New York Rangers: Is Jimmy Vesey getting a bum rap?

How has he done?

Vesey got off to a great start as a Ranger. He excelled at the Traverse City Tournament and was named the top rookie at training camp in 2016.  In his rookie season he had decent numbers, scoring 16 goals and adding 11 assists for 27 points. He was durable, playing in 80 games.

He has shown steady progress, scoring 17 goals and 28 points last season.  This year, he is headed for his best season, already only two points shy of his best career total and he in on pace to match his highest goal total.

In his first two and a half seasons, he played 214 games, scoring 45 goals.  He’s a clutch goal scorer with 12 of his 45 goals game winners.  That’s the most on the team in that time period, one more than Mike Zibanejad.   He is one of three NHL players who scored 30 or more goals over the last two years while averaging fewer than 14 minutes of ice time per game.

He has shown flashes of brilliance.  In November of last season, he scored two goals in 29 seconds against the Bruins.  His goal on Sunday against Toronto was a thing of beauty as he snapped a wrist shot into the top righthand corner of the net.

Size matters

Although he still looks like a 17-year old, Vesey is one of the bigger New York Rangers.  At 6’3″, he is shorter than only Kevin Hayes, Marc Staal and Adam McQuaid.  He only weighs 200 pounds, but he has shown that he can take punishment and dish it out as well.

Everyone remembers the gruesome injury to his mouth versus the Oilers last November.  He took a Zack Kassian skate to the face and lost two teeth.  Actually the teeth were imbedded in his lower lip, yet he got cleaned up and played the entire third period.

He has never backed down in a scrum and with Cody McLeod gone, he has taken it on himself to be a quasi-enforcer when the Rangers are pushed around. 

A bum rap?

Jimmy Vesey is signed for another season at a very reasonable $2.275 million.  Will the Rangers choose to re-sign him so he can be part of the rebuild?   In looking at the numbers and intangibles he brings to the lineup, they would probably be well served to keep him if the price is right.

It’s a shame that the hype that surrounded his signing has made fans look at him in a different way than other players.  If he was a third round Ranger draft pick, he would be deemed an outstanding later round selection.  The only forwards selected in the third round or later in the last decade still with the team are Jesper Fast and Pavel Buchnevich.

Is he Johnnny Gaudreau?  Of course not, but the expectations that he would be were not realistic.  Jimmy Vesey is a clutch scorer who plays a physical game and sticks up for his teammates.  I think we should be happy with that.