It may have cost them the airtight structure they established in previous weeks, but Sullivan firmly believes there\u2019s a world in which they can achieve both explosive offense and quality defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the game that we have to strive to put on the ice every night,\u201d Sullivan said following Friday\u2019s practice at TGH Iceplex. \u201cI don\u2019t think that it\u2019s one at the expense of the other. In other words, it\u2019s not a binary proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the heart of the matter are the decisions the Rangers make with the puck. It\u2019s not like their defensive-zone coverage has crumbled, with Sullivan\u2019s switch from man-to-man to zone proving to be a wise choice. There has been a notable increase in turnovers, however. The Rangers have been charged with 15 or more giveaways in each of their last three games after eclipsing that number only three times in their first 15 contests.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge part of it,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cOne of the easiest ways to be easy to play against, or allow a team easy offense, is to mismanage the puck. If you\u2019re careless with the puck and you don\u2019t take care of the puck in the wrong areas of the rink \u2014 in particular, around the blue lines \u2014 then you are essentially feeding a team\u2019s transition game, and your team is never in a posture to be able to defend effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a constant give-and-take.<\/p>\n
When the Rangers are too risk-averse, it diminishes their ability to produce skill plays, particularly off the rush. Sullivan has repeatedly stated they don\u2019t just want to be a dump-and-chase team, but he\u2019s also warned about being too reckless and leaving themselves vulnerable to counterattacks.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a problem that\u2019s plagued New York for years and has been harped on by multiple coaches, but what we saw early on may have been an overcorrection.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve got confidence in yourself to make the plays, you\u2019ve got to try to make the plays,\u201d forward Will Cuylle said. \u201cYou can\u2019t just chip everything in. At the same time, you\u2019ve also got to know who you\u2019re out there against, especially if you\u2019re going against the top line. You can\u2019t be turning stuff over at their blue line, especially teams that are good in transition. So I think it\u2019s game awareness and just knowing if you have those kind of plays in your bag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finding the right balance could catapult New York in the Eastern Conference, which is looking wide open. The top team (New Jersey Devils) and the 15th-place team (Washington Capitals) were only separated by eight points entering play Friday, with the Rangers smack dab in the middle. They\u2019re one of nine teams in the East that have collected between 20 and 25 points, a sign of the parity that\u2019s taken hold.<\/p>\n
The two-time defending champion Florida Panthers have taken a step back without their captain, Aleksander Barkov, and star winger Matthew Tkachuk, with the former out for the season due to a torn right ACL and MCL. No one has emerged to fill the void as a front-runner.<\/p>\n
The Rangers sat right behind the Panthers at No. 14 in The Athletic\u2019s latest power rankings<\/a>, which were aptly titled \u201cChaos in the middle.\u201d While that\u2019s about where many expected them to be at the start of the season, including yours truly, it\u2019s starting to feel like they have an opportunity to exceed expectations.<\/p>\n It\u2019ll come down to whether Sullivan is right about being able to keep the offense humming without sacrificing on the other end.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to score goals to win consistently,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019re not going to score our way to success.\u201d<\/p>\n \n At the forefront of the Rangers\u2019 recent scoring outburst has been the high-flying trio of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re. (Joe Hrycych \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n The high-event line<\/p>\n At the forefront of the Rangers\u2019 scoring outburst has been the trio of Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re. Since Trocheck returned from an upper-body injury two games ago, they\u2019ve generated seven of the team\u2019s 10 even-strength goals.<\/p>\n The rate at which they\u2019re scoring is lapping the competition around the league. They\u2019re averaging 11.93 goals per 60 minutes, according to MoneyPuck, which is tops among NHL lines that have logged at least 40 minutes together. The next closest is Toronto\u2019s Matias Maccelli, John Tavares and William Nylander at a distant 7.2 GF\/60.<\/p>\n That pace will be virtually impossible to maintain, but don\u2019t forget that this was the NHL\u2019s highest-scoring line in 2023-24. There\u2019s a track record here.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a downside, as well. The Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreni\u00e8re line is surrendering 4.47 goals against per 60, which ranks worst on the team. They\u2019re pushing for quick-strike chances, which, at times, can leave them susceptible to odd-man rushes coming the other way. Still, it seems like a worthwhile tradeoff given New York\u2019s previous scoring woes, with Sullivan granting them the freedom to take risks.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s inherent risk in playmaking,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWe are going to give our best players the latitude to act on their instincts. I look at it as my job to identify when the risk becomes too great.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Chris Kreider light<\/p>\n Another reason for the offensive uptick is a power play that\u2019s picked things up following a woeful start. The Rangers opened the season by converting four of their first 36 opportunities, but they\u2019ve now scored three times in the last four games.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no coincidence that those goals have come with new PP1 net-front guy Cuylle, who\u2019s responsible for two of the tallies. He\u2019s New York\u2019s best candidate to fill the void left by Chris Kreider, who excelled in that role for years and is having similar success with the Anaheim Ducks.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s definitely someone that I watched for my first two years,\u201d Cuylle said. \u201cI learned a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Sullivan began the season by trying more accomplished point-producers, most notably Lafreni\u00e8re and captain J.T. Miller. Neither can match Cuylle\u2019s size and strength, however, nor do they have his experience in that spot.<\/p>\n As the 6-foot-3, 212-pound forward pointed out Friday, he occupied the net front on the power play during both his OHL days with the Windsor Spitfires and his AHL time with the Hartford Wolf Pack. It requires a specific skill set that he\u2019s been groomed for, so when Cuylle\u2019s number was called last week, he felt ready.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s just getting reps and repetition,\u201d Cuylle said. \u201cYou maybe only get one or two shots a game to tip, so it\u2019s making sure you\u2019re ready to get them and put them in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s the Rangers\u2019 biggest need?<\/p>\n We\u2019re still nearly four months away from the March 6 trade deadline, so I\u2019ll hold off on fueling the rumor mill with specific targets for a bit longer. I\u2019d be lying if I said I wasn\u2019t beginning to think about positions the Rangers may look to address, though.<\/p>\n I won\u2019t quibble with anyone who argues they should be seeking a top-six winger with finishing ability, but now that top prospect Gabe Perreault has arrived<\/a>, I\u2019m reserving judgment until we see a large enough sample size.<\/p>\n Conversely, the need for a puck-moving defenseman who can have a positive offensive impact has emerged as a priority. Adam Fox is off to a strong start with 15 points, but there really isn\u2019t anyone else who grades out as above average in the skill department. New York\u2019s next-highest scoring defenseman is Vladislav Gavrikov, with six points, who wasn\u2019t signed to a seven-year, $49 million contract last summer for his puck prowess.<\/p>\n Sullivan has tried to squeeze more out of Braden Schneider, but the 24-year-old hasn\u2019t taken off as the quarterback of the second power-play unit and continues to show limited offensive upside outside of jumping up in the occasional rush. Will Borgen, who missed Friday\u2019s practice with an upper-body injury, is playing very well defensively<\/a>, but no one is mistaking him for Brian Leetch. Meanwhile, Carson Soucy and Urho Vaakanainen have been adventurous with the puck. Each has produced its share of oh-no turnovers, and while prospect Scott Morrow is noted for his playmaking<\/a>, the early whispers I\u2019m hearing from Hartford haven\u2019t been overly positive.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all about putting up points, but acquiring a defenseman who can improve breakouts, connect on passes in transition and shoot the puck well enough to reach the opposing net would be at the top of my wish list.<\/p>\n A tribute to Larry Brooks<\/p>\n One of the last times I saw Larry Brooks was, of course, at the Rangers\u2019 practice rink.<\/p>\n It was a quiet day toward the end of training camp with a lighter reporter presence, which typically lent itself to ice-side conversations. We chatted about the team\u2019s pending roster decisions \u2014 we\u2019d usually find topics to debate, which was always a treat, but we agreed this day \u2014 before shifting to non-hockey subjects. At one point, the changes in the MSG broadcast booth came up, which prompted me to ask the Hockey Hall of Famer a fairly pointed question: Had he considered when he\u2019d like to retire?<\/p>\n \u201cWhat else would I do?\u201d Brooks shot back, grinning.<\/p>\n The inference was obvious to anyone who knew the legendary New York Post columnist: He loved everything about this job and wanted to keep doing it for as long as he could.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2239605382-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n