What do the New York Rangers need to fix their defense?
While many claim that the New York Rangers only need one defenseman to become contenders, the problems in their defensive group go deeper than just one quick fix. We examine what the Rangers defense really needs.
Over the past few years, “rebuilding on the fly” hasn’t seemed to work for the New York Rangers. Around the trade deadline last year, when they began to swap bigger pieces for prospects with potential and high draft picks, it became evident that the club was planning on executing something closer to a full rebuild.
Their forward group is definitely getting younger, with the addition of talented new faces like Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson. The Rangers have also been able to drop some forwards that were dragging them down and upgrade a bit, like exchanging Ryan Spooner for Ryan Strome in a deal with the Edmonton Oilers.
However, an area of the team that needs more attention is the defensive group. Currently, it is made up of Fredrik Claesson, Tony DeAngelo, Adam McQuaid, Neal Pionk, Kevin Shattenkirk, Brady Skjei, Brendan Smith, and alternate captain Marc Staal.
Out of that group, only a few are expected to be staying on Broadway for the long run. Others have been projected to be part of deadline deals, or simply need to be shipped out due to their low skill levels.
After a bit of thought, it becomes extremely clear that the New York Rangers need a lot more than just one defenseman. But, how many d-men do they really need?
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Who should stay?
Tony DeAngelo, Neal Pionk, and Brady Skjei
The first step in this process is to identify which players should stay on the team. The first player in this group is Tony DeAngelo.
The Rangers just don’t seem to be ready to give up on him yet. While the 23-year-old hasn’t been phenomenal, he’s definitely shown enough promise to earn himself a chance at longevity in New York.
He’s done a fine job in the AHL and has picked up his NHL pace a bit since last season. If he continues to be streaky, trading him should probably be considered, but, at least for right now, he’s still only 23, and he has time to grow.
As for Pionk, he’s in a similar situation. The Minnesota native has less experience in NHL/AHL than DeAngelo but has arguably shown more potential.
He scored at a pace that was just a little better than DeAngelo’s in both the AHL and NHL. Additionally, they’re both the same age. Both defensemen have time to improve and have shown enough sparks of greatness to make this team believe in them in the future.
Finally, Brady Skjei is probably the most polarizing out of these three.
After an incredible rookie season, Skjei suffered a sophomore slump last season and hasn’t been able to fully regain his footing yet this year. He’s on pace for a career high in penalty minutes and goals, but career lows in shots and assists.
If he continues this pace, he will finish with just one more point than he did last season. However, it doesn’t seem like the right time to give up on the 24-year-old yet.
He’s shown how talented he can be with that amazing first season, and it would be unfair to blame him for performing poorly in two seasons when the team around him has also performed poorly. For those reasons, the Rangers should probably hold on to these three young defensemen.