ESPN Insider uses Timo Seppa of PuckProspectus to figure out which Ranger is going to be trending upward and downward.

Seppa believes that Brandon Dubinsky is trending upward because of his play in the playoffs and the possibilty of pairing him with Marian Gaborik.

Speaking of Gaborik, Seppa believes that he is a player that is trending downward. They cite health as a factor but also a stat named VUKOTA to predict it.

Also, EJ Hradek calls Artem Ansimov the Rangers player to watch. In regards to Anisimov, Hradek notes his strong season in Hartford last year, the abscence of a top center since trading away Scott Gomez and also the possibilty of playing with Gaborik as reasons he should be on the rader.

….Stats like Vukota and the such haven’t seemed to translate as well to hockey as stats like this have to baseball, so these may be a little off. Dubi is the obvious guy tobreak out and take off for the Rangers because of his play and age, Gaborik though is not someone who is trending downward. At least not yet. This is where the stats can be misleading, because he was hurt last season Gaboriks numbers would be down, if he had played a full season I doubt his vukota would be saying what it is.

For those who want to know more about Vukota, click here.