The New York Rangers continue their West Coast trip at San Jose following a 4-3 loss in Los Angeles. These two teams met earlier this month in New York, a winning effort from the Rangers.
The New York Rangers are far away right now. They are far away from their home stadium, and they are far away from doing much winning. The Rangers are 0-2 on this road trip so far, and 3-7-1 on the season.
The Rangers played against this San Jose team earlier this month. This would prove to be one of the Rangers’ only wins, as they took the game 3-2 in overtime. Since then, these two teams have gone in opposite directions.
The Rangers have compiled a 2-4-1 record and the Sharks have a 4-1-1 record following their meetup at Madison Square Garden. This distinct difference shows a few major things about the two teams.
Roster Instability
The Rangers are a roster in flux. The major changes are obvious, as new acquisitions continue to get game time, and the lack of real veteran presence is getting more and more apparent. However, there is another way in which the Rangers’ lineup is unstable.
New head coach David Quinn cannot seem to make his mind up. Earlier in the season, Quinn said that all players would be held accountable for their play, and tonight, per Larry Brooks, it appears as though Pavel Buchnevich will be watching from the pressbox. Now, I don’t know what happens in the locker room or in practices nor do I think that Buchnevich has played very well, but he has not stood out as a player who should take a seat. That being said, we will see if this benching lights a fire under him.
As for the Sharks, they seem as strong and stable as always. They maintained the majority of a very solid team from years’ past, and even added one of the NHL’s top defensemen in Erik Karlsson.
How to Build a Team
The Sharks could be a great model for the Rangers. The Sharks have built this current squad over the last ten years, but was accelerated in the last three or four. They have been built upon smart drafting and talent recognition.
For example, the Sharks drafted players like Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Marc Edouard Vlasic, and Justin Braun. Much of the rest of the talent were brought to California via trade, players like Joe Thornton, Evander Kane, Brent Burns, and Erik Karlsson. Even now, the Sharks continue to draft well, recently picking Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier.
The Rangers look to have started taking pages out of this book, dealing some big players at the last trade deadline in return for draft picks and highly rated prospects. The only issue now is seeing if these players pan out.
Preview
This will be another test in a long string of tough games for this young Rangers squad. The Sharks are one of the top teams not only in the Western Conference, but also in the entire NHL. The Rangers have their work cut out for them, but they’ve beaten this team before. We’ll soon see if they can do it again.