The story of the post trade deadline is the new Rangers top line of Alexis Lafreniere, Mika Zibanejad, and Gabe Perreault. With Artemi Panarin gone and JT Miller on IR, coach Mike Sullivan moved Lafreniere back to his strong side and shifted Perreault up to the top line. This new Rangers top line has been together since Game 61 against Toronto, and in those 4 games they have absolutely dominated the opposition at 5v5 and on the powerplay.
At 5v5, the new Rangers top line has scored four times and allowed two in the four games they’ve been together. When you add powerplay numbers, they’ve scored 9 goals and still just allowed two. Individually, Zibanejad leads the trio with 3 goals and 5 assists in that span. Lafreniere is keeping pace with 5 goals (including a hat trick) and 3 assists. Perreault has a goal and 3 assists, but had a two goal, three point game against Columbus before being promoted to the new Rangers top line.
The Rangers have scored 19 goals in those 4 games, which means the new Rangers top line has accounted for 47% of this club’s goals in that span. Will Cuylle (3) and Vlad Gavrikov (2) have 5 of the remaining 10 goals. The other 5 goals are from Jaro Chmelar, Will Borgen, Conor Sheary, Tye Kartye, and Noah Laba.
While the new Rangers top line is carrying the team on the scoresheet, it’s their overall play that highlights their dominance across the board. At 5v5, this trio is putting up a 50% shot share, both attempts and on goal, a 56% xG share, and a 50% HD shot share, per Natural Stat Trick. That may not seem impressive, but when you factor in that 4-2 goal advantage and that they routinely get matched up against top competition, it makes it that much more impressive.
New Rangers top line still has much to prove, as does Mike Sullivan
The new Rangers top line has finally given us something to get excited about with this club. It’s comprised of three players that likely aren’t going anywhere, especially now that Lafreniere is hopefully taking the next step in his career. Despite being in trade rumors, there were risks of moving Lafreniere, and now it seems he’s found a home as the main play driver on this line.
The skill in the new Rangers top line is very obvious, but it’s also the complementary skill sets that are working. Lafreniere, a play driver through throughout his time in the OHL, spent years either toiling away on the third line or deferring to Artemi Panarin. Now in a new role on the new Rangers top line, he’s being thrusted into a high pressure situation as the main play driver, matching up against top competition. It’s working.
Zibanejad is no longer the play driver he once was, but that makes him the perfect center for Lafreniere, who is finally showing how he can dictate play. As Lafreniere draws more and more attention, Zibanejad has more opportunities to get open for looks. As that attention shift from Zibanejad to Lafreniere is still new to most teams, it also opens up more space for Lafreniere to get open for looks and grow his confidence as he racks up goals.
Perreault may not have the scoring line the other two have, but if you watch this powerplay goal, you can see how his skill set might actually replace Chris Kreider as the main net front presence. Watch him give a little nudge to get an extra inch of space and rotate himself to get into a scoring position for the rebound. That’s what made Kreider so dangerous, and it completes the new Rangers top line.
Not everything is perfect, and we still need to see if this dominance is sustainable long term and against better teams. The other wild card is JT Miller’s pending return, and hopefully Mike Sullivan doesn’t try to fix what isn’t broken. If Sully breaks up the new Rangers top line to force the “captain” into that role, then expect a fan mutiny. In no way, shape, or form should this trio be broken up. At least not yet.