TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — The list is long. Too long for a team that’s been to a pair of Eastern Conference finals in the last three seasons.
Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad have been inseparable as linemates just about since Zibanejad arrived in a trade from the Senators eight years ago. And since the Rangers dealt Pavel Buchnevich to the Blues ahead of the 2021-22 season, the third spot on the Kreider-Zibanejad line has been about as reliable and consistent as the last decade of New York Jets quarterbacks.
Each of the last three seasons, three Rangers have played at least 100 five-on-five minutes with Kreider and Zibanejad. Kaapo Kakko is on that list every year; Alexis Lafrenière, Frank Vatrano, Jimmy Vesey, Vladimir Tarasenko, Blake Wheeler and Jack Roslovic have also been there for extended periods.
Reilly Smith is the latest entrant in this top-six sweepstakes. And maybe, just maybe, general manager Chris Drury won’t have to search for an alternative around the trade deadline this time. Smith knows about consistency, having been part of the “Misfit” line in Vegas for six years. He knows about success, having ended his run with the Golden Knights in 2023 with a Stanley Cup parade.
And Smith knows about his new linemates thanks to an old Ranger friend — his big brother Brendan, a Ranger from 2016 to 2021.
“It’s a great fit for him and I really think the Rangers have been looking for a guy like Reilly,” Brendan Smith said in a conversation this summer, just before he packed up his family and headed to Dallas, where he signed this offseason. “He’s got a Cup, he’s a 200-foot player, a really smart player. Mika and Kreids will love playing with him. There’s been a laundry list of players they’ve tried with those two guys and no one’s stuck. It’s a good marriage for both parties.”
There are a couple of factors weighing against this new line being an instant and season-long success. The first is that Kreider and Zibanejad haven’t produced at five-on-five the way they once did with Buchnevich or, for their brief time together after the 2022 trade deadline, with Vatrano, who meshed best with the tandem of anyone on the list above.
The metrics on Kreider-Zibanejad-Kakko have been solid each of the past three seasons, according to Evolving Hockey — expected-goals percentages of 55.8, 59 and 50.2 — but the goal production just hasn’t been there. Last season, that line produced 1.35 goals per 60 minutes; the line defended well and didn’t give up much, but the presumptive top line simply can’t play low-event hockey.
So each year, Drury had to spend assets to find a replacement. Vatrano was a hit; Tarasenko less so and Roslovic, a buy-low addition, added speed and the occasional flash but did not make the line dangerous enough deep into the postseason.
And there is also the factor of Smith’s 2023-24. Vegas has been up against the salary cap basically since it arrived in the league in 2017 and made a competitive team out of the expansion draft and side deals. The Golden Knights scooped up Smith from the Panthers for a fourth-round pick in exchange for Vegas selecting Jonathan Marchessault; those two, plus William Karlsson, made up the “Misfit” line, and Marchessault won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP in 2023.
The Knights have moved on from several of their cornerstone players and Smith was on the block as a result last summer; the Penguins, looking for just the sort of top-six forward with experience and skill the Rangers have sought every deadline, acquired Smith for a third-round pick and dropped him onto Evgeni Malkin’s wing.
Much like Kakko with Kreider and Zibanejad, the metrics with Smith alongside Malkin and a couple of right wingers were sound: 56.5 xG% with Rickard Rakell, 57.4 xG% with Valtteri Puustinen. But again, as with Kreider-Zibanejad-Kakko, the production just wasn’t there for Smith and Malkin, who averaged 3.2 goals per 60 with Rakell where Michael Bunting, who came to the Pens in the Jake Guentzel deal, had a rate of 4.7 goals per 60 in Smith’s spot.
The Penguins were metrics darlings last season but just couldn’t finish well or get enough saves to make the playoffs. Smith, who had 40 points in 76 games, took some heat for the failure despite the aging Pens core outside of Sidney Crosby having down years.
“The analytics aren’t exactly the clearest picture,” Smith said. “We did certain things well and there’s certain players on that team who excel in puck possession and down-low play, but it’s sometimes hard to score through those. As a team we weren’t great off the rush, and we didn’t capitalize on those chances or give ourselves enough opportunities there. Analytics can sometimes cloud the picture of a team’s success and what they do well. Any team that doesn’t make the playoffs, it’s an upsetting season, especially when you have four or five future Hall of Famers on one team, you expect a lot.”
Through the first 10 days of training camp, Smith has been getting settled in with two players who know each other incredibly well. That challenge proved difficult for Smith last season in Pittsburgh but this is a different group; the Rangers have had success despite the lack of consistency on the Kreider-Zibanejad line and aren’t nearly as old as the Penguins lineup. They also have Igor Shesterkin, so there’s confidence even a line that isn’t producing won’t get scored on much.
“I’ve gotten to know Reilly through Brendan over the years so there’s a familiarity there, but on the ice you see a really smart player who reads the game really well,” Kreider said. “He thinks the game at a really fast pace. Some of the first-touch stuff, how he creates lanes for himself and his linemates. There’s also a lot of the dirty puck stuff that’s really important at this level.”
Peter Laviolette is experimenting with the Rangers’ successful power play. If he sticks with his newly formed units, Smith will get a chance to build more chemistry with Zibanejad and Kreider on a unit that’s had Filip Chytil and either Adam Fox or K’Andre Miller at the top. Smith couldn’t crack the Penguins’ top unit with those future Hall of Famers — Crosby, Malkin, Erik Karlsson — and his one power-play goal last season was Smith’s lowest since he was a Bruin a decade ago. A regular turn with his linemates on the power play, where Kreider and Zibanejad have feasted in recent years, could build Smith’s point totals and offensive confidence.
His memories of time spent with Kreider and Zibanejad come mostly from “car rides out to the suburbs to hang with Brendan and his family during trips in or holidays,” Reilly said. “It is nice to be able to play with these guys that I’ve met a bunch of times. I’ve got guys here who I’ve been teammates with before, like Troch (Vincent Trocheck) and Quickie (Jonathan Quick), so anything you can lean on to make the transition easier is good.”
“He certainly knows how much I loved being part of the Rangers organization,” Brendan Smith said. “Reilly’s just a guy that fits in. When he really broke out in Florida, then obviously in Vegas, he really complements his linemates well. There’s guys in the league that just make sense — him with Mika and Kreids really does for me.”
(Top photo of Reilly Smith and Mika Zibanejad: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
