The New York Rangers will certainly be looking to add some high-end talent to the team before the start of the 2019-20 season. But they should also be looking to shore up the bottom half of the lineup as well.
What is the purpose of the fourth line? On a good NHL team, the fourth line can be an effective tool used to change in game dynamics and swing momentum. A really good fourth line can chip in with the occasional goal or two, or even change the face of a playoff series. Anyone pay attention to the Bruins fourth line against the Hurricanes?
On a bad team the fourth line can be a dust bin where you hide AHL talent until you get some players back from injured reserved.
You don’t often hear about a player being developed while on the fourth line, they are usually the grinders, the checkers, the agitators and gritty guys, very rarely mistaken for top line talent.
If you watch a lot of Rangers games, you often hear Joe Micheletti talk about how the Rangers would prefer to give their young talent meaningful minutes in Hartford rather than fourth line minutes with the NHL team. This seems logical, but it also begs the question of who then fits the bill as a fourth line player.
For the Rangers, the player that was most often mentioned in this vein was Lias Andersson. The Rangers seemed stuck between a rock and a hard place with Andersson. On one hand he was the seventh overall pick in the 2017 draft, and playing him on the fourth line seems almost insulting to the player and frustrating for fans.
It’s fair to say that no one wants Andersson to be a fourth line player, but that’s where he spent almost all of his time when playing with the big team this season. Andersson clearly played his best hockey when he was paired with top-end talent. That does not mean he should be moved to the top six, but pairing him with some other skilled players would beneficial. Perhaps he needs to move to the wing and play alongside Brett Howden on the third line.
He is a tough call for the organization, but fourth line duties are not what the team wants or needs out of him. So, with that out-of-the-way, let’s build a fourth line using players currently on the roster for the 2019-20 season.