New York Rangers: A conversation with Steve Valiquette part 1

Prior to the start of the regular season, Bluelinestation.com got the opportunity to talk to MSG network’s Steve Valiquette about the Rangers, the rest of the league and where hockey as a sport is going.

For New York Rangers alumni Steve Valiquette, the hockey season does not end when the team hangs up their skates in the spring. A studio analyst with the MSG network since 2014, the former goaltender has a wide variety of things that keep him busy during the conventional offseason.

When Valiquette is not in his office watching game tape or on the air with MSG the former pro is still up in the mix with player development at the youth level and working heavily with his analytics firm, clear sight analytics. The firm primarily focuses on the quality of scoring chances as a way of understanding game performance.

Valiquette’s passion for analytics came from his time in amateur hockey with the Sudbury Wolves in the Ontario hockey league.

“I started 61 of 66 games for the Wolves, and we were not a good team,” Valiquette said. “I spent the offseason that year going through all of the goals I allowed.”

That was the first time that Valiquette had looked into the quality of shots that became goals and it led to improvement in both his positioning and reads as a goaltender.

But, regardless of whether or not he’s lacing up the skates for development practice, or putting on a suit for studio work, Valiquette still gets charged up for the start of the NHL season.

Where the team is going

The consensus surrounding the Rangers going into the 2018-2019 season is that of a rebuilding team. There are quite a few interesting pieces that should allow the team to stay competitive, but for the long haul of an entire season, it’s gonna be difficult to compete.

“This is a lot different than when I was with the Rangers,” Valiquette said. “When I was with the team, John Tortorella and Tom Renney both coached during the preseason with the mindset of, we’re here for a cup and that set the mindset.”

As for this year’s team, Valiquette said “it’d be unexpected,”  if that were the message from David Quinn and his coaching staff.

The one thing that Valiquette thinks the first year coach can work towards is the team developing good habits and that players got too comfortable in their ways last year.

“I saw a lot of players [last season] with their backs to the puck carrier and their sticks off the ice,” Valiquette said. “These guys can’t have their sticks off the ice and not in passing lanes.”

Aside from breaking bad habits, there are a few things that Valiquette wants to see shake out.

“Can the KZB line stay together for an entire season and produce like we think they can,” Valiquette said. “They haven’t been able to put it together over the course of an entire season because of health.”

In addition to the Rangers’ expected top line, the hype around the 2017 number 21 overall pick Filip Chytil is very real.

“Can Filip Chytil be a 50 point rookie?” Valiquette said. He did go on to say to be “realistic” with someone who’s never played a full season at the NHL level.

What to watch for

Valiquette’s analytics firm, Clear sight analytics, focuses on the quality of scoring chances. Meaning that the firm assigns a certain level of value to different types of shots. The more dangerous a shot is (the more likely it is to be a goal) the more valuable it is.

Last season, the Rangers were 31st in scoring chances against. Meaning that the team was dead last in terms of how many shots they allowed during the course of the game. While the Rangers ranked 23rd in shooting percentage, they gave up the most scoring chances. This is a combination for a team that gets shelled most nights.

The team needs to be “tighter in front of the net,” and not give up such high-quality chances.

The Rangers may have ended up finishing eighth in the Metropolitan division, but it was no fault of Henrik Lundqvist. The goaltender’s conventional stats (.915 save percentage, 2.98 GAA) do not look good at all. However, below the surface, Valiquette pointed out just how good the Swede was last season.

“Based on expected goals against, Henrik should have given up 190 goals last season,” Valiquette said. “But, he only gave up 174, a +16 in terms of expected goals”

This means that Lundqvist was standing on his head even though he was getting shelled on a nightly basis. The team can put their goaltender in a better position this season through a run of games to get Lundqvist to play more consistently well.

“The team should look to try and get Henrik in those runs of 6 or 7 straight games and then sit him 3 or 4,” Valiquette said. “That’s when he gets in one of those rhythms.”

MSG networks has a special hour-long pregame show before the start of the game against the Nashville Predators. Follow up tomorrow for part two of the conversation with Steve for more on the team, the rest of the league and where the sport is going.