Sam Carrick emerging as unlikely key factor in Rangers’ revival

The New York Rangers have started to stabilize their level of play and results over the past six games, and the obvious driver of that change has been improvement from their stars.

Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, Alexis Lafreniere and Mika Zibanejad, among others, have finally started to look like themselves on the ice as the Blueshirts have strung together a 4-1-1 stretch, one that couldn’t have come at a more critical time for their playoff hopes.

But as is the case with almost any team on a successful run, the Rangers have also relied on contributions from role players. Perhaps none have been more surprising than the efforts from Sam Carrick.

Rangers coaching staff placing more trust in Sam Carrick

The veteran bottom-six center, ostensibly signed as a cheap replacement for the departed Barclay Goodrow during the offseason, has proven to be a solid, versatile addition — particularly of late. Far from providing just physicality and energy from the fourth line, Carrick’s play has warranted more responsibility from the coaching staff.

Coach Peter Laviolette agrees.

The soon-to-be 33-year-old has become a more consistent presence on the penalty kill and a trusted matchup player in situations beyond opposing bottom forward units. Carrick’s ice time has risen over the last month as well; he’s played more than 12 minutes in 10 of his last 14 games.

Carrick’s biggest contributions of the season have come in the last two contests. With center Filip Chytil suffering yet another upper-body injury against the Dallas Stars on Jan. 7 and missing the ensuing two games, Carrick played a season-high 15:01 against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. He was plus-1 on the game by virtue of his overtime goal that gave the Rangers a crucial 3-2 victory.

Carrick turned in another outstanding effort in the Rangers’ 2-1 victory over the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, hitting yet another season high with 18:26 of ice time.

Centering the third line with Jimmy Vesey and newcomer Arthur Kaliyev, Carrick posted a 52.2 expected goal share. The entire line was dominant, recording a 73.0 expected goal share.

Carrick also made an outstanding defensive play late in the first period: He backchecked hard on a Vegas 2-on-1 and intercepted a cross-ice pass to snuff out a golden scoring chance and keep the game tied.

“He’s played some really good hockey for us,” Laviolette said. “He hits, and he does a lot of the dirty work in the defensive zone.”

The veteran of four teams played in only 31 NHL games from 2015-21, but he’s been a sneaky good signing by general manager Chris Drury. Carrick’s three-year, $3 million contract was criticized by some as too long for a player who seemed just as likely to end up back in the AHL as on the Rangers’ roster.

Yet Carrick has shown that his career revival with the Edmonton Oilers, who acquired him from the Anaheim Ducks on March 6 and watched him become an important support piece in their run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, wasn’t a fluke. The 2010 fifth-round draft pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs has finally established himself as a heart-and-soul NHL player, quick to come to the defense of his teammates, always willing to drop the gloves and consistently doling out hits (73 in 42 games).

Carrick’s in-your-face game was a known quantity when the Rangers signed him. It’s his generally solid all-around play that probably wasn’t so much on the radar.

“I think we’re starting to get our identity back a bit here,” Carrick said after the win over the Devils. We want to be a really tough team to play against. We kind of got away from that a little bit, but now, I think we’re taking steps in the right direction and we’re back to being one of those teams, that teams know it’s gonna be a hard night when they come to MSG.”

Sam Carrick has been better version of Barclay Goodrow

Carrick isn’t exactly a darling of advanced metrics. He’s posted a 46.1 expected goal share on the season, and the Blueshirts have been outscored 17-12 when he’s on the ice at 5-on-5.

Yet his underlying numbers this season are considerably better than the 2023-24 numbers of Goodrow, the player he replaced (40.3 expected goal share). Goodrow’s lines were consistently caved in at even strength last season, and it’s also worth noting that it happened while he played on a Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers club. The Blueshirts’ struggles through the first half of 2024-25 have been a roster-wide effort, dragging down almost everyone’s statistics — not just Carrick’s.

The bottom line is that Carrick is giving the Rangers much of what Goodrow did, but more effectively and at a much lower price tag than the $3.6 million cap hit that compelled Drury to waive Goodrow in June. His 57.7 percent face-off win percentage is also a welcome development, though hardly out of character for someone who won 63.1 percent of his draws in 16 regular-season games with the Oilers in 2023-24. He has a career 51.9 percent win rate.

Goodrow has often excelled in the playoffs, particularly last season. Putting a rough regular season behind him, Goodrow delivered six goals, two assists, 41 hits and 29 blocked shots in 16 games to help the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Final.

Carrick wasn’t nearly that good last spring in his first career postseason, but he was still an important bottom-six forward for an almost-championship team. He doled out 31 hits in 10 contests and won 53.3 of his faceoffs for Edmonton, providing the skilled Oilers with a much-needed physical dimension.

Can Carrick match Goodrow’s forceful 2024-25 playoff performance with the Rangers? For a club fighting for its postseason life on a daily basis, Carrick has to keep playing the way he has been if he wants to find out.