New York Rangers: They Might Have to Make the Best of what they Have
Nov 21, 2015; Sunrise, FL, USA; New York Rangers left wing Rick Nash (61) celebrates his second goal of the game against the Florida Panthers with defenseman Kevin Klein (8) and right wing Mats Zuccarello (36) in the second period at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports
As a recent injury plague just hit the New York Rangers, they will be without their most consistent defensemen, Kevin Klein ( abdominal injury, 2-3 weeks) and top Center Derek Stepan (4-6 weeks, broken ribs)
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There is no question that the Rangers will be challenged. They couldn’t have played more poor defensively in front of goaltenders Henrik Lundqvist and Antti Raanta since the start of the year.
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The advanced stats and the charts have been nauseating to visualize, but somehow someway the Rangers are near the top of the league in the standings.
So they will have to make the best of what they have and it starts from their defensive core. It’s evident that Defensemen Dan Girardi especially, along with defensemen Marc Staal are no longer dependable top defensemen.
Ever since the long 2014 Rangers cup run, Girardi has seemed to have lost his game and has regressed significantly. Before then Girardi earned his contract on a 6 year with an aav of $5.5 million contract.
Since then, he’s shown some major flaws in his puck management game, his almost stagnant skating and his awful possession numbers. Girardi is no longer a top 2 defensemen, but there’s still some hope he can play the top 4.
When Klein is healthy, expect him to return to the top pairing with defensemen Ryan McDonagh. As for Girardi expect him to be paired with Keith Yandle, who Girardi has shown some signs of hope with when paired with him.
As for Marc Staal , he’s looked completely lost for the most part this year and the best fit for him when the Rangers are totally healthy is the third pairing with Dan Boyle/Dylan Mcilrath
There is still hope for Staal as well, he might not be no where near as effective as Keith Yandle, but playing less minutes on the 3rd pairing with Boyle might be beneficial to him.
Now of course trading/shedding a contract of either Girardi’s or Staal’s might be the ideal move, but it would a miraculous move if pulled off.
Staal and Girardi both currently have no trade clauses still for a couple of more seasons, along with huge contracts that won’t be wanted without retaining salary or distributing salary that’s close to evenly distributed.
The odds are against it as to sum up Girardi or Staal would have to waive their no trade clauses and the Rangers would have to balance the salary coming back to their end of the trade.
This of course isn’t impossible, but trading even one them is too much of a headache for a general manager.
Like always teams must prepare for the worst, and make the best of what they have. When fully healthy, the best the defensive pairings is going to get in order is: McDonagh-Klein, Yandle-Girardi and Staal-Boyle/Mcilrath.