Rangers Can’t Mess With Their Thriving Defense – The Hockey Writers –

The way things are going for the New York Rangers, general manager Chris Drury might have trouble finding a spot in the lineup for one of his trademark annual splashes at the trade deadline.

The Blueshirts’ 5-1-1 burst out of the gate – their 3-1 dud of a loss to the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Oct. 24 being a discussion topic for another time – has been a study in newfound depth, with 14 players having scored at least one goal. That wealth of offensive options has somewhat overshadowed the club’s loaded defense, where a suddenly stacked group of personnel has created an “It ain’t broke, don’t fix it” feel around the blue line, less than 10 games into the 2024-25 season.

Perhaps no development will prove to be a bigger one for these Rangers than the ascension of Victor Mancini, the precocious 22-year-old defenseman whose wholly unexpected making of the roster out of training camp has made the team’s defense bigger, stronger, more balanced and consequently, more stable.

The 6-foot-3, 229-pound Mancini’s size and hockey IQ seem to have been the missing pieces for a unit that needed to become brawnier and meaner, while not having its offensive impact suffer in the process. Though it’s early, the numbers tell quite the story for this unit so far.

Mancini’s Arrival Has Fortified, Brought Balance to Defense Corps

Among Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller, Braden Schneider, Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren (who’s only played two games after returning from injury), two of those players have an expected goal share above 60, and Schneider’s 55.5 the lowest among that group (Lindgren is also at 55.5, but again, he’s played two games). Mancini, oddly enough, is the outlier, with his underlying numbers not so good: a 36.5 expected goal share and the Rangers getting outchanced fairly substantially with him on the ice.

Nevertheless, Mancini is a plus-3 and has shown enough flashes of the game that allowed the fifth-round draft pick in 2022 to defy the odds and earn a spot. While he finds his footing, his presence has created a configuration on the back line that has worked extremely effectively through seven contests.

A right-handed shot, Mancini’s rise into the lineup on the third pair forced fellow righty Schneider to his off side. Rather than hinder him, Schneider has never been better, posting the highest…