The Time Is Now For The Rangers Kids To Grow Up

Ethan Miller. Getty Images.

After consecutive home losses to a pair of the league's bottom feeders & 40 minutes of blown leads vs a reeling Blues squad on Monday, the Rangers found themselves a period away from catastrophe. Whether it was scratching a big name, a panic trade or dropping the axe on a coach who was a Jack Adams finalist a season ago it seemed a foregone conclusion a significant shakeup was on the horizon. It's New York. It's James Dolan. It's a team that was just a pair of wins shy of a Stanley Cup Final appearance this summer. But after exhausting virtually all other options, Gerard Gallant tossed Kakko & Lafreniere to the top line with Zibanejad and may have saved his job as well as the season.

Listen, Binnington was exceedingly helpful in allowing the Blueshirts to storm back with a 3-0 third period and the victory Monday night - but it was Kakko's board work & a dish from Lafreniere that set up K'Andre's equalizer before Laf deflected home the GWG. With that line intact against Vegas, along with the return of Filip Chytil from injury skating 2C, all three buried one in a big-time road dub against one of the league's top teams. Sure they were missing Eichel and Pietrangelo but this is a team that has lost to the Ducks, Sens & Blackhawks. Right now, wins in any fashion are an accomplishment and to have the kids largely responsible makes it even sweeter.

This can't be a tease though. We've been here before where at least one of these top picks has shown quick flashes of brilliance only to fall back into obscurity. This has to be a permanent turning point for them. Right now.

Chytil seems to have found his groove this year regardless of linemates. The 23 year-old has racked up 5G/7A in 20 games and, while pushing a 50-point 82-game pace might not seem all that impressive, consider all these points are at even strength with PP2 hardly seeing ice time. Consider he's skating about 12 and a half 5x5 minutes a night in what's been a 3rd line role up until very recently. Consider he's still producing at a top-30 5x5 points-per-60 pace among all forwards with at least 200 minutes, tied with Sebastian Aho and a tick ahead of Mitch Marner. Are those guys good? A season of 40+ 5x5 points is borderline elite production & only health has been able to slow down Filthy Fil so far. If he sticks with Panarin who, despite a cold stretch is still the Blueshirts best even strength scorer by a wide margin, he can only get better.

Kakko & Lafreniere are the ones who need to follow suit and finally find their consistency. Rangers fans gotta hope last night was a springboard to doing exactly that. While Kakko has been a two-way analytics dynamo this year and has had plenty of A+++ chances the kid's been straight-up snakebitten. He's done everything right except for the easiest part for someone with the skillset to be selected second overall and that's put the puck into (sometimes wide open) nets. Getting his squad on the board first last night has gotta be a big weight off his shoulders and if it gets the ball rolling on his production lining up with opportunity, Kakko will be a crucial part to a Blueshirts resurgence. Jack Hughes he is not - and he doesn't have to be. Without the aid of prime PP time, 20G/40 points would be huge for a team not starved for big guns. Just secondary help. Gallant rode the kid for a career-high 22:43 last night playing on their top line. If it's faith the kid needs, he's got it.

Same goes for Lafreniere. While he hasn't gotten a big minutes boost in terms of total, he's responded to the increased quality of his ice time with tallies in back-to-back contests. You can visibly see his game growing. He's carried over the physicality he flashed last postseason while firing pucks at a much higher rate. Still, his 15-goal pace ain't gonna cut it after finishing last year one shy of the 20-mark. He's looked unsure & indecisive at times and it's fair to say he's struggled with his confidence being bounced around the lineup. I mean the kid is barely 21. If the scoring continues and his top line promotion sticks the Rangers will be a problem the rest of the way.

That's the biggest thing to take from here. Yeah you wanna see your top prospects light it up individually, but on a squad like this winning is the prime objective. Their individual success makes this team infinitely deeper. Kreider & Trocheck on your third line?? Maybe the most expensive third line duo in the league but if you've got Laf/Zib/Kakko then Panarin & Chytil rolling then they become a matchup nightmare. Fans knew coming into this year that it was likely for Kreider to regress from his 52-goal outburst. Shesterkin playing a tick or two down from an other-worldly campaign that not only won a Vezina but had him the first goalie Hart finalist in five seasons isn't all that big of a surprise. Scoring needed to come from somewhere to make up for that and eyes were squarely on their stable of young first-round talent. Overall it hasn't been there yet - but if this is a career turning point for the kids then rumors of the Rangers demise will have been highly premature.

If it's just another tease though, we'll be left with a wasted season wondering if they'll ever grow up at all.