Let’s just say that aspiring to a rank of 21st in a 32-team league doesn’t quite represent the height of ambition.
But if attaining that denotes the best showing in five years, including three seasons 30th or lower, then No. 21 signifies progress.
We are talking, of course, about the Rangers at the dots. We are talking about a perennial problem for a Blueshirts team that has not won at least half of its draws since hitting on exactly 50 percent of faceoffs in 2012-13, winning 1,410 and losing 1,410.
This season, the Rangers are up to 48.7 percent. And that is all but solely due to the estimable numbers put up by Vincent Trocheck, who at 56.2 percent was 15th in the league going into Monday night among qualifiers who have taken at least 15 percent of team faceoffs.
That is the highest success rate posted by a Ranger since Bobby Holik’s 58.2 percent in 2002-03, which ranked fifth in the NHL. Tim Taylor’s 58.9 percent in 1999-2000 (second in the league) represents the franchise’s best since the league started compiling faceoff records in 1997-98.
Mika Zibanejad is at 49.1 percent, a bit down from his past three seasons, which ranged from 50.8 percent to 52.3 percent.
Barclay Goodrow clocks in at a surprisingly low 44.1 percent.
Filip Chytil’s 39.1 percent success rate not only represents a massive hole in No. 72’s curriculum vitae, but is ranked 102nd out of the 102 centers who have taken at least 550 draws. Chytil has taken a career-high 552.
If Chytil ranks 102nd, it is only because, as West Ham manager Nate Shelley might say, there is no 103.
Head coach Gerard Gallant has taken to putting the right-handed Trocheck on as an insurance center for defensive-zone draws in high-leverage situations. The 29-year-old has won at least half his draws for the past seven seasons, with an average of 53.4 percent per year.
“I’ve been playing center my whole life, so I’ve been aware of its importance for a long time,” Trocheck said following Monday’s practice. “It’s become more and more of an art lately. It’s not just two guys going in there and muscling it out.
“There’s a lot more technique and a lot more thought about adjusting and then adjusting to the adjustments your opponent is making. You play off the other guy’s strengths. You can play off the other guy’s weakness. Of course, they’re doing that, too.”
Trocheck said he does not keep a literal book on his opponents’ tendencies but allowed, “I have a pretty good memory for that.
“I have a pretty good idea what the guy across from me is going to try to do. Then it’s up to me to outsmart him and win it.”
Being strong at the dots is an important attribute for an NHL center.
It represents a hole in Chytil’s resume, the Czech never being above last season’s 43.4 percent in his five NHL seasons. There is, of course, hope he will develop in this area the way that, say, Derek Stepan finally did in going from 45.0 percent in seven years as a Ranger to 55.6 percent these past two seasons in Carolina.
“I was always aware that this was an important asset to add to your resume when you’re trying to make a team,” said Trocheck, whose skill at the dots indeed recommended him to general manager Chris Drury and the hierarchy when No. 16 became a free agent last summer. “It’s a way to get into the lineup.
“And when you get older, it’s a way to extend your career. Coaches are always looking for guys who can win draws.”
He was not only talking about Rangers coaches, either.
Shoot, a shakeup was needed
The Rangers are going back to the top-six alignment that has started the past six games after massaging the units for the final 44 minutes of Saturday’s 4-3 victory in Florida.
That means Artemi Panarin and Vlad Tarasenko flanking Zibanejad while Trocheck skates between Chris Kreider and Patrick Kane after Gallant had flipped Panarin and Kreider late in the first period with the Blueshirts trailing 2-0.
It wasn’t just the first 16 minutes of that one that prompted the adjustment. It was that plus the 60 minutes that preceded it in the team’s 2-1 victory over the ‘Canes in Raleigh two nights earlier.
The Rangers cobbled together just 22 attempts at five-on-five and 33 total attempts against the Hurricanes. Both marked season-low totals. On Saturday, with the original lines intact until the first period’s final rotation, the Rangers had four attempts at five-on-five and seven overall.
Thus, the in-game adjustment that allowed the club to regain its equilibrium even as The Kids led the way.
It’s been ages for the Kid Line moniker
There is a heightened awareness of the apparently incongruous nature of sticking with the “Kid Line” nickname for players who are in their third, fourth and fifth NHL seasons.
That has even reached Gallant, who on Monday grappled with the moniker that was first applied to the Alexis Lafreniere-Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko unit when then-coach David Quinn constructed it for a match in Boston on March 13, 2021.
That represented the 26th contest of the 56-game schedule. The line was used for 13 games the rest of the way. That was Lafreniere’s rookie season, Kakko’s sophomore year and Chytil’s third in the NHL.
“The Kid Line was real good the other night,” Gallant said after practice and before softly scolding himself. “I can’t call them the Kid Line anymore…the so-called third line was really good the other night…”
But wait one moment.
The Trocheck line does not have a player younger than 29 years and eight months. Average age: 31 years and 10 months.
The Zibanejad unit does not have a player younger than 29 years and 11 months. Average age: 31 years and three months.
The Jimmy Vesey-Barclay Goodrow-Tyler Motte fourth line does not have a player younger than 28 years. Average age: 29 years and four months.
The Lafreniere-Chytil-Kakko unit does not have a player older than 23 years and six months. Average age: 22 years and four months.
Kids, by any other name.
Blueshirt connection started in red, white and blue
Among his new teammates, Kane had previously played only with Chris Kreider — in a pair of World Championship tournaments for Team USA — before reporting for duty on Broadway.
But No. 88 also had been a teammate of Drury’s in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver in which Team Canada prevailed over the Yanks in the gold medal game on Sidney Crosby’s overtime golden goal.
That was during Kane’s third season in the NHL at age 21 and Drury’s 11th and penultimate season at age 33.
“Having Chris on that team was really important for the group and for me,” Kane said last week. “I’d grown up in Buffalo watching those Sabres teams with Chris and [Danny] Briere. I had always been a big fan of his, so the opportunity to play with him was very special.”
Drury had dealt with physical issues throughout much of the season in which he recorded career lows of 14 goals, 18 assists and 32 points with diminished ice time under the Blueshirts coach at the time, John Tortorella.
Nevertheless, Team USA general manager Brian Burke selected Big Moment Dru for the roster with the explanation: “Because he’s Chris Drury.”
Kane understood. Kane understands.
“He didn’t get a lot of ice time, but he was a definite leader,” Kane said. “I remember him scoring a big goal against Canada in the round robin.
“Chris was somebody I looked up to and kind of emulated. It was a great opportunity for me. It was a great experience I’ve always appreciated.”