Not Bad, Rangers | The Cutting Edge W/JackKnife

So far so good

If you were to ask me how I thought the New York Rangers were going to come out of the gate to start the 2026-27 NHL season, I'd say they'd be lucky to be .500.  Instead, four games in, they picked up six out of a possible eight points and (with a game in hand) lead the Metropolitan Division with a record of 3-1-0. 

Would I say it's been perfect?  Of course not, but so far, a week into this season, the Rangers are giving the fans something to be excited about.  Even the one game they lost to the Boston Bruins to open the season, they were in it for most of the time until a couple bad turnover with less than five minutes left.  The 3-0 score was misleading.

A little off topic. As a Rangers and New York Yankees fan, and with those two playing both Boston teams that Tuesday night (while Tommy Joe and I were going crazy seeing AC/DC at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia), I was willing to sacrifice the Blueshirts first game of the regular season to the sports gods if it meant the Bombers beat the Boston Red Sox to advance in the postseason, which they thankfully did. I'm never lucky enough that I'd get two of my favorite teams to beat two different Boston teams on one night. I usually get one or none at all.  Too bad they're still the Yankees in name only and forget how to play baseball when competition gets tougher as evident in how they're down 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays now.  

Okay, back on topic. Since game one, the Rangers responded with a dominant home opener beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1, a 2-0 shutout against the Detroit Red Wings in the Motor City the next night, and a chippy 4-2 win against the Utah Mammoth.  What makes me more optimistic is that this team that went through a big overhaul in the offseason is succeeding in spite them still trying to mesh and gel together.  In essence, they're still trying to find themselves.  Let's take a look at what's been great, what's been good, and what can be better.

Igor is the Czar

Unless you have been living under a rock, Igor Shesterkin is showing why he's one of the best goalies in hockey, if not the best.  Without a doubt, Shesterkin has been the Rangers best player to start this young season.  

Not only is Igor boasting a .934 save percentage, a 1.67 goals against average, and 3.8 goals saved above expected, but he has produces points!  Last Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, to close out the Rangers home opener vs the Lightning, Shesterkin became the 18th goalie in NHL history, and first in Ranger history, to score a goal!  Not only that, Igor recorded an assist Sunday night against the Mammoth.  Igor's hot start earned him the NHL's first star of the week. The offense has certainly had a decent start, but it's like Igor remembered the trouble they had scoring the past couple seasons and channeled his inner Thanos in order to give himself some goal support.

He very well could have had another goal on Sunday had Mikhail Sergachev not been a party pooper (I'm kidding, he was just doing is job).  Igor did not start the game in Detroit, it was Dylan Garand who got that shutout, so we say Igor has a nice little two-game point streak at the time of this blog's posting.  After the game on Sunday night, Igor currently has more points than some notable NHL All-Stars, including Alex Ovechkin, Auston Matthews and Jack Hughes. In fact, at the time of this blog, Igor has more points than the entire New Jersey Devils roster! A tongue in cheek tweet from Peter Baugh of the Athletic points out that Igor is on pace to go 42-21-0, with a .934 save percentage, 21 goals and 42 points. Obviously a goalie can't put up points like that, but regardless, Igor has had an incredible start. The only nitpick I have against Shesterkin is that he deserved a shutout against the Lightning, but that was because Noah Laba put it in his own net.  If Shesterkin keeps this up, this could put him back in the Vezina conversation.  

It's crazy to think that there are some people out there who argue that Igor is overpaid.  With the salary cap continuing to rise and guys starting to get contracts with cap hits around $20 million, Shesterkin's $11.56 million per season contract now looks like highway robbery.  As it stands today, that cap hit only takes up roughly 11% of the Rangers cap space and is projected to be below 10% by the 2028-29 NHL season.  If the Rangers are going to be an elite team again, what they do with the rest of that cap space will be crucial to their success.  How will they take advantage?  That's a question we will answer in the future, but for now, we can be grateful that Shesterkin's contract is not only easier for the Rangers to build around, but that the Blueshirts are also getting more than what they paid for in Igor's performance so far.  Let's see how he keeps this up as the season goes on. 

New faces making their presence felt

Given that the Rangers brought in so many new players and with such a short training camp, it would be hard to fault them if they stumbled out of the gate, but that hasn't happened. In fact, the new guys are making their presence felt. 

I'd go as far as to say Sean Durzi's been the most exciting add on defense so far with a goal, and a fight under his belt to start this season, all coming on one night versus the Red Wings at Little Caesar's Arena, and Durzi would have had an assist to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick had the play not been offside upon review (which it was unfortunately). It's good to see the Rangers add another offensive minded defenseman so that Adam Fox is not the only threat to put up points from the blue line.

Let's stay on defense.  There is a lot of pressure to playing in New York, and the Rangers' 2026 fifth overall pick, Alberts Šmits has been handling it well so far.  While Šmits hasn't done anything spectacular yet and is still looking to get his first career point, he's handled the jump to the NHL well so far with a little +1 rating.  He's currently on the third pairing with Braden Schneider, and had Schneider not been dog walked in game one, perhaps Šmits would have a higher rating. Regardless, the 18-year-old Latvian defenseman is holding his own in the NHL and as he grows, that's when he'll get entrusted with the bigger roles in key situations. 

On the forward end, Pavel Dorofeyev has been what the Rangers were hoping for when they traded for him at the draft. Someone with the mentality to shoot first!  Dorofeyev has only one goal and an assist, but he leads the team in shots so far with 15 in four games. Even if Dorofeyev isn't putting up points, he's still finding ways to drive the offense even when he doesn't have the puck. This breakdown from Adam Herman of Bleacher Report perfectly illustrates it.  So Dorofeyev is playing the style the Rangers got him for, now it's a matter of that style fully molding into the system. 

There's other guys that can be analyzed and praised.  Marcus Pettersson has had a silent, but solid start.  I don't think anyone had Eeli Tolvanen being the team leader in goals with three on their bingo card to start the season, even if two of them were empty netters.  But regardless, there's buy-in.  Friend of NTS, Daily Faceoff's own, Jonny Lazarus caught up with Durzi after the game against Utah and Durzi made note of the buy-in during the post game interview. 

Who do I want to see more from?

While the Rangers have gotten off to a solid start, there is some more to be desired from some guys.  Names that come to mind are Alexis Lafrenière and JT Miller. 

I'll start with Lafrenière, as this is not so much a critique of his play so far, but more so of an indictment on how close he's getting but not finishing. Lafrenière only has one point on the season, that being an assist.  Looking at that alone, one who has not watched him play may yet think he's been invisible, but he hasn't, his shots just aren't going in. 

Lafrenière's linemates, Gabe Perreault and Mika Zibanejad, by contrast both of three points in four games. Perreault has two goals and an assist and Zibanejad has a goal and two assists.  If Laffy converted on some of those golden opportunities, those two could easily have more points, and when Lafrenière starts finding the back of the net, then it's only going to help those two, thus helping the Rangers win games.  You can also tell that Lafrenière is being rewarded for his good play because Head Coach Mike Sullivan is putting him out there in big situations when the other team has the goalie pulled. 

So Laffy's been getting quality scoring chances to start the year, including some breakaways, he just needs to cash in on those chances.  Lafrenière's goals and points will come. This is just an observation from me, but it seems like as far as handling the puck goes, this is the most confidence Laffy's had in himself to start the season.  He's made some nifty plays.  It's good to see him trying to drive play and not be a passenger. I encourage Lafrenière to keep playing the way he's been playing and to not let the bad luck get to his head. It seemed like that happened against the Mammoth late in the third when he elected to pass on a 2-on-1 instead of taking the shot. Lafrenière doesn't need to make any major changes to his game so far, maybe just some little tweaks if anything so that the puck finds the back of the net.  I, and Lazzy, believe in him. 

Miller on the other hand, I want to see more from in regards to productivity on the scoresheet. He has only one goal so far this season, it being a deflection off his skate from a Vladislav Gavrikov shot. Lafrenière we can see is getting chances where he's swinging for the fences but getting his home runs robbed or falling just short into the field of play.  For Miller, so far, it's hard to think of any quality scoring chances he's had so far this season. 

To cut Miller some slack, he's on a new line with Dorofeyev who he is playing with for the first time, and their line has already had a bit of a shake up swapping Oliver Bjorkstrand for Tye Kartye.  So it's not like he's fully gelled with either of them yet.  He's also been praised by teammates for doing things a leader should be doing in the locker room during close games.  So we can credit Miller for acting how a leader should be, but it needs to translate into points.  I guess we can give him a grace period as he learns to play with his new teammates.

What lies ahead

Tuesday night, the day I post this blog (in the morning hours), the Rangers play the New York Islanders at the Garden.  This should be a measuring stick game for the Rangers to see where they matchup against a divisional foe that has shown despite missing the playoffs last year.

The Blueshirts were swept by the Isles last year, and I'd like to hope that they are mad at themselves for letting Matthew Schaeffer's prediction of beating the Rangers every game come true.  That should still be bulletin board material for this year, and the Rangers should make this game in October, feel like a game in April or May, both physically and on the scoreboard.  They don't play each other again until December, and I can speak for all Ranger fans when I say we do not want to sit on this loss until then, especially considering the sweep last year.

Two days later, on Friday, the Rangers head to Washington DC as they face the Washington Capitals in what is now officially Alex Ovechkin's swan song.  Ovie announced that the 2026-27 NHL season will be his last.  We're getting old and the NHL is changing.  But this is another Metropolitan division opponent and thus another measuring stick for the Blueshirts.  

What follows after that matchup could be considered trap game, as the Vancouver Canucks head to the Garden for a Sunday night matchup.  There's not a lot of expectations for the Canucks this year.  However, it's early in the season and they have a couple wins under their belt. So they're clearly still in it and have something to play for.  Will the Rangers be able to win these games and continue their solid play to start the year?  What growing pains may arise that haven't shown yet?  Will they match the intensity of their divisional rivals and actually treat those matchups like a rivalry games?

This is an early test for the Rangers to show, "we're back." Let's hope they continue to win and don't let me down the same way the New York Jets have done to me again. 

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