The Rangers are SHOCKING the NHL...

The New York Rangers are shocking the NHL as they've been having an unbelievable start to this season and the improvement from year to year has been absolutely insane. In this video, we're going to break down everything that has been going right for the New York Rangers and so much more. You're not going to miss this episode of NHL Digest, but before we dive into everything here, just want to say we're on the road for 20,000 subscribers here on the channel. So if you're new here, you want to stay up to date on the latest news around the NHL, where you're home for it here on YouTube, sky below, hit the subscribe button. is completely free to do so, but we've got to talk about the New York Rangers today as they've been on a roll here to start this season. I think it's shocking a lot of people and taking the league by storm for sure and having a crazy year from year to year where last year they were one of the worst teams in the league and now they're tied for first in the Metro Division with the reigning defending Stanley Cup champions in the Carolina Hurricanes. This is awesome. It's great to see a team like the Rangers who kind of had all the pieces. They add, you know, a couple of guys here in the offseason. Obviously, the big one is Pavel Dorofeev, he comes in, helps this team, and this team is just on a winning track right now. Obviously, it's doing the big part due to Alexei Lafrenière, which we're going to talk about in just a bit, but it's been great to see this New York Rangers team, a team that was kind of a bottom feeder last year, and kind of was just like a weird season for them. We didn't really expect them to be that bad, but they were. But they come out this year, you know, obviously having some bad taste in their mouth about how last season went. And they come out and they have a very dominant start, which is awesome to see. And you love to see that. And it's mainly to do with their penalty kill has just been insane. They've been having guys like Gavrikov and Braden Schneider who have just been unbelievable in this penalty killing unit for them. And they're right now ranked second in the entire league for penalty kill percentage. And they've just been shutting a lot of top offenses power plays down. And you love to see a team like that. They're just second and first is the Toronto Maple Leafs, but they've been playing great so far. The New York Rangers have been doing everything well. They've been having great offense. They've been having great goaltending, despite, you know, Igor Shesterkin going down with a season-ending injury. It's so great to see, you know, this team have kind of the next man up mentality in the face of that situation as well, which was a very scary injury, as we all know. But right now, they're great at protecting the lead. After two periods, when they're leading, they're 6-0. After two periods, when they're trailing or when they're tied, it's 1-1-1. And when they're trailing, it's 0-2. But they're 6-0 when leading going into the third period. So they need to keep doing that. They need to keep the pressure on early and just scoring goals and taking the lead, heading into the second intermission because they've just been so dominant coming out of that second intermission and just being able to lock down the game. And you have so many great defensemen there that can just shut down offenses very effectively, which is great to see. And just right now, kind of looking at some of the team's standouts, like they take a penalty that's barely hurting them just because of how good their penalty kill has been. Obviously, you kind of want to still be disciplined and not take penalties. But right now, there's so much confidence in this penalty kill unit that when you take a penalty, you're like, okay, you know, the guy's got us, right? The boy's got us. So that's great to see. And obviously right now, when they start with the puck more often, and it's really helping them. They're winning more face-offs. They're 53% as a team right now on the face-offs, and that's been a really big X factor for them this year is just controlling the game by winning more face-offs and having the puck on their stick more than the other teams, which is great to see. And just kind of looking at this current roster for the Rangers, they look good. Like they have Gabe Perreault, Zibanejad, and Lefrenier who have been a great top line for them. And obviously Dorofeev with JT Miller and Ty Cartier They've been a great line as well. JT Miller has been a guy who's been getting down low, creating chances for his teammates down there as well. Obviously, they signed Eli Tolvanen late in the free agency, and I think he's had a solid year for them so far. Their defense has been so good, though. Sean Dursey, a guy who I really like personally. I think he's a very fast skater, a very agile guy. Scores a goal last night, too. And then it was Gavrikov and Adam Fox. This top pairing has just been amazing. Obviously, Adam Fox, a Norris-winning defenseman. We're all waiting for him to kind of get back to that season. And he's kind of been having, you know, a really good year there. But the big guy to talk about here is Dylan Garand. He's been having an insane year in the absence of Igor Shesterkin. He goes down with a season-ending injury. Garand steps up. He's like the next man up mentality has really been working here in New York. See here, he has four wins right now. he has a shutout of one goal against which is amazing through seven starts and he has only six goals against through seven starts I mean that is crazy he has .929 save percentage as well he's just been popping off the page he's been putting up some insane games making some crazy saves as well some crazy high danger saves that's because I don't want to dive into this because his high danger save percentage is ridiculous right now at a .977 on high danger opportunities he is stopping like he's almost stopping every high danger chance that comes his way at this point uh it's insane honestly to think about this he's he's plus 0.171 over the league average in high danger scoring chances it is absolutely ridiculous what is happening right now with with uh garand and it's great to see obviously his medium danger is up as well his low danger is just below league average but when you have a high danger save percentage like Garand has right now it's it's insane you never see things like this in the NHL it's great to see this guy you know take take the starts and take the reins here and you know just be so confident and just be able to go out and win these games just looking at his quality starts right now he is only one game where he hasn't had a quality start, he had a shutout uh in his first start and then ever since then he's been on a roll, he had one bad game but then bounced back immediately with a .966 save percentage, that's crazy, like just having, he's had five quality starts out of his out of his six starts in total uh which is crazy right, like this is a you you don't see this right, you love to see this from this guy coming in, like I said, taking the reins from Igor Shesterkin and just kind of looking here is it luck or is it real? His save percentage is over what he's expect way over what he's expected right now his against in his career is just a little bit lower than what is expected but he's been great so far and you just love to see this right, it's definitely not luck, I definitely think it is for real, for Dylan Girard, he's just been so good for this team and the big reason why they've been so successful, obviously they lose their star goaltender and he just steps up and he's been making some big, big stops for this team and leading them to a lot of wins this season. But Adam Fox as well, like I said, and Gavrikov are facing a deeper test. Adam Fox is having a very good start to the year. 10 assists for him on the board already with 20 blocks. Adam Fox is just, you know, doing Adam Fox things, being the great puck-moving defenseman that he is and is, you know, obviously getting in front of a lot of pucks this year with 20 blocks. It's great to see Fox, you know, get back in to, you know, what we know from him, right? he's a good guy who can just you know dish the puck very well and just be blocking a lot of shots which is great to see from him and just kind of looking at how him and Gavrikov have been playing right now they have six goals for, seven goals against as a unit which isn't bad, like they you know obviously they have only one, they're one goal for against against one goal for which means obviously you want to see the goal for above the goal against which I do think they will get to but right now this unit has been so good because Gavrikov is so good defensively that Adam Fox is able to kind of open up and be a little bit more offensive when they're in possession in the O-Zone, and it's really been creating a lot of chances for this team. And like I mentioned, Gavrikov, you know, he has 26 blocks, and Adam Fox has 20 blocks. Like, these guys have just been, you know, putting up some insane defensive numbers for this team. And a big reason to their success is obviously Garand in the cage, but these guys being able to shut down offenses in front of Garand that have been, you know, leading to him, you know, having some easier nights at some points. So that's great to see. He does have five points on the year as well, 11 hits, averaging 21 minutes on ice. But obviously the big thing with Gavrikov is his blocks. He's averaging two block shots a game right now, averaging 21 minutes on ice. His giveaways are about a one a game. But when you're logging a lot of minutes, you are going to give away the puck. So, you know, I don't really read into that that much. If it was like two, I'd be like, okay, that's a lot. But, you know, one isn't too bad right now. And obviously the big guy that's standing out on offense right now is his top line. And, of course, Alexi Lafreniere was finally looking like the first overall selection that the Rangers took many years ago now at this point. But this top line has looked good. Just seeing from this tweet here, they're able to connect with each other very effectively. And we've seen this in-game. And Alexi Lafreniere has been having an insane season. Obviously, he's had a hat trick so far this season. Seven goals this year, six assists, 13 points, a plus three, 22 shots on goal, four power play points. The list goes on. one game winning goal for him as well Alexi Lafreniere is finally looking like the first overall pick that we all expected him to be coming into this league and it's great to see that right like it took him a few years you know to kind of get here but he's here now he's arrived and he's in the prime of his career and he's really lighting the league on fire right now it's great to see this because you never want to see one of these you know first overall picks be a bust you always want them to kind of come out and be a great star in this league and I definitely think Alexi Lafreniere this is the year for him and i'm very excited that this is that finally happening for this guy and always been through a lot a lot of struggles in his career but it's great to see him finally you know come out and break out here this season we see here is it luck or for real for him it's definitely for real you see here it's uh seven goals for him he's only expected to have 3.3 at this rate and his shot percentage is at 32 percent uh compared to what the 13 percent is what it was expected to be so far so he's definitely exceeding expectations at this point by a lot which is great to see looking at his scouting report it's insane his points for every 60 minutes he plays he's averaging about four points for every 60 minutes of ice he gets which is crazy and the same for goals he's averaging two so he's been having a hot start and you know that New York Rangers fans love to see this from Alexi Lafreniere we've been waiting for this for quite some time so it's great to see him finally take that step and one thing that Mike Sullivan has been saying here is you know are we satisfied with the offense we're getting no do we think it's another level to it yes so mike sullivan thinks that uh the rangers can even get into a better offensive mold than they are right now and i can't wait to see that because this team is like i said shocking the nhl they're tied with the reigning defending champs in the carolina hurricanes nobody coming into this season has new york rangers projected to be in the top three let alone tied this early in the standings for number one in their in their division so that's great to see so hopefully the rangers can keep it up hopefully grant can keep up these crazy starts that he's having hopefully lafreniere can continue to put these points up and hopefully you can continue to get some points from zabinichad and from obviously uh dorofeev as well and then this penalty kill you know they've been so dominant right now i can't see anybody you know starting to break these guys down so let me know what you guys are feeling rangers fans down below in the chat were you expecting this i'd love to hear your guys thoughts down below in the comment section while you're down there leave a like subscribe to the channel as always i'm your host casey keep sick