New York Rangers: How Alain Vigneault could jeopardize the season

Alain Vigneault has been a very good coach of the New York Rangers. However, he does have his weaknesses. Be forewarned, this is a worst case scenario look at if his worst tendencies combined, how they would haunt the Rangers.

Any time criticism is raised against the New York Rangers Head Coach, there tends to be strong backlash. The reasoning seems to be that he doesn’t deserve the criticism due to his record. Taking a look, one can see that he has indeed been a successful coach over the last decade for both the Vancouver Canucks and now the Rangers.

However, any member of the organization, be it GM, coach or player, should not be above criticism. Each is responsible for the success and failure of the team.

Additionally, any criticism, including the opinion that Vigneault should be relieved of his duties, is perceived as a message that he is a bad head coach. This is not the case. The Rangers would not have achieved so much over the past four seasons if Vigneault was a bad coach. However, this also does not mean he is without his flaws.

So, for argument’s sake, we’re going to take a look at those flaws and weaknesses if they were taken to their worst extent. What would the nightmare scenario look like for the Rangers?

Centers

The Rangers right now have a weakness at center since trading Derek Stepan. They will need to rely on Mika Zibanejad and Kevin Hayes to step up. To do so, Vigneault must surround them with players they can be successful with.

As Hayes ascends to the de facto second line center role, the worst thing that could be done is if he continues to be used as a defensively oriented player. Hayes has flashed his offensive potential at times throughout his career so far, but needs to put in a position to do so.

For Zibanejad, he has shown chemistry with Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich, as well as Mats Zuccarello. Filling the top line with the players that can bring out his potential and that he can likewise bring the best out of, is key.

Looking down the lineup, the third line center spot is an area that needs to be suitably addressed. The short list seems to be shifting J.T. Miller back to center or banking on first round draft pick Lias Andersson.

On one hand, Miller has shown himself to be more effective on the wing, the opposite of Hayes. And on the other, Andersson would be a 19 year old rookie. Whoever earns the spot out of camp must have earned it, not simply assigned it because there are no other options.

The worst thing that Vigneault could do here is continue to deploy Miller or Andersson at center even if they are struggling. The coach has shown the tendency to keep players in their roles, even while they struggled, like Hayes, Jimmy Vesey, Marc Staal, Nick Holden, and Dan Girardi.

The forwards

Vigneault must resist the temptation to give his favorites favorable assignments. He has shown the propensity for deploying players out of their depth, such as Jesper Fast. He also has continued to give players top minutes even when they were struggling, like Jimmy Vesey. Continuing to miscast players would hinder the dynamic offense which was so exciting last season.

Another possibility is he continues to have double standards like giving Pavel Buchnevich a fourth line role, sending him to the minors or scratching for less talented players such as Matt Puempel and Tanner Glass. This was despite Buchnevich producing while fellow rookie Vesey did not.

If Vigneault continues to do so to Buchnevich, the young Russian could opt for more playing time in Russia. If he does so to a rookie like Lias Andersson, he could inhibit his development.

Furthermore, he has shown to still favor having and deploying a player that only brings toughness or gritty aspect. The worst case here is that Bobby Farnham, currently on a PTO, makes the team out of training camp due to his brawn. If Farnham makes the team, Vigneault opting to play him over more skilled players would further handicap the offense.

Like the defense, some of the blame here would fall on General Manager Jeff Gorton’s shoulders. Vigneault can only deploy the players he has available to him, which is the GM’s job.

The defense

The missteps regarding the defense would be similar, miscasting players or not optimizing partners. As far at the top four is concerned, the worst case here is splitting up the presumed pairings of McDonagh with Kevin Shattenkirk and Brady Skjei with Brendan Smith.

Vigneault may favor the the more defensively minded Smith on the top pairing role instead of the more offensively oriented Shattenkirk. This is certainly possible given how he deployed Keith Yandle when he was on the team.

He also continued to deploy Girardi, Staal and Kevin Klein in greater roles due to their defensive style. This was despite their overall effectiveness evaporating as the years progressed.

Another misstep would be keeping the pairing of Marc Staal and Nick Holden together and giving them significant minutes. Again, some of this lies with GM Jeff Gorton failing to move one or both of them, likely Holden.

Deploying Staal and Holden in the top four, as opposed to Skjei and Smith/Shattenkirk would be arming a time bomb. One only needs to look at the Rangers’ series lost to Ottawa this past postseason to see what could happen.

The wildcard in all of this is the addition of Lindy Ruff. It remains to be seen how much leeway the new defense coach will have over pairings and deployment. Regardless, Vigneault must be willing to make the final call if what Ruff recommends isn’t working.

Goaltending

There are two diametrically opposing missteps that could happen regarding Henrik Lundqvist and Ondrej Pavelec.

On one hand, keeping Lundqvist on a short leash and not letting him play through spots of bad form would be detrimental. Lundqvist has been a slow starter throughout his career but gets going as the season progresses. Healthy scratching him for Pavelec, who is nowhere near Cam Talbot or Antti Raanta in terms of talent, could be a disaster.

Conversely, overplaying Lundqvist if Pavelec plays poorly would be just as bad, as a well rested Lundqvist will be essential for a long playoff run.

Next: Five Rangers players in unfamiliar territory

After several seasons of disappointing playoff exits, it is easy to see all the negative potentials in a team. While there are certainly plenty of opportunities for Vigneault to make missteps, I don’t believe he will make ALL of them. It will be up to him however, to learn from his mistakes if he is to lead this team on a long Stanley Cup run.

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