The Rangers’ defense will have largely the same lineup ready for next season, as they have done repeatedly over the past few years, with five of the six players scheduled to return.
Now in their fourth year, they’re yet to win a Stanley Cup. The top-five defensemen may be going into their fourth season with the same lineup, but for a young and talented defenceman like the Blueshirts, the hope is that the practice and development time spent together will help the group move forward organically.
Still, early in the offseason, there were hints of possible changes after the Rangers’ obvious flaws on the way to losing in the conference finals for the second time in three years.
It never lived up to expectations.
There was much talk of trading Jacob Trouba, the Rangers’ captain and oldest defenseman, to reshuffle the defensive line, but it never came to fruition.
Then came a big move at forward level when Barclay Goodrow was waived and acquired by the Sharks via a pre-agreed deal with San Jose.
A long list of free agents next offseason also promises big changes at both the defence and forward lines, but the Rangers will look to make the most of this opportunity first.
Despite similarities to the past few seasons, decisions need to be made defensively in terms of both personnel and positioning.
The decision will be based on a variety of factors and will directly impact the look and playing style of the Rangers’ back end.
Who will fill the sixth defenseman position now that Erik Gustafsson has left as a free agent? Will K’Andre Miller play with Trouba or Braden Schneider? Who will be the quarterback on the second power play unit? What will the depth look like in the event of injuries?
The first question has been asked every summer for years now, with a new name replacing Gustafsson’s each year.
With still plenty of offseason left, this could be the first summer that president and general manager Chris Drury doesn’t acquire a new defenseman to sit just ahead of Zach Jones on the depth chart.
That may give Jones his clearest path to the sixth defenseman role since being drafted 68th overall by the Blueshirts in 2019.
Drury opted to retain Chad Ruhwedel, whom the Rangers acquired from the Penguins at the trade deadline, but the 34-year-old is viewed as the Rangers’ seventh or eighth defenseman rather than a sixth.
Ruhwedel appeared in just five regular season games and no postseason games during his first three months in New York.
Jones and Ruhwedel will dominate the 6D battle in training camp, with Ben Harper, Connor McKee and Brandon Scanlin loosely plugged in.
Harper is lost for the 2023-24 season, with the 6-foot-6 defenceman undergoing season-ending pectoral muscle surgery, while Mackey and Scanlin have played one game each for the Rangers due to a string of injuries.
For second-year Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette, determining the roster will be much tougher than selecting a sixth defenseman.
There are plenty of statistics to consider, but Laviolette will also need to look at history, the role of management and how outside noise has affected the team.
The positive is that Laviolette was able to experience different combinations due to the number of injuries to the defense last season.
Depending on how training camp unfolds, it’s entirely possible that the 30-year-old Trouba could start the season on the bottom pairing, just as he was there for the end of the regular season and much of the postseason.
That was part of the argument for trading Trouba, whose two remaining seasons on his contract were paying him $8 million a year, money that’s simply out of reach for a third-pair player.
The numbers suggest that the pair of Trouba and Miller have improved this season compared to last.
The duo continues to take on a tough assignment, with their goals allowed dropping to 2.56 per 60 minutes in 2023-24 despite less ice time, compared to 3.01 in 2022-23, per Natural Stat Trick.
They also scored 2.19 goals per 60 minutes.
But when Trouba missed 11 games in March with a partially fractured ankle, Miller teamed up with Schneider and made it tough for the young players to separate them again.
Laviolette didn’t hesitate to pair Trouba with Miller again upon his return, but that didn’t last long as Trouba struggled to get back into form, something Laviolette attributes to the nature of the injury.
This resulted in an important test run for both Miller and Schneider.
The duo posted a 3.27 GF/60 and 3.05 GA/60 during the regular season and logged 170:33 of ice time in the playoffs, second-most among the Rangers’ D-pairs behind Ryan Lindgren and Adam Fox.
It will be interesting to see which combination Laviolette starts the season with.
The Rangers may look much the same, but the results they aim for will be different.
