Rangers Rebuild with Scoring Punch | New York Rangers News

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On September 7th, the Rangers made some serious moves this offseason, trying to bounce back after missing the playoffs. General Manager Chris Drury was busy, bringing in some new faces to hopefully get this squad back in contention. We're talking about adding scoring power and shoring up the defense. One of the biggest pickups was Pavel Dorofeyev, snagged in a draft day trade. This guy is a proven score, hitting over 30 goals the last two seasons and setting career highs.

The team needs that kind of offensive punch, especially since they were only averaging 2.8 goals per game last year, which put them in the bottom, third of the league. On the blue line, they've revamped things quite a bit. While the top pairing of Fox and Gavrikov is staying put, the second unit gets a boost with Sean Durzi and veteran Marcus Pettersson. Durzi should help run the second power play, and Pettersson knows the coach's system well from his time in Pittsburgh. Then there's Alexis Lafreniere.

His career hasn't quite taken off like everyone expected since he was the first overall pick. But he showed some serious promise at the end of last season, putting up good numbers with Mika Zibanejad and Gabe Perreault.

If Lafreniere can keep that momentum going and play more consistently, it could really elevate the Rangers offense. The team is looking to build on those late season sparks and make a real run at the postseason this year.

That's the story for today, New York Rangers News Today, Driven by AI.