New York Rangers: Pairing familiar faces to kick start 2017-2018 success

The New York Rangers are looking to stick with what works as they begin the new season.

The New York Rangers open the 2017-2018 campaign in just one hour from now. It all begins tonight at the world’s most famous arena as Henrik Lundqvist and company take on the Colorado Avalanche. Make no mistake about it. New York is looking to make a cup run while “the King” is still in goal. Anything less will disappoint many.

Some coaches think it’s time to tinker at the beginning of the year. Forget about last year, this is this year. Coach Alain Vigneault is taking a different tactic as 2017-2018 begins. He has decided to pair together two of the team’s most successful lines from last season.

One is the Kevin Hayes line that consisted of Hayes, J.T. Miller and Michael Grabner. Hayes and Miller both had career years in point scoring playing with Grabner, while Grabner posted 27 goals. Miller talked about the comfort the three have with each other:

"“We’ve had a lot of time together and we’re really comfortable with each other on and off the ice, and I think that’s really helpful. We have good chemistry when we come to the rink. We’re really excited and we’re looking forward to the opportunity. We’ve got to make sure we play a good 200-foot game together, which I think we can do.”"

More from Empire Writes Back

The other line returning for duty is the Mika Zibanejad line. That one has Zibanejad in the middle with Chris Kreider on one side and Pavel Buchnevich on the other. Associate coach Scott Arneil is excited to present this group once again:

"“Early in the year last year we had Kreids with Buchy and Mika. Buchy had his injury and so did Mika, so it was something that was good for us early that we wanted to take another look at,” he said. “We’ve done that so we’ll see that and probably start the year with those guys.”"

Staying with what works. It makes sense. Most of us are creatures of habit, why not NHL coaches?

Next: The time is now for the King and his court

But seriously, sticking with familiar lines makes a lot of sense. Much of the game is centered upon chemistry. Hockey is uniquely fast so the players have to rely on knowing where each other is going to be. It’s not football that is more based on set plays, in hockey a lot of instinct comes into play. If players are used to each other, they should continue to work together. It makes sense. We shall see how it plays out in a little while.

Home/New York Rangers