Examining the potential Achilles heel of each Metro Division team - Part 2

I dove into flaws that could prove fatal for New York (R), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington.

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With the 2022-23 NHL season just a month away, season preview content is kicking into high gear at Infernal Access.

We’re currently examining the potential Achilles heel – or fatal flaw, if you want to say the, uh, Philadelphia Flyers are not otherwise perfect – of each team in the Metro Division.

Thursday we looked at Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, and New York (I). Today we’re finishing up with New York (R), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington.

note: I am getting married this weekend so there will be no more content until Monday.

New York Rangers — 5v5 play

The Rangers were not a good 5v5 team for much of the season. In fact, they were quite bad. They entered deadline day sitting 25th in HDCF%, 29th in xGF% and 30th in CF%.

Even all-world goaltending from Igor Shesterkin wasn’t enough to keep them afloat, as they had a negative 5v5 goal differential from the beginning of the season until that time.

Things changed drastically down the stretch and, for the most part, in the playoffs due to the moves made at the deadline.

Realizing there was a clear need for improvement, the Rangers acquired the likes of Frank Vatrano, Andrew Copp, and Tyler Motte to add more scoring, depth, and defensive ability to the lineup.

Those additions not only added different dimensions to the top-9; they pushed several lesser players into smaller roles – or out of the lineup entirely.

New York was either unable, or unwilling, to retain any of those players in free agency. Their forward depth took another big hit and is right back to square one, so to speak.

If the Rangers revert back to the team we often saw from October-March, making the playoffs is going to be a difficult task – let alone going on another lengthy run in the spring.

As good as Igor Shesterkin is, expecting another 50+ games of .935 goaltender is probably not a reasonable ask. They’re going to have to be better in other areas, such as at 5v5.

Philadelphia Flyers — everything