Rangers Daily: Sully pushes back; Crazy Ottawa return for Brady Tkachuk

October 22, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

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Mike Sullivan apparently heard the outside noise and wanted to set the record straight about certain poor underlying metrics for the New York Rangers defensemen so far this season.

As reported in several spaces, including here in a recent article published by Tom Castro, the Rangers spend a lot of time defending, are being out-chanced, and have a mediocre expected goal share — collectively as a team, and individually by player. Castro pointed these things out, backed up by underlying metrics from Natural Stat Trick, and stated that it’s something the Rangers should have some level of concern about.

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Of course, the Rangers are 7-3-1 to start the season and certainly pass the eye test in most areas of their play. Their defensive zone exits are much crisper and cleaner, and the support and structure sure appear better than in previous seasons. A big part of that is that New York works much better now in five-man groups with the forwards much more dedicated to playing a 200-foot game, which Castro rightly pointed out.

But Sullivan also correctly argued that one can’t simply look at any one stat or underlying metric in a vacuum to form a complete opinion.

“When you start looking at metrics and things of that nature, context is really important. If you don’t understand context, it’s hard for you to interpret data the right way,” the Rangers coach said Wednesday. “So for example, if there’s a defense pair or a line combination that gets a lot of defensive-zone starts against the other team’s top players, they’re probably going to be on the ice for some chances against. But they might limit the quality of the chance or the quantity of the chances of the other team’s top players, and they keep them off the board, and we have success because of it. Their metrics might not look positive, but the value is they help us win.”

Specifically speaking about the team’s new second defense pairing of Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi, there’s no question the Rangers are much better off with those two veterans in that role than any combinations they put together in recent years. I pointed to that is the Rangers Daily column on Wednesday.

“When you look at multiple data points, it gives you a little bit of a better picture of what that context is or what it looks like. So, we believe Marcus and ‘Durz’ have given us pretty good minutes,” Sullivan explained. “Some nights they’ve been better than others, without a doubt. But I also think there’s more to it than (the analytics).”

Fair enough. Analytics are important. So, too, are results, the eye test, the human element. That’s why the Yankees bringing back the analytics-driven Aaron Boone as manager draws so much criticism from fans and reporters alike, because it’s so one-sided how he runs that team and goes about making his decisions.

Sully appears to have a good balance of both in how he oversees the Rangers.

New York Rangers news and analysis

Brad Penner-Imagn ImagesCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With stick taps to longtime AHL beat reporter Patrick Williams, we take a dive into explaining Dylan Garand’s success with the Rangers, focusing more on what’s between his ears than the technical aspects.

Tomas Chrenko heating up in Slovakia tops Steven Voogel’s report on Rangers prospects playing in Europe.

This is pretty cool: in the most recent NCAA men’s hockey rankings, the top five teams each has one Rangers prospect playing on it, including No. 1- ranked Michigan, with forward Malcolm Spence.

Keith Yandle shared a story on a recent podcast about why he opted to reject a contract offer to remain with the Rangers back in the summer of 2016.

NHL news and rumors

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TSN: It was quite the theater in Ottawa on Wednesday night, when Senators fan brought their A Game and directed a heaping dose of vitriol at former captain Brady Tkachuk in his return after forcing a trade to the Florida Panthers this past offseason. Oh, and the Senators won 5-1, despite Brady scoring the first goal of the contest.

Sportsnet: Nice job by the Sportsnet crew putting together this highlight video showcasing the creative chants from the Senators fans directed at Brady Tkachuk in his return to Canadian Tire Cnetre.

Florida Hockey Now: George Richards has this take from the Panthers side of an eventful night in Ottawa.

TSN: Some potentially bad news in an otherwise excellent night for the Senators: No. 1 goalie Linus Ullmark left the game in the third period with a lower-body injury.

New Jersey Hockey Now: James Nichols takes a deep dive into what it would take for the Devils to trade for Dylan Larkin and fit him under their salary cap.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Penguins coach Dan Muse said in a radio interview that forward Ben Kindel is doing better and could return to Pittsburgh by time you read this following a medical episode that forced the team charter to return to Salt Lake City so that he could be rushed to a local hospital there.

Sportsnet: Some really good news for the defending Stanley Cup champs as talented forward Seth Jarvis will make his season debut for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday following offseason shoulder surgery.

Boston Hockey Now: Jack Studley reports on the Bruins signing forward Marat Khusnutdinov to a three-year, $11.85 million contract extension.

Sportsnet: First-year Vancouver Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson is trying to hold things together and preaches patience as his team wobbles through an eight-game losing streak.

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