New York Rangers: Forward deployment is paramount to success
The New York Rangers are deep and talented down the wings, but that might be a double-edged sword.
Despite offseason departures at center, the New York Rangers are still one of the deepest teams in the league at the forward position. Thanks to tremendous talent on the wings, they have a wealth of resources.
This is obviously a good thing. When 27-goal-scorer Michael Grabner is best suited to playing on the fourth line, things look peachy. Add in utility skater Jesper Fast, the Rangers have players who can be used up and down the lineup.
This all comes with a potential problem, though. Head coach Alain Vigneault is notorious for making puzzling lineup decisions. While the focus has traditionally been on defensive deployments, and rightfully so, he’s not innocent with forwards.
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Flexibility isn’t always best
With the likes of Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello, and Chris Kreider, the New York Rangers have some high-end wingers. The top of the lineup is more or less locked down, including J.T. Miller, Pavel Buchnevich, and Jimmy Vesey.
In an ideal world, those would be the wingers consistently playing in the top-nine. But with Grabner’s speed and goal-scoring last season, Vigneault routinely moved him up the lineup. He spent most of the season on the third line with Hayes and Miller.
The result was Pavel Buchnevich forced down the lineup and even scratched at times. For a player with such obvious top-six upside, that’s gross misallocation of talent.
On top of that, Vigneault seems to have found a favorite in Jesper Fast. While Fast is indeed a good player, he’s limited. He has no business playing in the top-six, yet Vigneault regularly shuffles his lines in order to move Fast up.
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In an ideal world…
As has been the case often for the past three seasons, Vigneault can be his own worst enemy. He likes the New York Rangers to play an up-tempo system, then puts players in situations that minimizes their contributions.
Fast and Grabner are prime examples of this. Going into next season, they should be playing on the fourth line. Buchnevich should be getting increased minutes. Jimmy Vesey would ideally play on an offensively-deployed third line.
But will this happen? Vigneault’s track record indicates that it won’t. His treatment of Buchnevich last season was nothing short of atrocious, especially late in the season and in the playoffs. Vesey, despite being significantly worse as the season went on, retained second-line minutes.
Vigneault needs to avoid his compunctions to play his favorites in minutes they’re not prepared for. This, of course, extends to the defense (if we even see Marc Staal on the top pairing with Ryan McDonagh…), but the forward group can be game-changing if deployed properly.
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Yes, it’s great that Grabner and Fast can play up the lineup if need be. But they shouldn’t unless there’s a pressing need or injury.