The top Rangers power-play unit has been ironclad for years, featuring an essentially set-in-stone group whose turnover since the 2019-20 campaign has been minimal season to season.
One power-play staple out. One power-play staple in.
Since they shipped Chris Kreider to Anaheim two summers ago, however, the Blueshirts traded away two more cornerstones of their first unit: Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck. It guaranteed a much different look and feel this season for a Rangers power play that had become very predictable around the NHL.
Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad are the lone holdovers from the 2019-20 season.
Captain J.T. Miller ultimately replaced Kreider.
The one-in, one-out trend continued with Panarin’s departure and Pavel Dorofeyev’s arrival.
And in his seventh NHL season, for the very first time, Alexis Lafrenière finally took his spot on the first unit out of training camp.
The 3-for-14 (21.4 percent) showing with the man advantage through five games is indicative of the adjustment, especially considering two of those goals were scored by the second power-play unit that features Sean Durzi, Gabe Perreault, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Will Cuylle and Eeli Tolvanen.
“I think it’s a work in progress right now,” head coach Mike Sullivan said after practice Thursday before the Rangers headed for Washington, D.C. “We’re still trying to work through it. But if you remember last year, it was the same thing with our group. Early on, it was a process in trying to get us to where we want to be. I don’t think we’re there yet. I think we’re still feeling it out. Obviously, adding Pav to the group, he can finish, he can really shoot the puck. That’s probably his greatest attribute, but it also has altered the shots, the righties, lefties, things of that nature. It just changes the makeup a little bit of the group, and we’re trying to feel that process out. I think the guys are doing a good job just staying with it, and we’ll stay with it. We’ll keep working at it with them. There’s been some really good stuff, and there’s been not-so-good stuff. It’s a little bit of both right now.
“The reality is when you look at the power plays, the two groups, they’ve scored goals for us, important goals for us. That’s helped us win games. I don’t think where we’re at has cost us any games by any stretch. We believe our expectations are higher and they’re capable of impacting the game more. We’ll just keep working with them.”
One of the first things Sullivan did when the Rangers acquired Dorofeyev from Vegas was call Lafrenière.
The second-year Rangers coach wanted to assure Lafrenière that he didn’t intend to take him off the first power-play unit. Not only does he think Lafrenière is deserving because of what he showed in that role at the end of last season, but Sullivan also believes it is vital for No. 13’s “overall growth and maturation as a player.”
Assistant coach David Quinn, who is in charge of defense and the power play, has already made some tweaks to the first unit’s alignment.
There are bound to be more as they work to find the right one.
Despite recording only one power-play goal in the home opener so far, the Rangers’ first unit has generated some long stretches in the offensive zone. The underlying familiarity between Fox and Zibanejad is still a factor, but probably not as much as it was when it applied to the whole five-man unit.
“You can see the chemistry between them,” Dorofeyev told The Post of Zibanejad and Fox, who have skated on the first power play together since the latter entered the league seven seasons ago. “They don’t need to look at each other to find the guy to pass the puck. That’s obviously a great thing, just fun to watch.”
Noting that the group has already made progress, Sullivan said he expects the coaching staff to have some patience with the first power-play unit.
As the veteran head coach mentioned, there are more left-handed shots in the top group now than there have been in the past. For much of the past seven seasons, the Rangers had four righties skating on the power play. Kreider was the primary lefty shot for six seasons.
“It’s new, without a doubt,” Sullivan said. “Right now, we’re choosing to have patience with them and work through it. We’ll continue to do that. Hopefully, we can get them going here in the not-so-distant future. Hopefully, [Friday] night [in Washington].”
