New York Rangers: The team needs to know the time and place

Although this year’s edition of the New York Rangers is not the same old pushovers of season’s past, the team often lacks situational awareness and is developing bad habits.

The biggest difference between this and last year’s New York Rangers is an air of pride and confidence. Following the Arizona Coyote’s drubbing of New York back in early January, the Rangers have shown considerable growth as a team. Although the Rangers often fall behind, the team is never truly out of it because of the collective spirit.

The stark contrast between the intangibles of this year’s team and the 2017-2018 team is striking. Last year, New York was continually embarrassed down the stretch and was simply complacent to let the other team run up the score and get out of dodge. This year’s team under David Quinn has a bite to it that those of Alain Vigneault simply did not.

However, there are certain recurring themes under Quinn that are problematic and forming into a noticeable pattern. Far too often this year, a Rangers’ player was hit away from a play and a teammate jumped in to fight the player who laid the hit which draws a third man into the scrum penalty.

In addition to these instances of fighting at the wrong time, there is a collective lack of situational awareness in crucial moments. The sheer volume of passes that are sent to a player that is either not looking or out of position on a nightly basis is so frustrating it makes it seem as if the team doesn’t practice on a regular basis.

Just in Tuesday night’s maddening loss to the Winnipeg Jets, several different instances of this lack of awareness were on display.

Tough guy Jimmy Vesey

In the grand scheme of things, a player chirping back at someone on the other team following a play is as natural to hockey as ice. Yet, depending on the context of the situation it really can be unbecoming and make said player look immature and childish.

At the end of the first period against the Jets, while the Rangers were trailing, forward Jimmy Vesey started jawing off at Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler. Normally, it’s whatever, but trailing 2-0 and in convincing fashion, Vesey was acting like a child. Jawing off at the captain of the other team while you’re getting your butt kicked is embarrassing.

Vesey shouldn’t have to open the door to the Zamboni for Wheeler to head to the dressing room, but, there is a certain element of punk behavior to simply start a post-whistle argument when the player realizes that the officials are in the space between the person he’s yelling at and can’t get his face punched in.

This is something someone in high school hockey does to impress his friends on the team, not something a professional athlete does.

The third man in

Granted, I appreciate a player jumping into a scrum after a teammate takes a nasty hit at the hands of someone on the other team. Yet, there needs to be an appropriate time and place that does not result in a penalty to the aforementioned player or a scoring chance for the other team.

Although forward Vladislav Namestnikov was not penalized for stepping up against Jets’ defenseman Dustin Byfuglien in the second period, he’s lucky he wasn’t. Although the defenseman clearly committed a penalty that targeted a teammates head, Namestnikov needs to be wary of both drawing a penalty and getting rag-dolled by a player twice his size.

As counter-intuitive as this may be to the non-enforcer enthusiasts out in the world, there is a reason that the Rangers dress Brendan Smith and Adam McQuaid on most nights. Although both players would be fighting outside of their weight class against Byfuglien (like 98% of the league) it’s their job to stand up in these situations, not Namestnikov’s.

One for the road

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the most egregious case this entire season that occurred back in December against the Montreal Canadiens. In the midst of a close game, Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei stopped playing defense to argue with the official about a non-call instead of following up on the play.

With the defenseman out of the play, there was simply no one back on defense and Montreal was able to score an easy goal. Granted, this was in the midst of arguably the worst hockey the team played all year and it’s obvious the stress was taking its toll. However, there is simply no excuse for this total lack of focus and mental discipline.

It’s nice to see this group of players standing up for itself and not getting pushed around. However, the lack of mental focus that accompanies these decisions comes to the detriment of overall team success.

It’s incumbent upon the coaching staff to teach the importance of situational awareness. There will come a time when the team is actually in the playoff chase and a crippling third man in penalty will be the difference between qualifying for the tournament and watching on the couch at home. Bad tendencies develop into bad habits in the blink of an eye.