What Went Wrong
The New York Rangers struggled in three major areas this year: their blue line, maintaining a net front presence and special teams. There are many ways to solve these problems, but it is likely that the team will start the 2016-2017 season with a few holes. However, let’s look at the team like a business and decide what steps should be taken this off-season to minimize risk?
Special Teams
When it came to the penalty kill, the New York Rangers ran into a ton of problems. They were ranked 16th in the league, which might not seem that terrible to the overall NHL fan base. However, considering the Ranger’s success in this area over the past four years, New York Ranger fans find this to be extremely underwhelming.
During the 2014-2015 season the Rangers were ranked as the sixth best team on the kill, in the 2013-2014 season they were ranked as the the third best in the league and in the 2012-2013 season they were they ranked 15th.
This season was a let down in everything special teams; not only the killz but also their power play. This year the New York Rangers had the 14th “best” power play in the league. Granted they have not had an above average power play percentage in quite some time, you would expect a team with Cup aspirations to rank in the top ten when it comes to man advantages.
The New York Rangers Blue Line
This is a hard category to quantify. However, we all know that the New York Rangers defensive play throughout the season was less than stellar. Dan Girardi, Marc Stall, a frequently injured Ryan McDonagh and Alain Vigneault’s grudge against young players all contributed to the Rangers lack of defensive prowess.
This years defensive debacle was the most upsetting aspect of the Blueshirts performance. As fans, we have grown accustom to watching a shut-down blue line. This year that did not happen and that is why everyone is calling for Girardi’s head and some people may even want to see Marc walk alongside Eric this summer.
Net Front Presence
There was none, point blank, period. At times it was hard to watch. Henrik Lundqvist was hung out to dry many a times due to the New York Rangers center’s inability to block out screens. This is disheartening, possibly more so than the Rangers special teams because it is not something that can be fixed with practice. This is an aspect of the game that takes a certain player, with a certain mindset to accomplish and the Rangers clearly do not have that player on their roster at the moment.
It will be close to impossible to bring the Stanley Cup back to MSG without this problem solved. All you have to do is look at the L.A. Kings to see how important this aspect of the game is. The Kings do not have any stand out All-Stars, with the exception of Jonathan Quick, and they are constantly in the running for the Cup. The Kings cover the basics extremely well- nothing fancy. They race to win loose pucks, impose their will onto opponents by fore-checking well and crash the net/maintain a net front presence throughout all 60 minutes of a game.
Until the New York Rangers can acquire a player that is willing to sacrifice their body just beyond Lundqvist’s crease and the Rangers opponents crease, their efforts to win a Cup may be futile.
Viable Solutions
There are too many options to count. The New York Rangers have a lot of holes in their overall play and ironically it is not their offense. They were ranked seventh in the NHL this year in goals for. The Blueshirts recorded 233 goals this year and the during the 2014-2015 season, the Rangers were ranked third in the league in goals for with 248.
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No team is perfect, so to think that the Blueshirts will solve all of their problems this summer would be asinine, but they can work towards fixing their biggest issue, the blue line, and it may not be as tough or monetarily consuming as some may think.
Alain Vigneault will have no choice but to play Dylan McIlrath more frequently, who did make occasional mistakes, but has shown glimpses of defensive fortitude. Also, McIlrath brings a gritty style of play to the Rangers that is otherwise only found in Tanner Glass, who is not great at much besides fighting.
McIlrath will also see more ice time next season due to the Rangers CAP issues. These issues restrict Gorton’s ability to sign top notch blue liners, such as Kris Russell and Brian Campbell.
The New York Rangers will also improve on defense once Brady Skjei becomes a starter. He proved himself towards the end of the season when the Rangers captain, Ryan McDonagh, battled through several injuries. Skjei can skate very well for a man of his stature, he obtains above average stick handling for a defenseman and the most important aspect of his play is that he is young. Skjei will be around for a while and that is extremely comforting.
Dan Girardi and Marc Staal
Even though the Rangers have McDonagh, Skjei and McIlrath, they need veterans to step up. Without depth, a few great blue line players mean nothing. Girardi and M. Staal received major contract extensions that in hinsight will not be marked as Goton’s brightest moments.
Staal signed a 34.2 million dollar, 10 year contract this past season, while Girardi signed a similar contract worth 33 million dollars. Girardi’s contract is valid through 2020-2021 and Staal’s is valid through 2021-2022.
These two veterans bogged the New York Rangers down this year and need to play at the level we witnessed in previous seasons, or else the New York Rangers blue line will be in trouble for some time.
Next: New York Rangers Up for Contract - Restricted Free Agents
Time Heals Special Teams
The New York Rangers overall special teams can be solved with cohesion and a few new pieces. AV took a shot with Raphael Diaz on the power play this post season and I would not be shocked to see him more often. The Rangers clearly need new blood on the power play/kill, but they do not need to seek special teams talent this off-season to fix the issue.
Practice makes perfect and it is on Vigneault to find a group of players that is currently on the Rangers roster to get their power play going.
As for a net front presence, that is on Gorton. He will need to seek and sign a player this summer to fix that issue. CAP space is an issue, but the New York Rangers do not seem to have much interest in resigning most of their unrestricted free agents, which will give the Rangers GM the money he needs to find a young player willing to sacrifice his body for the good of the team.