New York Rangers: 5 most misused players under Vigneault
Alain Vigneault’s tenure with the New York Rangers has been strong in the regular season. However, his time with the team could’ve been more successful if he didn’t make these personnel mistakes.
The New York Rangers are right back in the thick of the Metropolitan division playoff hunt. The Rangers sit one point of a playoff spot after Friday’s 5-1 throttling of the Carolina Hurricanes. The team had their first open to the public practice in Central Park since Mark Messier was on the team Saturday morning.
The team has some confidence to their game that simply wasn’t there a month ago when the season started. Head Coach Alain Vigneualt’s Achilles heal has always been deployment during his time with the Rangers. The best players are not put in a situation to succeed.
This should be the fundamental goal of a hockey coach, to put the best players available in the best situation to succeed and try to win the hockey game. This has been a recurring problem since Vigneault’s arrival prior to the 2014 season. Vigneault’s teams have continually held back because of his stubbornness. Round pegs don’t go in square holes.
Nick Holden was a servicable defenseman with the Colorado Avalanche. Vigneault has relied on Holden far too often in New York.
Nick Holden should not be playing first pair minutes alongside Ryan McDonagh. Holden had a strong offensive first half of the season last year. There were genuine flashes of an offensively capable defenseman through December. Holden’s offense eventually dried up and with it was any reason to be in the lineup.
It is not a stretch to say Holden was directly responsible for two goals in the loss Tuesday night to the Panthers. The veteran defenseman lost the puck in his own skates and allowed a Florida forward to dispossess him and go onto score. He also turned the puck over with one minute and eight seconds to go and gave Florida the subsequent game winning goal.
Holden’s first two periods should’ve been enough evidence that he and Brendan Smith should not have been on the ice with a minute to go in the game. Holden was outright careless when he failed to clear the defensive zone with his clearance. Good hockey teams don’t tolerate lazy play in the last two minutes to play.
There are several alternatives down in the AHL that are worth giving NHL minutes to. A prospect would gain a lot more from NHL ice time than a flawed veteran ever could. Holden wasn’t even projected into the lineup on opening night, but Vigneault sees him fit for first pair minutes. Vigneault needs to put Holden further down the depth chart and protect him if he’s going to play at all.
Pavel Buchnevich is flourishing in the top six, but still isn’t being used enough.
The Russian sophomore winger is playing at a .8 points per game clip through 25 games. The Rangers have been starved for a finishing winger that could play top six minutes since Martin St. Louis retired. Buchnevich, if used more often, could be that 25 goal scorer the Rangers desperately need.
One of the Rangers better wingers shouldn’t be getting slightly more ice time than fourth liners. Furthermore, Vigneault’s quickness to break up his best line to get other lines generating offense makes no sense. Buchnevich is only averaging 14:54 of ice time per game, the fewest of the players he’s most commonly deployed with, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad.
Vigneault, going back to last year, has never had a linear punishment and reward system with Buchnevich. Buchnevich’s offense was deemed less valuable than Tanner Glass’ energy somehow during the playoffs. The sophomore winger has never gotten true top line minutes even though he plays on the line at even strength this season.
Buchnevich needs to be on the ice every single shift that Chris Krieder is. Buchnevich shouldn’t be moved off the top line to try and get another line going. On Tuesday night against the Panthers they took over the game by themselves and took David Desharnais along for the ride with them.
The Rangers prized college free agent signing has never had a defined role with the team
Jimmy Vesey was last summer’s big name college free agent that waited out the clock to get to free agency instead of reporting to the team that drafted him. Vesey’s offensive production has nosedived. The Harvard product had 19 of his 27 points last season prior to the new calendar year.
Vesey hit a wall after 38 games last season, since he scored on New Years Eve of 2016 the forward has just 21 points in 80 games. It’s easy to think that Vesey simply needed time to adjust to the rigors of the NHL schedule, after all the college hockey regular season is only 28 games.
However, Vigneault has done Vesey no favors since his offensive struggles started. The Boston native is a one dimensional player, he scores goals when put in the right situation. This season he’s played the most minutes with J.T Miller and David Desharnais, this is not the fourth line but it isn’t a spot to succeed.
The line combination of Miller, Desharnais and Vesey hemorrhage shots and as a group are collectively week at suppressing shots. Vesey going forward will need line mates that can compliment his goal scoring ability and be able to cover for him defensively.
Vesey still has time to prove he’s more than a bottom six winger with above average shooting skills. Coach Vigneault needs to play Vesey in a role to maximize what he does best, while not giving him too much of a leash. If Vesey continues to produce at .34 points per game he shouldn’t stay in the top six.
Keith Yandle is playing on the top pair for the Florida Panthers now, but two seasons ago he was little more than a gadget for Vigneault.
Then Rangers General Manager did not trade two draft picks and Anthony Duclair, the organization’s top prospect at the time, for a second power play unit and third pair defenseman. Vigneault never really unleashed Yandle and let him tap into his offensive game.
Yandle averaged nine shots generated per 60 minutes during his season and a half with the Rangers. For comparison, Brady Skjei averaged four shots per 60 minutes of ice time during his rookie season with the team.
Yandle averaged three minutes and 28 seconds of power play time and 19:57 of total ice time under Vigneault. An asset that cost as much as he did being below both Marc Staal and Dan Girardi on the depth chart was an absolute misuse of talent. Yandle had multiple 50 plus point seasons with the Coyotes, that alone should’ve got him on the Rangers top pair.
Playing Yandle on the third defensive pair and in a limited role on the power play was a waste of assets. The veteran could’ve done a lot more during his time on a successful team that arguably should’ve won a Stanley Cup.
The Rangers captain has continually held back by poor defensive partners.
Ryan McDonagh is one of the ten best defenseman in the entire NHL. However, Alain Vigneault has consistently saddled him with below average partners. At one time McDonagh and Girardi formed one of the best shutdown pairs in the entire league. Then Head Coach John Tortorella felt okay rolling with the pair for nearly 30 minutes a night during the post season.
Following the 2014 Stanley Cup Final run, Girardi simply was not the same player. Girardi being attached to McDonagh’s hip held back the captain’s growth. McDonagh was still an above average defenseman but had to cover for his partner.
McDonagh’s 17 points in 25 games 2014 post season was a flash of just how great the Wisconsin product could be. But heavy minutes with an eroded Girardi and a bad power play unit held back his offensive game.
This season McDonagh has had a revolving door of defensive partners. Vigneault gave Kevin Shattenkirk three games with the captain before they were split up. Then there were a few bumpy October games where McDonagh was paired with Staal. For most of the Rangers strong November, McDonagh has had Nick Holden riding shotgun.
Next: Navigating the do's and dont's of Mika Zibanejad's injury
McDonagh needs a partner who can hold their own and be deployed in any zone in any situation. Kevin Shattenkirk should get another crack on McDonagh’s right side, it’s one of the reasons he came to the Rangers.