still questions about who replaces Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano. Outside of members of The Kid Line stepping into those spots, Vitali Kravtsov has a chance, Sammy Blais could step in and maybe even Jimmy Vesey. It will be by committee to start the season as they see who fits where and how best to fill the roles left by two important members of the Rangers run in the playoffs. Of course, how things start is not how things will remain and while we have all been looking forward to tonight to get things started, the Rangers will remain sort of an unfinished project until the trade deadline. A lot needs to happen between now and then and if Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere take big steps then major reinforcements may not be needed. But even if those two take steps, if the Rangers have the opportunity to get Patrick Kane at the trade deadline, they are going to do so. Returning Kane to the right side of Artemi Panarin would give the chemistry/bromance of Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad a run for it’s money. What they give up to get Kane and whether they could ultimately sign him will get figured out down the line, but if the Rangers can add a true difference maker, with Stanley Cup winning experience, they will do it.
On the ice, the Rangers will hopefully not have to rely on Igor Shesterkin to win them games as much as they did last year. He’ll still be incredible and probably win another Vezina, but the more games the Rangers win without needing to solely rely on him, the better overall team they will be. The same goes for their 5-on-5 play and PP. The Rangers should still have an extremely dangerous PP, but they need to be better at 5-on-5 and find more ways to generate offense there. They should be fun to watch again this year and should find themselves in a similar position in the division as last year. They and Carolina should be battling for the division again and second place, if not the division title itself, should be a very realistic goal.