Until recently, the duo of Marc Staal and Nick Holden formed the New York Rangers second defensive pairing. Head Coach Alain Vigneault is looking for the right combinations for his defense for the postseason. How does the pair of Staal and Holden stack up?
Marc Staal and Nick Holden were first put together on the very first game of the season. For most of the season (41 games), they have shouldered 2nd pairing responsibilities of the New York Rangers together.
In the past few weeks, Dan Girardi and Kevin Klein have been out of the lineup due to injury. In addition, the Rangers added former Red Wing Brenden Smith into the fold at the trade deadline. Also, the Rangers called up Steven Kampfer from the Hartford Wolf Pack when Klein went down.
As a result, Alain Vigneault has juggled his defensive pairing the last few games. He will likely continue to do so as Klein and Girardi return from injury and Smith settles in. The key for Vigneault will be finding the right defensive combinations for the Rangers’ playoff run.
Related Story: New York Rangers’ Expansion Draft Candidate: Nick Holden
The Staal and Holden pairing has been one that Vigneault has elected to employ quite often. Have they been effective as the Rangers’ 2nd defensive pairing? Or would it behoove the team to have them play with different partners?
In evaluating the pairing, 5 on 5 possession, as well as Penalty Kill production, will be taken into account. This is because neither player spends much time on the powerplay (Staal = 0:02 PP TOI/Gm; Holden = 0:38 PP TOI/Gm).
However, both players do kill penalties quite often: 1:58 SH TOI/Gm for Staal and 1:43 SH TOI/Gm for Holden. Possession numbers for penalty killers (and on the powerplay) are heavily skewed due to the man advantage situation. Because of this, the Staal-Holden pairing will be evaluated by how effectively they limit powerplay goals against.
5 on 5 Possession
| Pairing | TOI | CF% | SCF% | GF60 | GA60 | GF% | xGF60 | xGA60 | xGF% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staal-Holden | 613.97 | 46.47 | 45.41 | 2.15 | 2.35 | 47.83 | 2.17 | 2.68 | 44.71 |
| McDonagh-Holden | 156.09 | 49.48 | 56.25 | 4.23 | 1.92 | 68.75 | 3.31 | 2.48 | 57.18 |
| Holden-Klein | 143.62 | 43.12 | 57.58 | 2.92 | 2.09 | 58.33 | 2.91 | 2.84 | 50.64 |
| Staal-Klein | 111.23 | 49.58 | 67.44 | 3.24 | 3.24 | 50 | 3.38 | 2.38 | 58.65 |
Using Corsica’s wonderful combos pairing tool gives quick insight into how effective Staal and Holden have been together. Also, it provides information on how they have done with their most frequent other defensive partners.
The takeaway here is, that when together Staal and Holden are not as effective as they are when with other partners.
One caveat to note here is that Holden has benefited from playing with McDonagh at times. It is also interesting to note that other than each other, Staal and Holden have often been paired with Klein.
Penalty Kill
| Pairing | TOI | SCA | SCA/60 | xGA | GA | xGA/60 | xGA/60 Rank | GA/60 | GA/60 Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McDonagh-Girardi | 115.49 | 49 | 25.5 | 11.0 | 9 | 5.72 | 21/55 | 4.68 | 18/55 |
| Staal-Holden | 58.99 | 23 | 23.4 | 5.92 | 5 | 6.02 | 31/55 | 5.09 | 23/55 |
Here, the comparison is between the Rangers’ most utilized penalty killing pairings.
Although not posting as effective numbers as McDonagh and Girardi, Staal and Holden appear more than capable of handling penalty killing duties for the Rangers.
However, neither of the top Rangers penalty killing defensive pairings are performing particularly well when compared to the rest of the league. They have about an average effectiveness, which makes sense given that the Rangers are currently ranked 11th in the league on the penalty kill.
In Conclusion
One thing that should be mentioned is that Nick Holden has compiled some impressive offensive numbers this season. Against the Florida Panthers on March 7th, Holden matched his season career high in goals with 10. He has also surpassed his previous season career high in points with 30. It should also be noted that Holden is shooting well above his career shooting percentage (15.6% vs 9.4%).
Perhaps playing with the classically defensive Marc Staal has opened up some opportunities for Holden. It is also possible that Holden may be able to produce more with a more offensively minded partner such as Brady Skjei or Ryan McDonagh.
It appears that it would be wise for Rangers’ Head Coach Alain Vigneault to separate Marc Staal and Nick Holden. Although there is a small sample size of their play with other partners, both of their possession numbers are better away from each other.
However, when a man down, the Rangers should still feel comfortable in pairing Staal and Holden together. The duo is still very much a viable penalty killing pairing, which is vital for postseason play.
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Therefore, it is up to the Rangers’ coaching staff to find the right combinations on defense before the conclusion of the regular season. Hopefully, their new partners will harness Holden’s offensive uptick while putting both Staal and Holden in the right positions to defend effectively.
(Stats courtesy of NHL.com, Corsica.hockey and hockeyviz.com)