The New York Rangers Are The Best Team Barely Anyone Is Talking About

The Blueshirts have all the right pieces in place to make a deep playoff run come May.

March 6, 2022

Source: Barstool Sports & Google Images

Ah, the element of surprise. Unless you live in the Tri-State Area and have been keeping close tabs on the 2021-22 Rangers season, it may come as a shock when I say that the Blueshirts are a legitimate threat to hoist the Stanley Cup come summertime. However, don't tell money puck.com or Vegas that. These sources have the Blueshirts currently listed as having the ninth and tenth best odds to win the cup, respectively. Moneypuck also currently has the Rangers listed at only having a 0.5 percent chance to win the cup, behind teams like the Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights. It should not come as a surprise to anyone that the Rangers are much better than these sites profess. I will take the odds on the Rangers in a heartbeat. The Rangers are currently tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in a stacked Metropolitan Division and fourth place in a just as loaded Eastern Conference. While every other team has also seemingly obtained lots of hype at some point in the season, the Rangers have remained outside the spotlight. But, maybe ironically for a team that plays in Midtown Manhattan, maybe being out of the spotlight for once is just how they like it.

The Rangers have all the pieces necessary to go deep in the playoffs in the NHL. They have three elite forwards playing at a high level this 2021-22 season in Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and Chris Kreider who is having the best season of his career. Furthermore, they have a top three defenseman in the league in Adam Fox. And as if that was not enough? The Rangers' net minder Igor Shesterkin is going to be the likely Vezina winner. He has been playing out of his mind on a nightly basis. Consider the impressive state lines of these five players. Also, in order to improve the team In terms of physicality, following the Capitals-Rangers incident between Tom Wilson and Panarin the Rangers smartly brought in multiple physical enforcers to balance the team offsetting their skill players in Ryan Reaves and Stanley Cup Champion Barclay Goodrow.

Panarin	15 G	44 A	59 P	+3
Zibanejad	​21 G	35 A	56 P	+18
Kreider	36 G	15 A	51 P	+17
Fox	7 G	47 A	54 P	+12
Shesterkin	36 GP	(27-6-3)	1.66 GAA	.940 SV %

It is also worth noting where the Rangers rank compared to the league as a whole with certain key statistics.

​PP %	25.5%	5th
PK	83.3%	7th
GA	137	3rd
Points	77	5th

One of the most exciting things about this Rangers run is that they are also set up well for the future. They are young and General Manager Chris Drury will have an opportunity to further set them up for a deep run come the Trade Deadline. It's a good time to be a Ranger fan and if you are buckle up and enjoy the ride.