One New York Ranger who has quietly risen through the ranks this year has been left wing Will Cuylle.
Through the Rangers first 19 games of the year, Cuylle has seven goals and eight assists for 15 total points, which ranks third on the Rangers. The former second-round pick’s seven goals rank fourth on the Rangers this season behind Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere. All three of those players play on the power play and Cuylle does not as evidenced by the fact that he has scored zero points on the power play this season. At 22 years old, Cuylle is also the youngest player on the Rangers roster. Who would’ve thought that a bottom six grinder in his second year would be making the impact that Cuylle is this season?
Cuylle’s game however is anything but just offense. He hits, he forechecks, he plays defense, and he goes to the front of the net and gets what Wayne Gretzky likes to call “greasy goals.” He is the grinder that the Rangers need to balance out the number of highly paid superstars they have on their roster.
Cuylle has been playing well this season alongside Kaapo Kakko on the Rangers’ third forward line. Before a loss on Nov. 21 against the Flames, Kakko and Cuylle had not been on the ice together for a single goal against through these first 17 games of the season. They have even been without their normal center, Filip Chytil for three games. Cuylle and Kakko are plus-12 on the season, which is tied for the 14th best rating in the NHL.
Cuylle makes his presence known in the physical side of the game as evidenced by his 75 hits this season. That is the fifth highest number of hits in the National Hockey League this season behind Mark Kastelic, Brady Tkachuk, Jeremy Lauzon and Kiefer Sherwood. Despite his age, Cuylle is not afraid to stand up for his teammates and fight if necessary.
Will Cuylle steps in and fights Garnet Hathaway after he threw a big hit on Ryan Lindgren.
This game has everything. pic.twitter.com/cN4KH4S9hI
— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) November 24, 2023
In a press conference from earlier in the year, Rangers Head Coach Peter Laviolette commented on the growth he’s seen in Cuylle’s game.
“He has a year under his belt, he’s more confident, he understands the League a little bit better, he understands what it takes to be successful,” Laviolette explained. “He trained hard all summer, came into camp in great shape. I think just the natural progression, somebody at 22, they’re better than they were at 18.”
Clearly, Cuylle understands what it takes to be successful because slowly but surely he’s becoming one of the Rangers key two-way forwards next to Chris Kreider. For now, Cuylle is doing well on the Rangers’ third forward line but if he continues to progress look for them to give him some power play time on the Rangers second power play unit or even move into the Rangers top six. However, the depth chart in front of him at left wing includes Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin. It’s a bit early to have him move ahead of either of those players but he’s certainly making a case to earn more than the 14:01 minutes of average time-on-ice that he has gotten this season.
Inside Mika Zibanejad’s Struggles
For one of the Rangers leaders this year has been a struggle beyond any of what we’re used to seeing from the Rangers first line center. On its face, 14 points in 19 games doesn’t sound bad but look a little deeper and you’ll find that Magic Mika went eight games without scoring a goal from Oct. 24 to Nov. 14.
Zibanejad also has a minus-10 plus/minus rating on the season, which makes senses given how many turnovers he has committed this season. This season, Zibanejad has made 17 giveaways which is more than one-third of the 46 giveaways he made in 81 games last season, and the season is not even one-fourth through.
In the Rangers’ most recent loss to the Edmonton Oilers, Zibanejad was a minus-four. The most troubling thing about Zibanejad’s slow start is that he’s been worse defensively than he’s been offensively. That is unacceptable for a first line center. Here is Zibanejad in the center of the screen, covering an area and not a man. The puck ends up going right past Zibanejad’s stick as he tried to break up the pass to the backdoor of the Rangers net.
That passing 🤤 #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/ROP9zQJ8Eb
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 24, 2024
One thing that is better about Zibanejad’s game this year is his face-off percentage. It is up to 52.3%, which is 2.6% higher than the average for his career (49.7%). Another stat that shows Zibanejad is off to a very slow start is Corsi-For percentage (CF%). This season, Zibanejad has a CF% of 43.2 which is 6.9% lower than his career average. CF% shows how many shot attempts a player or team makes and right now, Magic Mika isn’t taking many, which shows that his game is timid and he isn’t carrying the puck with authority into the offensive zone.
This is not what you need from your first line center and luckily, the Rangers as a team have masked Zibanejad’s struggles by playing to the tune of a 12-6-1 record. But if Zibanejad doesn’t snap out of it soon, the Rangers will start to lose ground in an uber-competitive Metropolitan Division where 12-6-1 isn’t good enough to win the division.
