New York Rangers' Defensive Turnaround Under Mike Sullivan And David Quinn Now Leads The Entire NHL
Photo credit: New York Rangers
The Defense under Head Coach Mike Sullivan of the New York Rangers looks as if the team has turned a corner. With a recent underlying statistic making the rounds on social media, he has put Peter Laviolette to shame.
The New York Rangers under Mike Sullivan look different this season.
Compared to the leader beforehand, Sullivan has put the Rangers back on the right path, with assistant David Quinn bolstering the coaching staff.
While what's old is new again, with Quinn, Sullivan (the 38th and newest coach in Rangers history) has found a way of flipping the switch on the Blueshirts' defensive game, which underperformed with Peter Laviolette last season.
The Rangers' defense under Sullivan this season has led the NHL in 5v5 goals against per 60 minutes.
Explaining this New York Rangers Underlying Statistic
While this seems like a ubiquitous term, there is an actual meaning behind it. As it measures the expected goals a team will give up per 60 minutes in a hockey game.
Per Blueshirts Breakaway:
Expected goals against per-60
The amount of expected goals a team allows per 60 minutes of play.
The amount of expected goals a team allows per 60 minutes of play.
The Rangers can expect to give up at most 2.16 GA/60 compared to under Peter Laviolette last season, who gave up 2.79 GA/60.
A significant improvement for a team that was ranked dead last in 2024-25.
It seems as if the team is slowly working toward where they need to be, albeit at a different pace than we expect.
The team is 6-5-2 and 3rd in the Metropolitan Division in the NHL this season, after beating the Seattle Kraken, 3-2 in OT.
Previously on NY Rangers Insider
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