From Ryan Callahan to Martin St. Louis to Mats Zuccarello, Ranger fans have plenty of practice rooting for undersized players. Even as they’ve featured smaller wingers, however, the New York Rangers have shied away from smaller centers and defenders. That could change this year, though.
Zuccarello, New York’s leading scorer each of the last two seasons, is no longer the shortest Ranger. That title now belongs to center 5’7″ center David Desharnais. While Desharnais doesn’t fit the typical checking mold of a third or fourth line pivot, he helps the Rangers roll four complete lines of skill.
Meanwhile, the 5’11” Tony DeAngelo appears on the verge of stealing a third pairing defense spot from the 6’4″ Nick Holden. DeAngelo’s 181 pound listed weight makes him the lightest defender to dress for New York in the Henrik Lundqvist era.
Smaller isn’t always better, but skill matters more than size in the modern NHL. Some studies suggest teams are only starting to realize this. A goldmine of talent awaits the early adopters.
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Less height, more ceiling
Historically speaking, the Rangers don’t ice bruising, physical teams. In the 80s, Flyers coach Bob McCammon famously labeled them as smurfs. Despite this, they opened last season as the eighth tallest and ninth heaviest roster in the league.
Meanwhile, last year’s Cup Finalists assembled much smaller rosters. Nashville ranked 26th in height and 12th in weight. Pittsburgh beat them with a team ranked 20th in height and 27th in weight.
None of this means the Rangers should get rid of all their big players. Chris Kreider, Rick Nash, and Kevin Hayes aren’t going anywhere. And they shouldn’t.
The Rangers don’t need big players that offer nothing more than their height, though. For example, Andrew Desjardins doesn’t need to take over where ex-Ranger Tanner Glass left off.
Similarly, the Rangers could benefit from using more and higher picks on skilled but undersized players. They’ve shown a recent willingness to use late picks on smaller forwards like Ty Ronning and Patrik Virta, but they could do much better if they started gambling before the seventh round.
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Shifting focus on the blue line
Jeff Gorton’s remade Ranger defense still boasts plenty of size, but it clearly revolves around skating and skill rather than size. Though this season’s top four of Ryan McDonagh, Kevin Shattenkirk, Brady Skjei, and Brendan Smith are all over six feet, they aren’t here for their height.
Skjei and Smith owe their promotion from third to second pairing to their mobility. Their height is incidental to the fact that they fit the model of modern NHL defensemen. The defenders they’re overtaking, Marc Staal and Nick Holden, have nothing but size to offer.
Staal and Holden playing defense like two guys playing Xbox for the first time and trying to figure out what each button does. pic.twitter.com/O6xUSYrYq9
— Adam Herman (@AdamZHerman) April 21, 2017
Tony DeAngelo brings Gorton’s new blue line philosophy into full focus. He won’t destroy anyone with a check, but he’ll make outlet passes Holden and Staal simply aren’t capable of.
In addition to DeAngelo, the Rangers brought in another undersized defenseman. The 5’11” Neal Pionk had a stellar training camp. Though they sent him to Hartford, he could force his way past Staal sooner than later.
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Though Staal and Holden still remain on the roster, they’re now outliers. The Rangers can only benefit as they move further away from those kinds of players and toward an emphasis on skill. Height can’t be a barrier to entry on a team with championship aspirations.