New York Rangers: Who’s Under the Most Post-Season Pressure?
In this round of Blue Line Station’s New York Rangers Round-Table, we discuss who is under the most pressure for the Rangers to make a deep post-season run.
The New York Rangers failed to make it out of the first round of the playoffs last year for the first time since 2011. The year was accordingly considered a disappointment, despite the Rangers’ strong regular season.
This year, the Rangers have once again had a strong regular season. Yet they will go into the playoffs as the seventh seed, due to face the Montreal Canadiens. New York expects to have better post-season results this time around. If they don’t, however, consequences will come into the picture.
Who’s under the most pressure for post-season success? Find out who we believe is here.
Brandon Cohen- The Assistant Coaches
Even though I was the one who came up with this round-table topic, I had a lot of difficulty making my choice. I let everyone else choose first, then juggled around Alain Vigneault, the bottom six forwards, and the Assistant Coaches out of the remaining options available.
I ended up deciding on the Assistant Coaches. See, Alain Vigneault will not lose his job. The Rangers will not pay Vigneault to go away just months after paying him to stay for the long term.
However, if the Rangers find themselves bounced out early, changes will be made. The penalty kill and power-play units have been up and down all season. Defensively, the Rangers remain a mess. While Vigneault deserves the majority of the blame, the Rangers can simply point the finger at the Assistants instead.
Look for the Rangers to make wholesale changes to Vigneault’s sidekicks if the team doesn’t make a run. If the Assistants want to stay, they have to make sure the Rangers are up for the challenge.
John Williams- Henrik Lundqvist
Of course Henrik Lundqvist is the New York Ranger under the most pressure this postseason. After all, he has been for the past decade, so he is used to situations like this.
What’s different between now and then is that this iteration of the New York Rangers has the worst defensive group that he has seen over the course of his tenure on Broadway. With that comes even more added pressure–besides the pressure he must continue to soak in from being the franchise player–as he must perform like Superman in the crease for this team to survive a very difficult Eastern Conference bracket.
Especially with Captain Ryan McDonagh ailing from some bumps and bruises, leading to his current day-to-day, undisclosed status, the King must be extra sharp if he doesn’t want his team to fade away early again for the second straight year.
Dan Carrozzi- Ryan McDonagh
The New York Ranger under the most pressure in the playoffs is Ryan McDonagh.
McDonagh is a true do-it-all defenseman for the Rangers. He leads all team skaters in total TOI, PP TOI and SH TOI. Therefore, McDonagh is being tasked with quarterbacking an inconsistent powerplay, holding down a flailing penalty kill and also shutting down opposing top six forwards for the entirety of the Rangers postseason campaign.
McDonagh is also in the unenviable position of not having a true number 2 defenseman to ride shotgun with him. Dan Girardi and Kevin Klein have not aged well and Nick Holden’s game has regressed. Brenden Smith or Brady Skjei could fit the bill, but the former is likely out of his element and the latter is a rookie.
McDonagh also has the additional expectations that come with being the team captain. Fairly or not, should the Rangers make another untimely exit from the playoffs, the leadership group will come under fire. Because of this, McDonagh will have the pressure on him to lead this group of Rangers on a deep postseason run.
Drew McCaffrey- Dan Girardi
There is no doubt that the New York Rangers sit at a kind of crossroads entering the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Several players are facing more pressure than normal, perhaps especially veteran defenseman Dan Girardi.
After three years of steadily declining play, thought pieces abounded last summer about how the Rangers’ early exit would prime him for a healthy, bounce-back season. That did not happen, and now we’re seeing new “bounce-back” articles.
Girardi spent more time injured at points this season, and when healthy, his play has remained closer to AHL-level than NHL-level. With the expansion draft looming and his no-movement clause forcing the Rangers to protect his $5 million spot on the roster, Girardi needs to come through big time this spring.
The alternative is, most likely, a buy-out before the expansion draft. The Rangers simply can’t afford to lock up a roster spot and a huge chunk of salary cap on a player who no longer gets it done.
With Kevin Shattenkirk set to hit free agency and the Rangers a frontrunner for the top-tier American, Girardi simply doesn’t fit in with New York if his level of play doesn’t take a big jump in the playoffs.
Karly Redpath- Derek Stepan
Derek Stepan is one of the Rangers most consistent players, but struggled to score early in the season.
Stepan has recorded a respectable 54 points, the third highest of his career, thanks to his 38 assists this year. With a career-high 22 goals last season, it looked like Stepan would record a new career low goals in 2016-17.
However, he has turned on in the second half and has at least met his career low (16 goals).
Stepan has recorded four points in the last five games (two goals, two assists) and has 12 points in the last 17 games (four goals, eight assists). With the postseason just one game away, the pressure is on for Stepan to continue his streak and continue to put pucks in the net.
He is always one of the most important players on the roster, especially in the postseason. Regardless of whether or not he is scoring, his leadership, is always a very important aspect of the Rangers success.
Beyond an impact on the bench, he has proven that he has an ability to make big plays to generate opportunities and can score important goals. This is exactly what the Rangers need him to do, and based on his play in the last month, Stepan needs to do it now more than ever.
George Ruggiero- Jeff Gorton
General manager Jeff Gorton is under the most pressure this offseason. As is with any other season, Gorton will have to juggle free agency, the draft, and the salary cap. However, this offseason brings a few new challenges to the table.
Internally, there are players with specific situations that affect multiple other facets of this offseason. These players are those with both large contracts and no trade clauses; those coming to mind are Rick Nash, Dan Girardi, and Marc Staal. All three have seen a decline in play, have massive cap hits, and affect the new outside challenge for this season.
Next season will be the inaugural season for the Vegas Golden Knights. With a new team comes an expansion draft. Each team can protect a certain amount of players, however, there are stipulations on who can be protected and not every player can be protected.
Needless to say, Jeff Gorton will have his hands full keeping the team’s young core together, while still improving on this year’s success.
Alexandra Russo- Rick Nash
Forward Rick Nash has an enormous weight on his shoulders heading into the 2017 Playoffs. This is due to his performances in previous postseasons, where people weren’t thrilled with him.
He doesn’t have a lot of playoff experience being with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the majority of his career. However, this is no excuse considering how many postseason games the Rangers have taken part of during the past number of years.
The pressure on Nash is not just to be a presence and not make any mistakes with the puck. The pressure is on him to score goals and add assists. The New York Rangers need points from him because he is a top liner and power forward.
Next: Rangers' X-Factors for the Post-Season
The team doesn’t have a lot of tall, strong bodies besides Nash (and Hayes), so it is of the utmost important that he uses that to his advantage. If Nash is able to produce as much in the playoffs as he is in the regular season, the team will be content. As of now, the heat is on him, and he is intent to prove his worth in the postseason.