New York Rangers 2017 Season Preview: Draft Utopia

New York Rangers 2017 Season Preview

A goaltender named Henrik Lundqvist is the main reason the Rangers are as good as they are. As long as he plays the Rangers have a shot.

Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 9/23/2017.

New York Rangers Line 1 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Chris Kreider	Left Wing	75	6-foot-3-inches	226-pounds	28	25	53
Mika Zibanejad	Center	56	6-foot-1-inches	202-pounds	14	23	37
Mats Zuccarello	Right Wing	78	5-foot-7-inches	179-pounds	15	44	59

New York Rangers Line 2 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Michael Grabner	Left Wing	76	6-foot-1-inches	188-pounds	27	13	40
Kevin Hayes	Center	76	6-foot-5-inches	225-pounds	17	32	49
Rick Nash	Right Wing	67	6-foot-4-inches	213-pounds	23	15	38

New York Rangers Line 3 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Jimmy Vesey	Left Wing	80	6-foot-3-inches	206-pounds	16	11	27
J.T. Miller	Center	82	6-foot-1-inches	205-pounds	22	34	56
Pavel Buchnevich	Right Wing	41	6-foot-2-inches	191-pounds	8	12	20

New York Rangers Line 4 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Matt Puempel	Left Wing	40	6-foot-1-inches	205-pounds	3	6	9
David Desharnais	Center	49	5-foot-7-inches	180-pounds	6	8	14
Jesper Fast	Right Wing	68	6-foot-0-inches	185-pounds	6	15	21

New York Rangers Forwards Review: New York has some talented forwards. For some reason they feel thinner offensively then they have been in previous years. If the Rangers do not get back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs it will be due to their offense.

The Rangers ranked 4th in goals scored and 11th on the power play in 2016-2017. I expect the Rangers to get worse in both categories on offense in 2017-2018.

New York Rangers Defensive Lines

Player	Line	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Kevin Shattenkirk	Line 1	80	6-foot-0-inches	200-pounds	13	43	56
Ryan McDonagh	Line 1	77	6-foot-1-inches	213-pounds	6	36	42
Nick Holden	Line 2	80	6-foot-4-inches	214-pounds	11	23	34
Brady Skjei	Line 2	80	6-foot-3-inches	211-pounds	5	34	39
Marc Staal	Line 3	72	6-foot-4-inches	209-pounds	3	7	10
Brendan Smith	Line 3	51	6-foot-3-inches	211-pounds	3	6	9

New York Rangers Defensemen Review The New York Rangers defense is one of the best in the NHL. The Rangers' ranked 13th in goals allowed and 19th in penalty killing in 2016-2017. The Rangers have a good core of defensemen, but will have to do much better in that category if they want to make the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Draft Utopia Between The Pipes Goalie Tracker

Starting Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Henrik Lundqvist	New York Rangers	55	31-20-4	2 Shutouts	.910	2.74 GAA

Backup Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Ondrej Pavelec	New York Rangers	8	4-4-0	0 Shutouts	.888	3.55 GAA

New York Rangers Goaltender Review Henrik Lundqvist is easily a top 5 goalie in the NHL. They don't have a good backup now though and Lundqvist has declined the last two years statistically despite being a great NHL goalie.

New York Rangers Prospect Pool: The New York Rangers are very thin with their prospect pool. The Rangers need to rebuild their AHL team and get some NHL draft picks up to the minors in Hartford.

New York Rangers 2017-2018 Prediction

The Rangers strength last year was at forward. That's now their weakness. I like the addition of Shattenkirk since it makes this Rangers team three lines deep on defense. Unfortunately their penalty killing struggled last year. Lundqvist has declined statistically the last two seasons as well which is why I say the Rangers will be competitive, but will find a way to miss the playoffs near the end.