Rangers captain Jacob Trouba laid it out pretty neatly last week while talking to reporters at training camp. The Blueshirts are running it all back with the bulk of last year’s final four team and this season is likely “the last crack for this core,” as Trouba phrased it.
He’s right, of course. But before we see what that potential final chance looks like, the Rangers have work to do on the ice, naturally – preseason games have already started and the Rangers beat the Bruins, 3-2, Sunday night, helped by a Filip Chytil goal – and players are grinding through camp practices.
There’s still a few questions to answer in the preseason, too. Some of them will be settled by the time the regular season begins on Oct. 9 in Pittsburgh. But we might need regular season data for others, including bigger, thematic ones such as whether the Blueshirts can respond to the pressure that keeps mounting after a strong core fell short of the Stanley Cup again.
Here’s a look at six questions swirling around the Rangers in the preseason:
Fil-ing it to the rim?
Injury wrecked Chytil’s 2023-24 season and he played in only 10 games, though he returned after a lengthy absence to appear in six playoff games. What will he be this season? Sunday night was promising – he had a goal and an assist and six shots on goal. Last year, Chytil didn’t score once. The 25-year-old has been deemed healthy, so he could add a scoring boost to the Rangers, especially if he can continue the leap that started in 2022-23, when he had 22 goals and 23 assists.
Winging it
The Rangers need to find a regular right wing on their top line to partner with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Who’s it going to be? If you look back at recent trade deadlines, the Rangers always seem to be tinkering here. Reilly Smith, who was acquired from the Penguins for draft picks, is a strong candidate to start with Zibanejad and Kreider this season. Reilly, 33, is a 13-year vet who brings Stanley Cup chops – he scored 26 goals for the champion Vegas Golden Knights in 2022-23. He had 40 points (13 goals) for Pittsburgh last year. Kaapo Kakko’s ascension hit a bump last season, but he’s only 23 and might be an option with a breakthrough camp. Alexis Lafrenière is coming off his best season playing on a line rich with chemistry alongside Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck. Could he switch lines?
Zac Jones and the sixth
Zac Jones was a dependable seventh defenseman last season, skating in 31 games and delivering two goals and seven assists with a plus/minus of one. Now, the 23-year-old former third-round pick is perhaps poised to have a more regular role as the sixth defenseman. He could be challenged by Chad Ruhwedel, a 33-year-old who appeared in five games for the Rangers last year after a trade and brings parts of 12 seasons of NHL experience to the ice. If Jones gets the job, he could team with Trouba on the third pair behind the top duo of Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren and the likely second combo of K’Andre Miller and Braden Schneider.
What’s the (new) deal with Igor?
Igor Shesterkin, the goalie who is central to any Rangers success, is entering the last year of his contract. He’d love to stay, saying as much to reporters at training camp. But until a new deal is hammered out, there will be lingering questions and even Shesterkin acknowledged, “You never know what can happen.” Getting something done before the start of the regular season would not only make both parties happy, it would limit the noise around his future as the Rangers hunt a Cup. No noise is good news. Do we have to even point out how important Shesterkin has been to the runs to the Eastern Conference Final in two of the last three seasons?
Laf graph
When it comes to Lafrenière, all signs are pointing up after his terrific ‘23-’24 season, which included career highs in goals (28), assists (29) and points (57). He added eight goals in 16 playoff games, too, tied with Trocheck and Kreider for the team lead. And Lafrenière scored some pretty entertaining goals all year. Can he push it even further and reach (maybe shatter?) all those lofty expectations that came with being the first overall pick in 2020? That would be a huge Blueshirt boost. It’s all gushing, no grousing about Lafrenière now. And he turns just 23 next month.
NHL jam
This may not be something they can answer outright in training camp, but the Rangers must display enough physicality over the course of this season to combat the size and snarl of teams such as the Florida Panthers, who knocked them out in the Eastern Conference Final last year. Fan fave Matt Rempe, the rugged, enormous forward, doubtless figures into that effort, but the Rangers might need to show more sharp edges this season. Sandpaper, anyone?
