It's still very early in the season but what a great start for the Rangers, the team is currently at the top of the rankings for the first time ever since the creation of this great league. For at least 3 seasons, the Rangers were considered a "bottom team" and with good reasons, missing the playoffs every single time and not even be in the race for a wildcard spot.
Everything changed in season 4 where the Rangers surprise a lot of teams by making the playoffs and beating the Big Bad Bruins in the first round (season 2 CCHL champs).
The success from season 4 seems to be continuing (at least so far) in season 5, Rangers are currently 1st in the league followed closely by Edmonton and Buffalo which both have a game in hand on the Rangers. The team also has the best +/- goal differential in the league with +18.
Everybody's been contributing to the success of the team, there's currently 6 players (Kesler, Pearson, Parise, Teravainen, Debrincat and Forsberg) with 10 points or more in only 12 games. The 35 year old veteran Ryan Kesler is leading the team with 13 points (+10), he's working really hard off the ice to keep in shape which is motivating the whole team and the younger guys.
Another great key player for this success is goaltenter Semyon Varlamov, he's one of the best in the league at the moment (9-1-1 / 0.931 / 1,99). His parter (Richard Bachman) has had only 1 start so far and it was a 5-4 loss against the Wild, he will need to play a lot more this season so let's hope he will do better than 0.808 save % and 5.09 GAA. Everything considered, if there's no major injury this year, the Rangers should be a force to be reckoned with for season 5, dont let your guard down against a "bottom" team.
Marc Denis, RDS