At the start of the season, a healthy Filip Chytil finalized a new Rangers third line that could potentially be an X-factor for the Blueshirts. As long as the Rangers get dominating play from their third line, it takes a ton of pressure off the second line to score at 5v5. While we’d like all lines to score, it’s about the forest, not the trees. The new Rangers third line is absolutely crushing it right now, and it’s a main reason why the Rangers are 4-0-1 to start the season.
In the preseason, we had one of Brennan Othmann or Brett Berard penciled into the third line, but neither performed well enough in the preseason to lock down that spot. Much to the “dismay” of many, Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko were then handed those roles after many were hoping the latter would be traded and the former would be “forced” into a fourth line role.
Aside: That’s not a shot at Cuylle. It was a simply a hope had by many that strong prospect play would lead to an even stronger fourth line. Cuylle is a solid player and will only continue to get better. He is far from a passenger on this line.
Through three games, this trio has not been on the ice for a goal against in 51 minutes TOI at 5v5. That’s a product of strong three zone play, solid fundamentals, and probably some favorable matchups. Remember, the top-six will draw most of the tougher competition on a nightly basis, thus the new Rangers third line gets some easier matchups against depth players.
The new Rangers third line isn’t a one trick pony either. They aren’t dominating play by simply having strong offensive numbers or strong defensive numbers. They have both. And they are doing this while getting mostly neutral zone and defensive zone starts, per Natural Stat Trick.
- CF/60: 71.01
- CA/60: 53.23
- CF%: 57.15%
- xGF/60: 5.45
- xGA/60: 2.23
- xGF%: 70.97%
- HDCF/60: 22.15
- HDCA/60: 8.47
- HDCF%: 72.33%
To call out the obvious, small sample size warning. Also the xGF and HDCF numbers aren’t overly sustainable, but the defensive numbers are.
To put it mildly, the new Rangers third line is absolutely dominating and is one of the best lines in hockey right now. One of the messages from the offseason was how important Filip Chytil was to the Rangers, and it’s playing out in real time now. Without him, the Rangers don’t have a viable third line.
Most of last season was played with Barclay Goodrow faking it at 3C. Then Alex Wennberg came and stabilized the third line, though that was through defensive domination and not necessarily generating offense. Re-inserting Chytil to that third line gives the same defensive impacts as Wennberg, plus a high ceiling for offense.
For those looking to compare to top teams, the Florida Panthers’ third line last season was Eetu Luostarinen-Anton Lundell-Evan Rodrigues. This line doesn’t jump off the pages, but it provided enough solid two-way, three-zone stability that wore the opposition down. This allowed the Barkov and Tkachuk lines a bit more freedom. Same concept applies to the new Rangers third line.
It’s still early, but it’s important to not miss the forest for the trees. It’s a full team effort to win a Stanley Cup, and the new Rangers third line is taking the burden off the Mika Zibanejad line to play shut down hockey against the opposing top line. It doesn’t matter what their salaries are or what our expectations of them are. If they are contributing to a Stanley Cup favorite and, at the very least, keeping those top lines from generating a rhythm, then all is good.
The new Rangers third line gives them that opportunity. It allows them to play a bit more stress free hockey. It also saves the Rangers much needed trade capital to address other roster holes at the deadline. This is how teams are built. This is how the Rangers get over the hump.
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