The New York Rangers were dissatisfied with how last season concluded.
"That one stung for a while," captain Jacob Trouba recalled of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs' seven-game first-round loss to the rival New Jersey Devils.
"They always sting, but that one was a pit in our stomach for a long time."It was easy to foresee that the Rangers would be a motivated group from the start of the 2023-24 season.
The majority of the roster was back. They had a new coach in Peter Laviolette, since Gerard Gallant was fired as a result of the playoff loss.
Artemi Panarin, the team's star winger, symbolically acknowledged the team's renewed concentration by chopping off his hair as a follicular "reset."
Few expected the Rangers' start to be this strong: Through 27 games, he is 19-7-1 for a.722 point percentage, which ranks third in the NHL.
Since their inception in 1926, the Rangers have never had a squad finish with a points percentage higher than.700.They were in the top ten in terms of both goals scored and goals allowed per game.
Their special teams are outstanding, featuring a power play that ranks among the best in the NHL. The newly shorn Panarin scored 39 points in 27 games, sparking MVP speculation.