BEANTOWN BEGINS

The Rangers travel to Boston on Sunday night for their season opener. Last season, the Blueshirts beat the Bruins 3-0-0, outscoring them 14-7.

Individually, Artemi Panarin led the Rangers with four goals and seven points in three games against Boston.

63 PLAYERS INVITED TO TRAINING CAMP

The Rangers have invited 63 players to training camp this season, including 36 forwards, 21 defensemen and six goalkeepers.

Of the 63 players, 28 played at least one game for the Blueshirts last season.

Raoul Boilard (4th round) and Nathan Aspinall (5th round) will represent the 2024 draft class at the main camp.

Newcomers

On July 1, the Rangers signed forward Sam Carrick and acquired forward Reilly Smith in a trade with Pittsburgh.

Carrick, 32, scored 10 goals and six assists for 16 points in 77 games with the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks last season. In 240 NHL games for the Oilers, Ducks and Toronto Maple Leafs, he scored 28 goals and 25 assists for 53 points.

Smith, 33, scored 13 goals and 27 assists for 40 points in 76 games for the Penguins during the 2023-24 season. He has played parts of 13 seasons in the NHL, split between the Penguins, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights, and scored 513 points (213 goals, 300 assists) in 840 regular-season games.

SUMMARY 2023–24

The Rangers earned a spot in the Eastern Conference finals last season after defeating Washington in the first round and Carolina in the second round. Their playoff berth came after a regular season in which they finished with a 55-23-4 record and 114 points.

They finished first in the league standings for the fifth time in franchise history, won the Metro Division and the eighth division title in franchise history. New York set the franchise record for wins (55) and points (114).

Other notes from the 2023-24 season include:

• The Rangers posted a power play percentage of 26.4%, the second-best in franchise history (1977–78) and the third-best in the NHL.
• With a penalty shot percentage of 84.5, the Blueshirts achieved the third highest penalty shot percentage in the NHL.
• New York’s face-off percentage of 52.3% is the third-highest in team history and the highest since the 2007-08 season.
• The Blueshirts posted a franchise-record and league-high 28 comeback wins. Fourteen of the 28 wins came while trailing in the third period, which is the most in the league. The Blueshirts also posted 20 wins while trailing in the first game, the most in a single season in franchise history.
• The Rangers’ 106 goals in the third period were the eighth-most in franchise history and the most since 1991-92. It was the second-most in the NHL.
• At home, New York finished with a record of 30-11-0 and 60 points, tying the franchise record for most home wins (1970–71).
• On the road, the Blueshirts posted a 25-12-4 record for 54 points. This was the fifth time in team history that they had 25 or more road wins in a year. Their 25 road wins ranked them third in the NHL.

BREAD WINNER

Artemi Panarin scored 49 goals and 71 assists for 120 points in 82 games this season, also a career high. His point total was the second-highest by a Rangers player in a single season (Jaromir Jagr – 123 points in 2005-06) and the fourth-highest in the NHL this year.

He scored a point in 67 of his 82 games that year, setting the franchise record for most one-point games.

FORECHECK, BACKCHECK, TROCHECK

In the 2023/24 season, Vincent Trocheck set career highs in assists (52) and points (77). In New York, he finished fifth in goals, third in assists and second in points.

With a 58.7% face-off percentage, Trocheck had the fourth-highest percentage in the NHL among players who made 700 or more face-offs.

Trocheck was named this year’s winner of the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, given annually to the Ranger who, as voted by fans, goes “above and beyond the call of duty.”

LIFE, LAF, LOVE

Alexis Lafreniere set career highs in goals (28), assists (29) and points (57) during the 2022-23 season and was one of five New York players to play in all 82 games. He finished second on the Rangers in even-strength goals (26) and third in even-strength points (51).

When he scored a goal during the season, the Blueshirts’ record was 21-1-1.

With 28 goals and 29 assists, he became the first Rangers player aged 22 or younger since Tony Amonte (1992–1993) to score more than 25 goals and more than 25 assists in a single season.

PUCK STOPS SHESTERKIN

Last season, Igor Shesterkin finished third in wins (36), fifth in save percentage (.913) and seventh in goals against average (2.58).

He posted his third consecutive 30-win season. Only two other goalies in franchise history have posted three 30-win seasons in their careers: Henrik Lundqvist (11) and Ed Giacomin (5). He finished 16-5-1 in his final 22 games of the year.

FANTASTIC, MR. FOX

Adam Fox scored a career-high 17 goals last season, adding 56 assists and 73 points, the most goals by a Rangers defenseman since Brian Leetch in the 2000-01 season (21).

He finished sixth in goals, sixth in points and eighth in assists among NHL defensemen.

KREIDING IN THE HISTORY BOOKS

Chris Kreider scored 39 goals and added 36 assists for 75 points in the 2023/24 season, changing the Rangers’ record books:

• Scored the 300th goal of his career, becoming the third player in franchise history to accomplish this feat (Rod Gilbert – 406, Jean Ratelle – 336).
• Surpassed Rod Gilbert (108) and scored the second-most power play goals in franchise history.
• On March 16, he played his 800th career game, becoming the 10th player in franchise history to reach that number.
• Surpassed Adam Graves as the third-leading goalscorer in Rangers history (281)
• Surpassed Adam Graves and scored the tenth most points in team history (508)
• Scored his 500th career point
• Surpassed Camille Henry to become the fourth-most away goalscorer in franchise history (137).
• He is the fifth Ranger to score 100 power play goals in his career
• Scored his 166th career goal in MSG (regular season and playoffs), surpassing Rod Gilbert as the most goalscoring player in building history.

MIKA’S MISSION

Mika Zibanejad recorded 40 assists in a season for the third consecutive time and 25 goals for the sixth time in his career in the 2023/24 season.

He scored double-digit power-play goals for the seventh consecutive season (12). The only other player to score more than 10 power-play goals in the last seven seasons is Steven Stamkos.