New York Rangers: Five storylines that will change by game 20

Confuse-D

In a word, the selection of defensive pairings this season has been, questionable. Ryan McDonagh has been paired with Kevin Shattenkirk, Marc Staal and Nick Holden. The Rangers best all around defenseman has been limited due to the fact that he has been paired with mostly third-pair defenseman. It will get figured out.

Alain Vigneault has come under fire for many of his coaching decisions and the slow start to the season isn’t cooling his seat in New York. However, I think the defense will get figured out. The top  two pairings should be McDonagh paired with Shattenkirk and Brady Skjei paired with Brendan Smith. It is so painfully obvious that even Vigneault, who may choose to deploy a fork over a spoon when eating cereal, will figure this one out.

It’s as simple as giving your best players the majority of the ice time and keeping your best players together. The experiment to try and make all three Rangers defensive pairings solid will be over. If they can run with one of the strongest top four in the league, they can get by with patchwork for the third pairing. As stubborn as Vigneault can be, this trend will change.