Five Rangers questions as the playoffs inch closer (2024)

NEW YORK — The Rangers put a Presidents’ Trophy graphic on the video board after Monday’s win against Ottawa, but players and coach Peter Laviolette quickly pointed their focus to the playoffs in postgame comments.

“At the end of the day we’ve got to wake up tomorrow and turn the page and start getting ready for why we did all that work,” Laviolette said Monday. “And that’s the playoffs.”

The Rangers haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1994 and haven’t been to a Final since 2014. This season’s roster is as complete as the team has had in recent years, raising both hopes and expectations entering the playoffs. Here are five questions to consider as Game 1 against the Washington Capitals inches nearer.

Does Laviolette make lineup tweaks?

The Rangers had three healthy scratches Monday against Ottawa: Jonny Brodzinski, Zac Jones and Chad Ruhwedel. Brodzinski played a career-high 57 games this season, and Laviolette will have to decide whether to re-insert him into the lineup, which would likely come at the expense of Matt Rempe. Laviolette said Monday he believes Rempe is ready for playoff games, and the 21-year-old brings size (he’s 6-foot-8) and physicality. The coach doesn’t seem to trust him when in the lineup as much as he does Brodzinski, though. He’s played more than six minutes only six times this season. Brodzinski, meanwhile, averages more than 11 minutes a game.

The forward decision could ultimately come down to matchups throughout the playoffs. Perhaps against a bigger, more physical team, Rempe gets the nod. Against faster, skill-based teams, Brodzinski probably makes more sense. There’s also the possibility of injured forwards returning to the lineup, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Laviolette has kept his lineup of defensem*n consistent throughout the season. Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, Braden Schneider, K’Andre Miller, Jacob Trouba and Erik Gustafsson all played 69 or more games and will likely start Game 1 of the first round. If Laviolette makes a non-injury-related change at some point, Jones seems most likely to slot in after a strong push in the season’s closing weeks. Of the six regulars, Gustafsson could be the one to draw out if Laviolette makes a change. His underlying metrics are strong, but he’s been prone to turnovers and defensive miscues and is not involved in the team’s penalty kill units.

Can the Rangers limit rush chances against?

Poor rush defense has hurt the Rangers at points this season. They finished the year 28th in expected goals against on 5-on-5 rush chances, according to Clear Sight Analytics. New York had stretches of fine play against the rush — it ranked 18th in the month of January — but was not consistent. The Flyers, for example, had success creating and converting on rush chances against the Rangers on the rush last week.

“Definitely something we don’t want to get back into our game,” Jacob Trouba said after the game, a 4-1 Rangers loss. “We’ve done a good job the last little stretch here of preventing those.”

That will have to continue in the postseason. In tight games, one odd-man rush attempt can be the difference between winning and losing.

Can the Zibanejad line generate 5-on-5 offense?

New York’s second line of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière led the way for the Rangers offensively at even-strength this season. That will have to continue in the playoffs for the Rangers to advance far. The bigger unknown, though, is what New York gets from its top line of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Jack Roslovic.

Kreider and Zibanejad have constantly played together this season, but the line’s right wing has been a revolving door. Blake Wheeler, who is injured, was their most frequent 5-on-5 partner (287 minutes, per Natural Stat Trick), followed by Kaapo Kakko (211 minutes) and deadline addition Jack Roslovic (176 minutes). The Rangers had less than 50 percent of the expected goal share with all three of those combinations. The top line has been defensively sound, but Kreider and Zibanejad’s point production has come primarily on the power play. Kreider is fifth on the team with 30 5-on-5 points, and Zibanejad is sixth with 25. Zibanejad had a 30-game drought without a 5-on-5 goal at one point in the regular season.

In a positive development for the Rangers, the top line put together two strong games to end the year. The Rangers had 85.88 percent of the 5-on-5 expected goals with Kreider-Zibanejad-Roslovic on the ice Saturday against the Islanders, according to Natural Stat Trick, and 61.63 percent Monday against the Senators. Laviolette called the trio “excellent” postgame.

Can the special teams units keep rolling?

Every scoring chance matters in the playoffs, and special teams are a prime opportunity to both score and allow goals. The Rangers have been one of the best teams in the league this season in both the penalty kill and power play. They converted at a 26.4 percent clip with the man advantage in the regular season and killed 84.5 percent of the penalties against them. Both those marks rank third in the NHL.

Do injured players return at some point?

The unknown in the Rangers lineup is the status of center Filip Chytil, who has missed most of the year with concussion issues but recently began skating with the team. The 24-year-old is attempting to return for the playoffs, but the team doesn’t want to put any pressure on him. The Rangers will see how skating goes and evaluate from there. A Game 1 return in the first round seems unlikely for Chytil, but the team hasn’t given any indication of his timeline.

If Chytil eventually returns, where will Laviolette put him in the lineup? Plugging him in at bottom-six center could make sense, perhaps between Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko. That would move Alex Wennberg to the fourth line between some combination of Barclay Goodrow, Jimmy Vesey, Brodzinski and Rempe. Having Zibanejad, Trocheck, Chytil and Wennberg up the middle would be formidable for the Rangers. Laviolette could also opt to put Chytil at top-line right wing if Roslovic is struggling, though that would be asking him to play a position with which he has less familiarity.

Wheeler is also training in hopes of a comeback, though that likely wouldn’t be a possibility until much later in the playoffs.

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(Photo: AP Photo / Bill Kostroun)