NEW YORK -- Since the start of the 2008-09 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings and Boston Bruins all have had several things in common.
Besides winning at least one Stanley Cup, each team was loaded with depth, speed and solid goaltending during its respective championship run.
The 2016-17 version of the New York Rangers has all of those qualities -- minus the Cup. So far.
Sure, it's still November and the Rangers have played only 14 games. But New York's 10-4-0 record, and 20 points, ranks it near the top of the Metropolitan Division. Along with a veteran leadership core that has been through it all, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault has the flexibility to roll four lines consistently. His squad is fast and is scoring goals at a frenetic pace.
"They are one of the three best teams in the East," said one NHL general manager. "They are faster than last year."
Thanks to the additions of Mika Zibanejad, Jimmy Vesey, Brady Skjei and Michael Grabner, along with a healthy Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, New York looks like a completely different team than it did a season ago. The Rangers are no longer stale.
"That's the biggest thing -- the main thing is our depth," said Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. "So many guys have been scoring and helping out offensively, but at the same time we're taking responsibility defensively. I feel like we have four lines that can make it happen, and that's a big thing to have. When you play 82 games, you can't rely on just one or two lines. Our third line has been on fire.
"You look at Pittsburgh. When the Penguins won last year, their depth probably won them the Cup. It wasn't their first two lines," Lundqvist continued. "Yeah, they were great, but their third line for them was key, and their fourth line, too. The years that we had good runs we had a pretty deep team, and so far it's been looking great. It's still early so you don't want to overthink it, but so far the one thing that's been helping us most is the depth."
The Rangers have scored 58 goals through their first 14 games and lead the league with 4.14 per game. And speaking of their third line, over the past six games, Grabner, Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller have combined for 24 points (12 goals and 12 assists).
There was a point last season when Vigneault made Hayes a healthy scratch because the center wasn't being productive. Being sat served as a wake-up call, and Hayes used that moment as motivation to work harder during the offseason.
"It definitely helped," he said of his amped-up offseason routine. "It was a fun summer, to be honest, and not socially. It's nice to have a good start and feel good and actually believe in what you did [during the summer]. It's something you wish you did earlier in your career."
Every line combination is a threat to score. The Rangers are playing well defensively, too. There's nothing carefree about their play. The Rangers are rolling, but they're veteran enough to know that they must sustain it for the remainder of the regular season.
"Today's NHL is all about depth," said Rangers forward Chris Kreider. "You need four lines. You need contributions up and down the lineup throughout the year, and it's a long year. A lot of that comes from your leadership group playing the right way. We've got a really great core, a great group of leaders who set the tone, and the young guys are able to follow that."
The result? "Everyone is confident," said Hayes.
And everyone is contributing on both sides of the puck. The Rangers have changed their style of play in an attempt to be more uptempo but are still showing a commitment to defense. All the aforementioned Cup-winning teams featured a potent offense that started with their defense.
Before anyone anoints the Rangers as this season's Stanley Cup champs -- and, to be clear, that's not what we're doing here -- not everything is rosy for Vigneault. After a recent loss to the lowly Vancouver Canucks, he said that "nobody even had a 'C' game tonight" for the Rangers. The coach was forced to shorten his bench twice in two games, and he benched Vesey and Kreider.
Kreider, who had a strong start to the season, hasn't been the same since neck spasms sidelined him last month. Vesey's struggles are understandable as he deals with the normal rookie growing pains.
Patience also will be key for the Rangers because they no doubt will deal with the ebbs and flows of the long, arduous season. GM Jeff Gorton continues to build depth within the organization. On Tuesday, he traded former first-round pick (10th overall in 2010) Dylan McIlrath to the Florida Panthers in exchange for defenseman Steven Kampfer, who will be assigned to the AHL as security for New York's blue line.
Lundqvist described this season's team as a "pretty tight group now."
"The leadership group has been here a while now, and personally I've been here with a few guys now for eight, nine years. You know how everybody works around games, under pressure, what they like, what they don't like, so it's a good mix," he said. "We have a lot of young players coming in now. They're great guys but also great players, so that adds on to the mix. It's a good group."
But, Lundqvist admitted, camaraderie only counts for so much.
"It doesn't matter how fun of a group you are -- if you're not winning, it's not going to be fun," he added. "We talked about it going into the season, that the No. 1 thing we need to focus on in order to have a fun year is to win. The rest will take care of itself."