How Rangers can target weaknesses in Metropolitan Division rivals
The New York Rangers were an impressive 18-8-0 against their Metropolitan Division rivals last season, when they finished first in the division and won the Presidents’ Trophy with a franchise record 114 points. But can they be even better within the division in 2024-25?
Though the Rangers largely stood pat this offseason, it’s fair to say they remain the team to beat in the Metro. The New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals clearly upgraded their rosters. But other teams, notably the Carolina Hurricanes, don’t appear to be as good as they once were.
It’s worth examining if the Rangers can again dominate within the division. If so, that certainly helps their chances of winning another division title this upcoming season.
Related: How Rangers impacted by division rival ‘probably moving on’ from 2 key veterans
Breaking down Rangers strategy against division opponents
So, let’s take a look at how the Rangers can exploit weaknesses against each of the seven other teams in the Metropolitan Division in 2024-25.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Rangers were 2-1-0 against the Hurricanes last season, and impressively limited them to just three goals in the two victories. Carolina did explode for six goals in their one win.
During the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Rangers raced to a 3-0 series lead that included a pair of overtime victories winning the second-round clash in six games.
It’s a very different Carolina roster to last year’s. Nearly the entire left side of the ice will be different. Bradley Nadeau, William Carrier, and Eric Robinson are all slotting in as left wings. And former Rangers forward Jack Roslovic found his way onto the Hurricanes’ third line after he signed a one-year, $2.8 million contract.
So, that’s a slew of marginal moves after several major losses, notably Jake Guentzel and Teuvo Teravainen.
The perceived drop-off in talent might not be enough to keep Carolina from making the playoffs, but it’s enough to raise questions. Is Carolina still a top Stanley Cup contender, like they have been for the past six seasons? Will they score enough goals? What’s the trust level with Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov between the pipes? How much will Carolina miss Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei in their top four on defense?
There are a lot of questions to be answered in Carolina, and it’s up to the Rangers to expose those areas if they want to keep their title as Metropolitan Division champions.
The Blueshirts should focus on their top six producing against the Hurricanes this upcoming season. Carolina is still a complete team with a suffocating forecheck and strong offensive talent.
You can’t count on getting late-game heroics from Chris Kreider as the Rangers did in Game 6 against the Hurricanes. The Rangers will need the likes of Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck, who fell silent in the second half of the 2024 Eastern Conference Second Round, to meet the challenge and produce at their expected levels.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Rangers need to do a better job exposing the vast weaknesses on the Blue Jackets after splitting last year’s season series 2-2-0. A new coach and general manager in Columbus shouldn’t make much of a difference for a team languishing at the bottom of the division.
A big reason for that is a lack of change in Columbus’ goaltending department.
The relationship between Elvis Merzlikins and the Blue Jackets is tenuous after he and his agent publicly asked management for a “new scenario” for him and his career following a second straight season with a save percentage below .900.
While Russian rookie Daniil Tarasov may have edged Merzlikins on the stat sheet, neither goalie has proved they have what it takes to right the ship. There’s even a chance that 23-year-old Jet Greaves gets a few starts should Merzlikins continue to trend downward.
Sean Monahan took a five-year, $27.5 million contract with Columbus, rejecting that same offer from the Winnipeg Jets. A Calgary-style reunion with Johnny Gaudreau on the first line has come to Ohio.
The move ultimately shouldn’t make too much of a difference, though. Gaudreau led a Columbus team that averaged 2.85 goals per game with only 60 points last season. The first line has a little more bite in 2024-25, but the rest of the lineup still fails to match up to the rest of the Metropolitan Division.
How can the Rangers capitalize on the weak Blue Jackets?
Shoot the puck, and don’t stop shooting the puck. Force Merzlikins (or whoever Columbus throws in net) to make a save. The Rangers averaged 38 shots per game against the Blue Jackets and chased Merzlikins from the game with four goals in two periods in the third game of the season. Keep to that formula and they should be alright.
Simply, the Rangers are superior in every facet of the game. Don’t play down to the level of the opponent.
New Jersey Devils
The Rangers swept the season series against the Devils, winning all four games and averaging over four goals per game, with Artemi Panarin leading the way with seven points. New York didn’t take last season’s games lightly after it was shut out by New Jersey in Game 7 of the first-round playoff series in 2023.
But the Devils will be a more formidable opponent this season after dropping 31 points in the standings year over year in 2023-24. Shoddy goaltending and defensive play, paired with key injuries, blew up their season.
But the Devils landed solid veteran goalie Jacob Markstrom to replace a horrid group that allowed 3.43 goals per game, tied for fifth worst in the NHL last season. They also added two stout defensemen in Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon. And star defenseman Dougie Hamilton is healthy again this season.
With young phenom Jack Hughes returning from shoulder surgery alongside a healthy Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, Ondrej Palat and Nico Hischier, the top-six forward group will once again be among of the best in the League. Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald saw to restructuring his bottom half, reuniting with old friends Tomas Tatar and Stefan Noesen. This helps balance a lineup that’s criticized as being too top heavy.
How do the Rangers maintain their dominance over a resurgent Devils team?
It comes from the bottom six forwards. The top two lines for each team are on fairly equal footing, so the third line will be the one to watch. Devils center Erik Haula now has the support of Tatar and Noesen, rather than struggling to produce alongside Ondrej Palat and Alexander Holtz.
Filip Chytil will have his hands full with this line, and it will be up to the two-way skill of Kaapo Kakko and Will Cuylle’s ability as a strong power forward to outwork the Devils this upcoming season.
New York Islanders
The Rangers took three of four games from the Isles last season, two of which were settled outside of regulation. That includes the Stadium Series overtime winner courtesy of Artemi Panarin.
The Islanders are similar to the Rangers in the sense that their roster remains mostly unchanged. They did add speedy former Blueshirts forward Anthony Duclair, and the Rangers added forwards Reilly Smith and Sam Carrick.
The teams are also similar in that key veterans have moved on. The Islanders didn’t re-sign “Identity Line’ stalwarts Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin. The Rangers waived two-time Stanley Cup winner Barclay Goodrow.
So, both teams are looking to play to their strengths once again. The Rangers are banking on their prolific offense and special teams, and the Islanders are hoping to return to their calling card for the past half decade – a shutdown defense.
Top-tier goaltending supported by the defensive pairing of Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech made the Islanders a nightmare to play against in recent years, especially under Barry Trotz. The Patrick Roy system seeks to emulate that defensive success with improved and healthier pieces on the blue line coming into next year.
Pelech and Pulock only played 58 games last season, while Noah Dobson had a breakout year with 70 points. Alex Romanov continues to develop as their big man with a strong slapshot.
The Rangers have to count on the Islanders being stronger defensively this season, and also cannot count on star goaltender Ilya Sorokin to have another down year. Semyon Varlamov rounds out what could be the best goalie tandem in the League.
What’s the key for the Rangers, then? Capitalize on the man advantage. The Islanders’ penalty kill was the worst in the NHL last season, an abysmal 71.49 percent. The Rangers, on the other hand, boasted the third best power play at 26.42 percent in the regular season.
Wielding arguably the best PP1 unit in the league (and certainly in the division), the Rangers must exploit the Islanders’ weak PK1 and cash in on the man advantage to give them a significant advantage.
Philadelphia Flyers
After taking the season series with a record of 3-1-0, it’s clear the Rangers had no problem matching up against the Flyers last season.
Philadelphia is not a very good team on paper. They exceeded expectations last year because John Tortorella had them playing a frustrating brand of hockey that, while not fun for either team or anyone watching, resulted in more wins than the team seemed capable of heading into the season. Nevertheless, they showed their true colors at the end of the year and faltered in March and April.
In contrast to their Pennsylvania counterpart, Philadelphia has faced the facts and are in the midst of a rebuild. The turnaround is coming quicker than expected with the arrival of Matvei Michkov, the No. 7 overall pick from the 2023 NHL Draft, this season.
The KHL star is an offensive powerhouse, and will likely slot into the second line with Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett. The average age of that line will be 23-years-old and will have an abundance of scoring talent.
The problem remains that the rest of the lineup remains untouched, including their unproven goaltending rotation of Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov. Neither goaltender is showing they have what it takes to be an NHL goaltender, much less a starting one. It could be the worst tandem in the League.
Ersson and Fedotov rode below the .900 save percentage mark, despite a low sample size from Fedotov, but don’t expect either goaltender to have a breakout season. It seems as though Philadelphia will continue to trudge through the growing pains and bide their time developing young talent this year.
Therefore, the Rangers’ goal-scoring prowess should have no problem handling the green Flyers on both sides of the puck. They’ve only got to watch out for the speed of the Flyers young core, though. Keep an eye on the likes of Cam York, Jamie Drysdale, Tippett, Michkov and Frost. They could be seeing them for years to come.
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins are in a difficult spot, and it will be up to the Rangers to exploit their weaknesses after defeating Pittsburgh twice on the road and losing once at Madison Square Garden last season.
GM Kyle Dubas refused to enter a full rebuild after missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs two years in a row, leaving an aging team searching for answers. If the great Sidney Crosby can’t carry them into the dance after putting up 94 points, there’s something amiss in Pittsburgh.
Evgeni Malkin is coming off a disappointing 67-point season despite playing all 82 games. He’s heading into his age-38 season and is showing signs of slowing down.
Malkin is a microcosm of a larger problem, though – the Penguins were a healthy team last season, but their depth was greatly lacking. Erik Karlsson, Brian Rust, and Kris Letang all finished under the 60-point mark.
The Rangers should be able to capitalize whenever Crosby isn’t on the ice. They are much deeper up front, on the blue line and better in goal. You don’t want to let the Penguins get going on special teams, but 5-on-5, the Rangers should be able to handle the Penguins with relative ease.
Washington Capitals
The Capitals are in an interesting position this season after splitting their season series with the Rangers in 2023-24, 2-2-0.
Of course, that was in the regular season. In the postseason, the Rangers swept the Capitals in the first round.
An aging core of Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, and 37-year-old T.J. Oshie, who has suffered from recurring back issues and hinted at a possible retirement if he couldn’t resolve them, placed the Capitals in a precarious spot. But they aggressively remade their roster this offseason.
It’s a gamble, to be sure. The additions of Pierre-Luc Dubois and Andrew Mangiapane to the second line aren’t surefire indicators of success.
Dubois is and enigma and coming off a massively disappointing season with the Los Angeles Kings. They dumped his eight-year, $68 million contract on the Capitals in exchange for their underperforming goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
The Capitals also took a chance on Mangiapane in a trade with the Calgary Flames for a second-round pick. He’s also looking to rebound after scoring only 14 goals last season.
Washington is much stronger on the back end, though.
Landing Jakob Chychrun and shutdown defenseman Matt Roy is massive for their blue line, especially after posting a minus-36 goal differential in 2023-24. The substitution of Logan Thompson for Kuemper in goal is also a net positive.
What do the Rangers need to change if they want to take the season series this time around?
They must improve on their 2.25 goals per game last season against the Capitals, especially with Washington’s enhanced blue line and goaltending.
Getting around their lethal pairings of Chychrun/Carlson and Rasmus Sandin/Roy will be crucial. If Washington’s offseason gambles pay off, this matchup could prove one of the toughest in the division for New York.
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