Hockey in the tri-state area is being restored as the Devils, Rangers and Islanders are all once again competitive teams pushing to make playoff runs later in the season.
The Rangers are coming off a President’s Trophy winning season that saw them exit the playoffs in the Eastern Conference finals.
They remain one of the top teams in the league backed by the best goaltender in the league, Igor Shesterkin. The Rangers have started this season 9-3-1, have a top 10 powerplay, the number one ranked penalty kill and are just above 50% on the face-off dot.
Artemi Panarin currently leads the Rangers with 21 points, a 10 point lead ahead of the next Rangers player, Alexis Lafreniere. The Rangers will need to get more contributions from other players as Panarin cannot be the only one producing if they look to remain one of the top teams in the league.
The Rangers have the best goalie tandem in the league with Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick. With either of these two in net, the Rangers will always have an opportunity to steal a game. Shesterkin has a save percentage of .920% through 10 games and Quick has a save percentage of .964% through four games.
The Rangers are expected to make the playoffs and even have a deep playoff run, but the window for the Rangers is closing and expectations are high.
The Devils are looking to have a rebound year after a devastating last season. General manager Tom Fitzgerald went out during the offseason and checked every box on the list: new goaltender, new coach, no more getting pushed around, height on defense and a few forwards to round out what should be an amazing team on paper. A few weeks into the season, New Jersey still has some things to work on.
The Devils have shown glimpses of the team they could potentially be, but have also shown they can fall back into old habits and not be a competitive team.
The core four for the Devils – Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Timo Meier – have all been off to a hot start. Bratt is currently leading the Devils in points with 19, but Hughes is right there with 18 and Hischier not far behind with 16. Stefan Noesen, who was signed over the summer, has been everything the Devils were missing. He is the perfect net-front presence on the power play, a hard-working bottom six player and not afraid to protect his teammates.
The Devils goaltending has been good, but could be better. Jacob Markstrom has a save percentage of .902% through 12 games and Jake Allen has a save percentage of .914% through six games.
The main issue with the Devils has been the lack of consistency. The Devils have struggled stringing together wins, and have not had a four-game win streak in nearly two years.
The Devils are expected to be a playoff team, but inconsistency issues could play a factor on where they end up in the standings.
The Islanders started off this season with a bit of bad luck as star player Mat Barzal is out of the lineup with a lower-body injury for 4-6 weeks along with defender Adam Pelech. The Islanders also lost Anthony Duclair who was placed on LTIR just five games into the season.
Kylie Palmieri and Bo Horvat are currently leading the Islanders with 12 points each and have been huge factors in their success so far.
The Islanders goaltending has been shaky in the beginning of the season. Ilya Sorokin has been steady in net with a save percentage of .916% through nine games while Semyon Varlamov has a save percentage of only .887% through six games. While Sorokin has been good in net for the Islanders, he cannot play every game.
Despite losing key players in their lineup, the Islanders still remain above .500. Their record through the first 15 games is 6-6-3.
The Islanders will have a chance to make the playoffs if they can stay afloat while missing big pieces of their lineup.
Since we are only a few weeks into the 2024-25 season, things can change for any team. How will the Metropolitan division look in April come playoff time?
