What can the New York Rangers learn from taking a close look at the two teams battling it out in the Stanley Cup Finals?
On thing that fans of the New York Rangers know is that the NHL is a copycat league. If one team finds some sort of formula for success, it inevitably leads to many other teams trying to follow that model. The New Jersey Devils and the god-forsaken neutral zone trap spawned enough of a cult following that it virtually ground the NHL to a halt for many years.
Fortunately for NHL fans, most scenarios surrounding the copy-cat nature of the league do not fall to that extreme, but it still exists. So what can the New York Rangers hope to emulate from watching the two teams that reached the highest level of success this year.
The weakest part of the Rangers game for the past few years has been on the defensive side of the ice. Whether it was the Alain Vigneault variation on the man to man or this year’s somewhat more structured approach, the real issue is the personnel the team puts on the ice. So which NHL finalist features a defensive unit that the Rangers could possibly emulate.
This year’s Stanley Cup final features two defensive corps that are almost the complete opposite of each other.
On one hand you have the Boston Bruins, anchored by the two very big and imposing giants, Zdeno Chara and Brandon Carlo. They are surrounded by quick offensive minded skilled players.
On the other hand you have the St. Louis Blues who just seemed to find the biggest men they could and put them on skates.
Bruins Height Weight
Zdeno Chara 6’9 250
Brandon Carlo 6’5 212
Charlie McEvoy 6’0 208
Connor Clifton 5’11 175
Tory Krug 5’9 186
Matt Grzelcyk 5’9 174
Blues Height Weight
Colton Parayko 6’6 230
Alex Pietrangelo 6’3 210
Robert Bortuzzo 6’4 216
Jay Bouwmeester 6’4 206
Joel Edmundson 6’4 215
Carl Gunnarsson 6’2 198
The Blues smallest D-man is Carl Gunnarsson at 6’2, the biggest is Colton Parayko at 6’6. None of the Blues D-men are as big as Chara but when you are rolling three defensive units that feature six men that are all essentially the same size….huge…it can wear the opposing team down. Not only that, but it can be extremely difficult to wear them down.
To emphasize the point even more, look at the teams the Blues had to play to get to the Cup Finals. Winnipeg, Dallas and San Jose are all big physical teams. Each of those series was big boy hockey each and every game. The Blue D came through all of those battles unscathed. They are a bunch of bruisers.
On the other hand, look at what happened to the smallest Bruins defender in game 2. Splat.
Oskar Sundqvist hits #Bruins' Matt Grzelcyk from behind late in the 1st and gets two minutes for boarding.
— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) May 30, 2019
Do you think 2 minutes was enough? 🤔 #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/byrlK1nv8n
Now, through four games of the Finals, it will be interesting to see which defensive unit holds up through a long series especially with Zdeno Chara apparently doubtful for game five with a possible broken jaw.