New York Rangers: What exactly defines a culture change?

As the NHL develops further and further away from the game of yesteryear, the old school molds no longer exist. The New York Rangers have lacked any sense of identity for years and need to overhaul their team.

One of the great mysteries of life is figuring out oneself. In the professional sports world successful teams have a style of play or mentality that make them identifiable. At various points in recent history, the New York Rangers have had different identities which have enabled different degrees of success.

As the team emerged as a serious contender at the start of the decade under John Tortorella, there was a clear culture. The team was going going to make the opposition fight for every single inch of space on the ice and contest every shot. In addition, the team was going to attempt to grind away at the defense in the offensive zone. There was not a lot of pretty passing, but high quality chance creation from rebounds.

Simply put, the Rangers were a headache to play under Tortorella. Specifically, Tortorella preached of playing hockey “the right way,” and taking the game one shift at a time. Those Ranger teams still required a bit of grooming before moving onto bigger and better things, but the seeds were planted.

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When players are going through their early development, a culture around them can help further them along. In fact, it can often help a player play above their means and produce a better player.

Snowball effect

This core of talented but young players included Ryan McDonagh, Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan, Carl Hagelin, Mats Zuccarello, and Ryan Callahan. This core of players realized their potential under Alain Vigneault and achieved highs that the organization hadn’t since the mid 90s. The Rangers were a group that played with a sense of cohesion and collectivism. It always seemed that there would be a next man up during a dire situation.

However, as the Vigneault era progressed and younger players rotated in, things changed. Under the former Ranger coach, the players were left to police themselves. This mentality works when there are proven and established leaders in the dressing room. When Vigneault had Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis in the dressing room, it was easy. The young players had Stanley Cup winning veterans to look to as an example.

Yet, as those veterans moved on or retired, there were no replacements. Although there were holdovers like McDonagh, Stepan, Kreider, Marc Staal, Rick Nash, Kevin Hayes and Jesper Fast, none of them were able to fill the vacuum. Being that Vigneault was such a hands off coach, this created a ship without a rudder effect. When a game would spiral out of control, no authoritative force stepped in.

The entire series against the Ottawa Senators in the 2017 NHL playoffs is a testament to a team with no culture. The group simply thought they were better than Ottawa and expected it to carry them through. Even more so, this past season, the team allowed situations to spiral out of control and it was to their detriment.

Starting over

As things currently sit, the Rangers have one player that is captain material in Mats Zuccarello. But, a team does not necessarily need a captain to have a certain culture or identity. The team’s new head coach David Quinn has spoken of the importance of accountability. If Quinn holds true to this talking point, it’ll do player development well.

In all seriousness, it seemed as if Vigneault held players accountable at his discretion. There was seemingly a secondary measuring stick to determine if a player would get discipline for a mistake. For the entirety of his 133 regular season games as a Ranger, Nick Holden was given unlimited chances to correct a misplay. In comparison, if Pavel Buchnevich misread a play, he played less than 12 minutes in a game.

The team needs to work on establishing a hard working culture as the prospects start to trickle in. Wether or not the team gets Ryan Callahan back from the Lightning in a salary dump is a matter for a different day. However, a guy like Callahan sets a tone for the rest of the guys in a lineup. When teammates see someone working as hard as Callahan does, they step up their compete level and try harder.

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The Rangers cannot seriously enact a rebuild without establishing a new culture. If Quinn utilizes an honest system of accountability based on play, the team can begin its long road back to being a contender. Instead of McDonagh, Stepan and Kreider it’ll be Filip Chytil, Vitali Kravtsov and K’Andre Miller.