At the end of tonight’s game in Arizona, the Rangers will reach the midway point of their 2017-18 regular season. That means it’s time for some midseason report cards! To kick things off, we’ll be focusing on the top six forwards.
Complicating matters slightly is the fact that the Rangers don’t have a strict delineation between their top six and bottom six. There’s definitely a fourth line. There’s Kevin Hayes handling tough match-ups on a nightly basis, but his wingers have rotated regularly. So for the purposes of this exercise, let’s call the following players “the top six”: Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Pavel Buchnevich, Mats Zuccarello, Rick Nash, JT Miller and David Desharnais.