New York Rangers: Everyone needs to relax about Brady Skjei’s struggles
New York Rangers sophomore defenseman Brady Skjei has struggled this season after excelling as a rookie. Next season, it’ll be the coaching staff’s job to get Skjei back on track.
The Rangers struggles this season have infected every single player up and down the lineup. There is no easy way to say it, even the best players on the team are having down seasons. Chief among those struggling is the team’s defense. As a whole, the unit should be playing far better than they actually have.
As the team’s de facto number one defenseman, Skjei has taken on a key role this season. Even before Ryan McDonagh was traded, it was Skjei filling in during the captain’s absence. The big problem this season has been the defense’s lack of possession and inability to transition to offense. These are two areas that Skjei has had success in the past in but has struggled this season.
The team’s overall issues are holding every single player back. The way the team’s systems operate is extremely demanding and the team does not have the personnel to properly implement them. Of the defenseman the team does have in the lineup, perhaps only half of them are capable of playing this speed-based game.
As a pending restricted free agent, Skjei is playing for a new contract during these final 15 games f the season. There will be ample opportunity for the defenseman to play out of his funk, but it isn’t something to be concerned about either way.
Track record
The strongest indicator that Skjei is being held back by factors out of his control is his underlying statistics. Underlying statistics are advanced metrics that go beyond conventional goals, assists and plus/minus. These are stats that give a better perception of how well a player is actually playing.
As a rookie, Skjei had a Corsi For Percentage of 50.6 meaning that the Rangers had 50.6% of the shots in the game when he was on the ice. Last year as a team, the Rangers had a CF% of 47.95, the fifth worst in the entire league. This means that in relation to the rest of his team, Skjei was a breath of fresh air in the offensive zone.
However, this season he has struggled and it is tied to just how bad the Rangers have been this season. The former Golden Gopher has a CF% of 47.4 which is a fairly steep drop off for a single season. The team this year has an unsightly CF% of 46.07, the worst of any team in the entire league.
To give greater context to how bad the team has been around Skjei, the defenseman’s PDO% the statistic that combines a team’s save percentage with its shooting percentage is 98.3. PDO% is a measure of how “lucky,” a player is on the ice. The logic behind the stat is that the higher the PDO% the luckier a team or player is. The average for this statistic is 100% since Skjei has 98.3% that means he has been unlucky.
The Eye test
For those skeptical of advanced statistics, there is nothing to be concerned about with Skjei in terms of the eye test. When he is on the ice with the puck on his stick, Skjei drives play and can use his speed to create space. This is something that only John Gilmour also does well and its why they’ve made for an effective defensive pair.
Last season, it was clear that Skjei was the heir apparent to McDonagh. Of course not every single player has a linear development path. Just because a player is good from the jump does not mean they will not eventually have growing pains in the NHL. Last season, Skjei looked like an NHL defenseman that could play at even strength on the penalty kill and the man advantage.
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Skjei has the ability of a number one defenseman and will eventually fill that role for the Rangers. It is important to remember that this is just his second year in the league and that he is still learning. This has been an absolute nightmarish season for the Rangers, so it’s no surprise that even the best players have been dragged down.