New York Rangers: Are the Rangers lacking a physical, ‘gritty’ presence?
By Matt Hanson
The New York Rangers will look a lot different to start the 2017-2018 regular season. Will they need more grit on the 4th line?
Hockey is currently going through some major changes. Enforcers, goons, aka players with no actual hockey-related skill other than the ability to punch, are slowly being weeded out of the game. Smaller, highly-skilled players are becoming much more common. Fighting majors are becoming much more rare. Fighting in the NHL is not dying, but the players who provide nothing else besides the ability to fight are becoming extinct.
The Rangers have had an interesting cast of enforcers over the years. Most recently was the embarrassing nightmare that was the Tanner Glass era, a period of time myself and plenty of other Rangers fans would like to forget. Before him there were others: Daniel Carcillo, Derek Dorsett, Aaron Asham, All-Star Game MVP John Scott, and plenty more before that.
As of now though, the Rangers don’t have one guy who fits the “enforcer” label signed to a contract. Notorious agitator Bobby Farnham was with the Rangers during the preseason on a PTO, but was released last week. Andrew Desjardins, who to a lesser extent has proven to be a tough guy over his career, was also in training camp on a PTO. Desjardins has not yet been signed, but also hasn’t been released.
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Still, if the question is “do the Rangers need more grit on the 4th line?” Or “should the Rangers sign this guy?” My answer is still a resounding no. For multiple reasons.
First of all, skill beats toughness every day. Ideally, a hockey team should assemble the players best suited to help them win a hockey game, not win a fight. They would do that by looking for players with speed, quick hands, high hockey IQ, the strength necessary to prevent opponents from knocking a guy off the puck, etc.
The biggest misconception about a team made up entirely of skilled players is that it would make that team “soft” or “easy to play against.” There is nothing easy about playing a team that can roll four lines and three defense pairs, all of them having the ability to score, create scoring chances, or at the very least, prevent their opponent from scoring.
Who is battling for spots in the bottom six?
We also have to consider the other players fighting for the final few roster spots. Filip Chytil is looked at as building block and important player for this team going forward. While it’s important not to rush him if he’s not ready to make the transition to the NHL just yet, pretend for a second that he is ready. Do we really want some veteran, journeyman, fighter taking that roster spot away? Rather than a talented kid, it would be player who brings pretty much nothing to the table aside from the occasional fight.
Another candidate who emerged in the competition for a roster spot is Paul Carey, also still with the team. Carey recently turned 29 years old and has very limited NHL experience. The center has just one goal and one assist for two points in 32 NHL games with the Colorado Avalanche and Washington Capitals. He has proven himself as a very good AHL player though, with 79 goals and 103 assists for 182 points in 287 games. His speed specifically stood out, and obviously caught the attention of the coaching staff.
Next, just take a closer look at the 31 year old Desjardins.There’s a reason Desjardins was often healthy scratched last year and did not play at all in the playoffs for Chicago. There’s a reason he is on a PTO rather than actual contract, and the reason is that he isn’t good.
While Desjardins has stuck around for a while, he has an unimpressive 23 goals and 41 assists for 64 points in 408 career NHL games with the San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks. He had just 1 assist in 46 games last season. He is not very good defensively either.
Boo Nieves or Vinni Lettieri are also in the mix. Both will be starting the season in Hartford, but Alain Vigneault likes both players. A hot start in the AHL could earn either a promotion. When injuries inevitably happen, one of them will get the call.
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What will the lines look like?
Lastly, there are spots up for grabs, but not plenty to go around. The Rangers are a talented team with a lot of depth up front. The top three lines will consist of some combination of: Mika Zibanejad, Mats Zuccarello, Chris Kreider, Rick Nash, J.T Miller, Kevin Hayes, Jimmy Vesey and Pavel Buchnevich.
Returning from last season are Jesper Fast and Michael Grabner, two players Alain Vigneault is quite fond of. Both of them will be on the team and play regularly. Although Fast will miss the first month of the season while recovering from offseason surgery. This leaves just a couple roster spots available. A 13th forward is also necessary to play in case of injury.
It would appear that one of those center roles is David Desharnais’ to lose. With 254 points in his 453 career game NHL career, Desharnais can definitely produce offensively. He also has a solid 50.5% career faceoff percentage, and we know AV places a lot of importance on that. This will likely be a fine replacement, maybe even upgrade of the now Vegas Golden Knight, Oscar Lindberg.
So the biggest void as of right now is 3rd line center. In my opinion Filip Chytil is the only option. He played well enough in the preseason to separate himself from the rest of the pack. It is worth noting that he has played a lot with skilled wingers like Zuccarello and Nash.
There is the possibility of a 9 game tryout for the young Czech. The first year on an entry level contract does not kick in until that rookie reaches the 10 game mark. So the Rangers could insert Chytil into the lineup for up to 9 games. They could use that as an extended opportunity, then evaluate after seeing how the kid adjusts to real NHL hockey.
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Due to the amount of depth the organization has, the Rangers have plenty of options to fill out the roster. However, grit should not be one of those options. We saw strong preseason play from Chytil, Carey, even Nieves and Lettieri.
With only a couple spots available, the team has already been forced to cut players who played well. The best choice is to pick one of the talented, younger players with room to grow. Avoid gritty veterans, which have proven to be Vigneault’s weakness in his tenure in New York.