Rangers celebrate a hat-trick goal by left wing Chris Kreider, center, against the Arizona Coyotes in the third period of an NHL game at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
1. Their core players – goalie Igor Shesterkin, defensemen Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba, and forwards Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Ryan Strome – must stay healthy. They’re heavily reliant on the power play unit of Fox, Zibanejad, Kreider, Panarin and Strome to provide most of their offense, so losing any one of them for an extended period would be a huge hole to fill.