The New York Rangers experienced a nosedive over the final six weeks of the 2024 calendar year, with 15 losses — all in regulation — in 19 games after a 12-4-1 start to the season.
There are signs that things are turning around for the Rangers, though, as they are 4-1-1 in 2025 and have recorded back-to-back wins heading into a meeting with the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night in Denver.
Chris Drury, who helped Colorado win the 2001 Stanley Cup as a player, is now the general manager in New York and did not stand pat during the Rangers’ rut. Drury made two trades, sending out captain Jacob Trouba and Kaapo Kakko in separate deals to bring in defensemen Will Borgen and Urho Vaakanainen and three draft picks.
Borgen has a goal and an assist in 11 games and is averaging 18:37 of ice time since joining the Rangers. Vaakanainen has one assist and has logged an average of 15:11 of ice time in 12 games with his new team.
However, the trades aren’t the only reasons for the recent turnaround. New York has simply been playing well.
“I do think that the guys — we’re playing a better brand of hockey right now,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said after a 2-1 road win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. “I have said this before, in some of the games we weren’t winning, we were doing the right things to win games. And I think when you do that more consistently, your chances of being successful go up.”
New York is led by forward Artemi Panarin (17 goals, 28 assists) and defenseman Adam Fox, who has two goals and 31 assists this season. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin has a solid 2.98 goals-against average despite a 13-15-1 record.
The Avalanche have also been surging despite a 3-0 road loss against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. Colorado is 13-5-1 since the beginning of December despite dealing with a rash of injuries and a turnover between the pipes.
Jonathan Drouin, Valeri Nichushkin, Miles Wood, Ivan Ivan, Oliver Kylington, Samuel Girard and goalie Scott Wedgewood have all missed multiple games this season, but the Avalanche have hope that they will eventually get back to full health.
Drouin has played in six of the past seven games, Wedgewood has been activated from injured reserve, and the others are starting to skate again.
“Probably still some distance to go yet for those guys, but we’ll see how it goes,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of Wood, Nichushkin and Kylington after practice on Monday.
Nichushkin, who has a lower-body injury, didn’t skate as long as the others, and his timeline to return is likely longer.
When the Avalanche do get healthier, it should take some of the burden off Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar. The trio has been carrying the load all season, and it has reflected in their stats.
MacKinnon leads the NHL in points with 68 (15 goals, 53 assists), Rantanen is in the top five with 60 (25 goals, 35 assists) and Makar leads all defensemen with 49 (13 goals, 36 assists).
–Field Level Media
