The New York Rangers announced that defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk suffered a set back in his rehab assignment. Why is the defenseman being pushed back into the lineup for meaningless games?
The New York Rangers have a serious disconnect between the goals of the front office and that of the coaching staff. Of course, no one within the organization will ever admit that they want to tank and get a better draft pick. But, the trades at the deadline should be a clear message, we’re not trying to win right now.
Stubbornly, head coach Alain Vigneault has pushed what remains of his team hard. It should have been obvious by mid-January that starting Henrik Lundqvist for both halves of a back to back was a bad choice. Yes, the coach has a job to do and in Vigneault’s case, a job to save, but there need to be limits.
Allowing Chris Kreider to return to the lineup following his absence due to a blood clot was a head-scratcher. What is the logic in putting a talented player like Kreider in harm’s way for games that have no meaning? The risk of Kreider not being ready yet was serious because of how quickly he returned. There was a serious chance that he wouldn’t return until next season because of the ambiguity of his diagnosis.
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This turns the Rangers to the case of Kevin Shattenkirk and the final 11 games of the season. There is no circumstance in which his return to the lineup this season makes any sense.
The problem
There is a serious chance that Shattenkirk already regrets signing with the Rangers last July. When he was brought on, he was seen as the final piece to put a close team over the top. This was the hometown kid returning to where it all began in hopes of winning a Stanley Cup. The team he’s currently on traded the player he cited, Ryan McDonagh, as the reason for wanting to come to the team. The Rangers are also in dead last in the Metropolitan division, so it has been a brutal start in New York.
This season has been nothing short of a nightmare for the defenseman on the ice. For the entirety of the regular season, Shattenkirk played with a torn meniscus. Now, this is not a debilitating injury and one that a player can manage to the level that they could play through it. In Shattenkirk’s case, he was solid at the start of the season, but his play took a noticeable drop off.
What was the team’s logic in having the defenseman gut through an injury on a mediocre team? That’s the biggest indictment of the coaching staff’s talent management this season. What is the sense in burning out players for meaningless wins? It really does look as if Vigneault is riding his players to try and save his job.
Where he’d fit
This is totally overlooking the fact that if he were fully healthy, he’d immediately be the Rangers best defenseman. The team’s defense has been a problem all season long and at this point, it’s a work in progress. John Gilmour and Neal Pionk have served as decent bandaids on a gaping wound since the trade deadline.
Shattenkirk would be stitches for a gaping wound that were done by a field medic. The stitches will definitely stop the bleeding, but the slightest action and they’d pop out. There isn’t a good reason to throw Shattenkirk into the lineup for these games.
The team is still going out to try and win every single night. The addition of Shattenkirk would definitely be a net positive for the lineup. The defenseman is a good hockey player and the Rangers are short on good hockey players right now.
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The Rangers organization has a long and interesting summer ahead of them. Where Shattenkirk fits into the team’s long-term plan is one of those important discussions that will come down the road. The organization needs to take the decision out of Vigneault’s hands and not allow Shattenkirk to play this final stretch for his own sake.