MONTREAL — Six games into their first season under coach Mike Sullivan, the New York Rangers are being tested.
The players and new coaching staff have repeatedly stated they feel good about the way they’re playing, yet they’ll ride a three-game losing streak into Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against the Canadiens. Sullivan is asking them to fend off frustration and trust that the results will come.
“The easy route is to be discouraged, but the right route, and the hard route, is to make sure we just get more determined,” Sullivan said following Thursday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. “We’ll build on the positives, and there’s a lot to like about our game. It’s a conscious choice that we all make on what our approach is going to be, and I know our guys are going to make the right one.”
To that end, the Rangers spent Friday’s practice at Complexe Sportif working on the main thing that’s eluded them: Finishing. They devoted the brisk 35-minute practice to odd-man rushes and offensive-zone plays before concluding with a series of shootout attempts.
“All the drills were designed to give these guys an opportunity to score some goals and to shoot,” Sullivan explained. “I think our spirit is where it needs to be.”
Getting their scoring mojo back has dominated the conversation surrounding the team, and rightfully so. New York has been shut out in all three home games this season while netting only 11 goals in total, including seven at five-on-five, through six games.
The Oilers, on Tuesday, became the third visiting team to shut out the Rangers. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
That’s an issue that needs to be remedied — but with that, the notable defensive progress made under Sullivan should also be acknowledged.
“We’re light years ahead of where we were from a defensive standpoint two weeks ago,” the coach said. “I think we’re a way stingier team defensively.”
The Rangers graded out as one of the NHL’s worst defensive teams across the board last season, and while the 2025-26 sample size remains incredibly small, the difference has been stark. Igor Shesterkin is a big part of the early success, leading goalies who have appeared in multiple games with a.962 save percentage. But he hasn’t had to work nearly as hard, either, with an expected goals-against average of 1.62 after dealing with a 3.23 xGAA last season, according to MoneyPuck.
Consider where New York ranks in several key defensive categories compared to 2024-25:
Maintaining anything close to those numbers would be a huge win for Sullivan, who’s consistently pointed to fixing a broken defense as priority No. 1 and has gotten players on board quicker than anyone could have imagined.
“Those are conversations that we’re having with the team since day one of training camp, and part of my job is to sell that message,” Sullivan said this week.
“An opportunity for us as a team is to value playing defense and making that part of the fabric of our identity,” he added. “A lot of it boils down to attention to detail and valuing the things that don’t necessarily require a lot of talent. They require some talent, but just how hard you track back into the defensive zone, your willingness to stop in the scoring area, your willingness to stop on pucks, your willingness to finish a check — those are things that everybody’s capable of doing. I think the guys are buying into it, and we’re becoming more difficult to play against as a result.”
So far, so good on that front.
Sullivan’s systemic changes start with a layered forecheck that’s showing more teeth than it has in years. As the coach has said, “Our team defense starts up the ice.”
Swarming opponents before they can advance pucks out of their own zone has allowed the Rangers to “control territory” and earn extra possessions. As the old saying goes, the best way to improve your defense is to play more offense.
They’re also doing a better job of managing the puck, with reduced turnovers cutting down on odd-man rushes against. That’s an issue that’s plagued them and frustrated multiple coaches in previous seasons, but Sullivan’s insistence on executing a “north-south” style has noticeably taken risk out of their game and cleaned up their neutral-zone play.
And when the Rangers do end up in their own zone, they’re doing a much better job of protecting key areas of the ice. In fact, their average of 7.44 high-danger scoring chances allowed per 60 minutes at five-on-five ranked No. 1 in the NHL entering play Friday, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The result has been a team that’s unrecognizable defensively. And that’s a good thing.
“It’s about limiting those odd-man rushes and limiting the grade-A (chances) from inside,” defenseman Adam Fox said. “Good teams like (Toronto) and Edmonton, they’re gonna get chances and they’re gonna have some zone time. But if you can prevent them from those grade-As, I mean, Shesty will make saves and we’ll be better off for it.”
Robertson providing solid minutes after long-awaited opportunity
Matthew Robertson had to wait a long time for his NHL debut. The No. 49 pick in the 2019 draft got called up multiple times in recent seasons, but only as an extra defenseman. He never got in a game.
Finally, after the Rangers were eliminated from playoff contention in April, then-coach Peter Laviolette put him in the lineup for the final two games. He’s already played more than that this year, having appeared in three games under Sullivan.
“He’s had a long road,” said frequent defensive partner Braden Schneider, who played with Robertson in AHL Hartford and has been familiar with his game since their junior days in the Western Hockey League. “To see him get the opportunity he’s getting now, it’s awesome. He’s earned it, and I hope he can keep running with it.”
Robertson wasn’t on many radars heading into training camp, but he made the team as the No. 7 defenseman, avoiding going on waivers. An early-season injury to Carson Soucy made room for him in the lineup. Ahead of the defenseman’s first game, Sullivan said he wanted him not to try to do too much.
“He’s a mobile guy,” the coach said. “He has a good stick. I think he has an element of physicality to him. We want him to defend hard, to keep his gaps, and we want his puck possession to be simple and efficient.”
So far, Robertson has done a good job of that. Sullivan has played him an average of 17:11 a night, and he hasn’t been on the ice for a goal against.
“He’s always been a really good skater, (is) very skilled, has a good shot and (is) a very smart player,” Schneider said. “Everything is kind of all tied together. His decision-making is really good, and I think his confidence has really grown a lot.”
The coaching staff has even trusted the 6-foot-4 defenseman in somewhat difficult minutes. According to HockeyStatCards, he’s had the third-highest quality of competition among Rangers defensemen. That’s a small sample size that is perhaps skewed by opposing coaches chasing certain matchups, but he’s spent at least five minutes on the ice against both Leon Draisaitl against Edmonton and Auston Matthews in Toronto, according to Natural Stat Trick, which also says he had above 50 percent of the expected goal share against both.
“To see how much he’s developed and how much his confidence has grown I think is awesome,” Schneider said. “He deserves the opportunity here to play, and I think he’s doing well with it.”
In total, the Rangers have 65.11 percent of the five-on-five expected goals with Robertson on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick. Sullivan will have to decide which defenseman to sit when Soucy returns from injury, and Robertson has made a case to potentially stay in, perhaps over Urho Vaakanainen.
Evaluating Pärssinen and Vaakanainen extensions
General manager Chris Drury acquired Vaakanainen and Juuso Pärssinen last season in trade returns for Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren, respectively. He then signed both to two-year extensions. Vaakanainen signed for a $1.55 million average annual value in March before he was to hit restricted free agency, and Pärssinen signed for $1.25 million AAV as a restricted free agent in May.
Neither extension was for a huge sum of money, but for a team in a tight salary-cap situation, every dollar counts. It raises the question of whether Drury overpaid, especially since neither has played more than 68 games in a season (Vaakanainen with the Ducks in 2023-24), and both were healthy scratches at points last season.
Though he scored a big goal for the Rangers and had a solid game Thursday, Pärssinen has sat out four of the six games this season. He entered the lineup for a game after Vincent Trocheck’s injury, then was a healthy scratch for two more games in favor of Jonny Brodzinski.
“The only thing I can do is have a positive mind, work on myself,” Pärssinen said of being scratched. “Be positive, and when you’re in, you’ve got to make everything out of it and make an impression.”
Noah Laba beat Pärssinen for the third-line center job out of training camp, and the rookie has played all six games this year. That means that, if New York’s forward group ever gets fully healthy, Drury could face some difficult decisions on what to do with Pärssinen. If he keeps him in the NHL as a healthy scratch, it would mean eating into potential salary-cap accrual.
To avoid that, the team could bury most of his salary in the minors, but it would mean exposing him to waivers. That’s not the type of move a GM envisions after giving out a two-year contract with more than a $1 million cap hit annually.
If he’s in the lineup, Pärssinen could of course justify his contract with solid play. The Toronto game was a good start. In 7:43 together at five-on-five, his line with Laba and Taylor Raddysh led 5-0 in shots, and the Rangers had 89.34 percent of the expected goal share with them on the ice, per Natural Stat Trick.
“Playing with Raddy and Laba, they’re really, really good skaters,” Pärssinen said. “That’s a thing we have to utilize. We’ve got to be good with the puck, reliable in the D-zone. … Smart, two-way hockey.”
With Robertson’s emergence, Vaakanainen is no guarantee to stay in the lineup when Soucy returns. After playing the Finn for an average of 17:22 in the first three games, Sullivan had him on the ice for only 13:35 over the past three, more than three minutes less than Robertson. Vaakanainen played 12:52 against the Oilers.
The Rangers like to carry seven healthy defensemen, so it’s hard to envision Drury waiving Vaakanainen. But healthy scratching a player making $1.55 million isn’t ideal, both in terms of optics and cap-space accrual.
Gavrikov settling into low-event role
The Rangers’ biggest offseason addition hasn’t garnered many headlines early this season, but that’s by design.
Vladislav Gavrikov landed a seven-year, $49 million contract because he thrives in a low-event, defensive environment. He hasn’t made any highlight plays, but he hasn’t given up any, either.
The 29-year-old defenseman leads the team with 121:40 played at 5v5 and has been on ice for only one goal against in that span.
“That’s what we like about his game,” Sullivan said. “That’s what attracted us to him, is his reliability and his predictability. We’re not asking him to change his role. Everything that he brought to his former team (the Los Angeles Kings), we want him to bring to the Rangers.”
Gavrikov’s partnership with Fox remains a work in progress, with the Rangers yet to produce a goal while they’re on the ice together. Their 50.66 percent xGF ranks last on the team among the four D pairs who have logged at least 20 minutes together, but Sullivan believes Gavrikov is making strides during this initial period of adjustment.
“I think he’s getting better with every game he plays,” he said of Gavrikov. “He’s getting more comfortable with how we’re trying to play. Obviously, his presence on the ice, I think, is noticeable. He defends so well. He’s got a good stick. He has good size. He’s big and strong. He leans on people. He helps us out on that front. I think they’re building chemistry. We like how the pair has played together so far.”
Fourth line? Or third?
As a question was being asked in reference to what’s typically regarded as the Rangers’ fourth line, Sullivan couldn’t help but interject.
“Which line is that?” he asked with a hint of a smile.
Sullivan might have been teasing, but he was also making a not-so-subtle point: The trio of Adam Edström, Sam Carrick and Matt Rempe is elevating their status in the lineup.
They’ve been New York’s third-most-used line for four consecutive games and have seemingly surpassed the line centered by rookie Laba in Sullivan’s circle of trust. That might be in part because of the turnover on Laba’s line, which has consistently featured veteran Raddysh at right wing but a revolving combination of Brodzinski, Pärssinen and Conor Sheary on the left. But Edström, Carrick and Rempe have also earned extra ice time by embracing the role Sullivan has laid out for them.
Their marching orders are to put pucks deep into the offensive zone, then go to work winning them back with a hammering forecheck. It’s a simple game plan that opponents know is coming, but it’s been highly effective. They’ve produced a 62.33 percent xGF with a 15-3 advantage in high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
That explains why Sullivan has been using them more in late-game situations — something previous coach Laviolette was reluctant to do — while shedding the fourth-line label.
Checking in on recently traded Rangers
Thanks in part to the Rangers’ scoring struggles to begin the year, plenty of fans have taken notice of Chris Kreider’s start in Anaheim. The Rangers great, traded early in the offseason, has four goals and an assist through four games. Three of Kreider’s goals have come on the power play. Former New York captain Jacob Trouba, also in Anaheim, is averaging the lowest ice time of his career (18:18 per game), but the Ducks have 61.11 percent of the expected goal share with him on the ice at five-on-five. He hasn’t been above 50 percent since 2017-18 in Winnipeg, in part because he’s been tasked with heavy minutes against top competition.
In Vancouver, Filip Chytil had three goals in four games through play Thursday. New York sent him to the Canucks in a package for J.T. Miller. K’Andre Miller’s Hurricanes are off to a 4-0-0 start. He had two goals in Carolina’s first game and though he hasn’t scored since, he’s averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time per game for the first time in his career.
Kaapo Kakko has yet to play this season for Seattle. He broke his hand in a preseason game in late September, and the Kraken said at the time he would miss six weeks. Lindgren, whom New York traded to Colorado last deadline, signed in Seattle over the summer. He has one assist in four games.