New York Rangers: Early thoughts on early days
For some New York Rangers fans the first six games have been a great disappointment, while for others it is exactly what they expected. Whichever side of the fence you fall, the following observations can be a tonic, or a fuel for your fire.
The start to the New York Rangers season has been anything but uninteresting. There are plenty of takeaways from what fans have seen on the ice, some good, some not so good. Without resorting to the crutch of a very early report card, here is a quick take on how the line-up has been performing.
The offense
Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Jacob Trouba and the goaltending tandem of Henrik Lundqvist and Alexandar Georgiev leave nothing to be desired. Each has performed extremely well during the sputtering start to the season.
Witnessing Panarin play in person is a real treat, the guy just never gets hit hard, and his wizardry with the puck is something to see. He plays with the puck on a string, and finds open ice on every shift. Don’t think it is too early to say that this free agent signing will be remembered as one of the best the Rangers ever made.
Trouba appears to be the real deal as well. There have been a handful of blunders in the defensive end, but overall his play has been exceptional. You just really have to hope that he doesn’t need to play in excess of 25 minutes every game. He will be worn out by Christmas.
Zibanejad has picked up where he left off. The only real question to be asked was addressed by Steve Paulus on this site recently. Should he be playing with Panarin? Before the season started I thought it was the right thing to do, but I over-played my hand with Filip Chytil.
It has also been made crystal clear over these past two games that Chris Kreider is a different player when he is on a line with Mika. Whether that is a team issue with Kreider or not makes no difference. If the guy is only going to be interested in playing when he is lined with Zibanejad then that’s where you put him. Kreider looked lost and genuinely indifferent playing in the first four games. The past two he’s been much, MUCH better. You gotta think David Quinn has to be considering reuniting the top line from last year at this point.
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The move would make sense, it would also be rather interesting to see what Panarin could do for Kaapo Kakko. So far Kakko has been left to fend for himself as neither Ryan Strome of Brett Howden has stepped up to grab the number two center position. Filip Chytil shouldn’t stray too far from his cell phone.
The one knock on Kakko so far is that he looks a little sluggish at times. Could be the pace of play in the NHL is something that caught him by surprise, or David Quinn’s practices are really wearing him out.
Both Strome and Howden have been slow to start. Save a nifty pass by Strome to get Kakko his first NHL goal, and a big goal from Howden in the season opener, the highlights have been lacking. Strome actually looked pretty good against the Vancouver Canucks centering Jesper Fast and Pavel Buchnevich, but he just hasn’t proven he is the answer behind Zibanejad.
Meanwhile Buchnevich has been very inconsistent to start the year. He almost seemed intimidated playing with Panarin, far too often choosing to pass the puck to his fellow Russian rather than shooting the puck himself,
With the exception of Brendan Smith, the rest of the forwards have been mediocre. Smith has proven to be a very versatile and valuable member of the squad, and his play should make it a whole lot easier for the Rangers to jettison Michael Haley sooner rather than later to make room for Chytil.
Brendan Lemieux is doing Brendan Lemieux things and Jesper Fast is being Jesper Fast, doing only what is to expected. They will continue to bounce up and down the line-up until a second line is established. Lias Andersson remains an enigma. He just does not get on the ice enough to show what he may be capable of doing.
The defense
One the defensive side, it’s a bit of chaos. Trouba is certainly the leader of the pack, but he’s had some issues deep in his own zone. The guy that looks to be unflappable back there is Libor Hajek, he just plays a solid game, I cannot really point to any glaring mistakes after six games. You get what you expect from Marc Staal, he’s just a pro.
The real issue has been Brady Skjei. He appears very tentative, as if he is afraid to make a mistake and find himself in David Quinn’s dog house. Let’s hope it is nothing more than a confidence issue.
On the other hand, Adam Fox does not appear to be afraid to make a mistake and is playing with a real sense of confidence. Now, that confidence has certainly gotten him in trouble more than a few times so far this season, but you have to think that Quinn has no issues with that type of play. The coach often says if a player’s intentions are right, the mistakes don’t matter.
The point is, if a young kid is playing aggressively and makes a mistake, it is a learning opportunity, and it’s on the coaches to teach the lesson. But if a guy is playing scared, as Skjei really seems to be, the coaches are in a bit of a bind because you can’t teach confidence.
And finally there is Tony DeAngelo. An atrocious play behind the net against the Capitals on Friday night lead the Caps second goal and to him watching pretty much the rest of the game from the bench. At least every Rangers fan should hope it was that play that lead to the benching and not some other “issue” popping up yet again.
Next Two Weeks
All told, it’s clearly still very early, and there is no reason to panic. But the strange schedule to start to the season is no longer an excuse for not showing up ready to play. The poor efforts against Edmonton, New Jersey, Washington and Vancouver are the end of that rope. The extraordinary effort put forth in the third period of the Canucks game needs to be the effort put forth in the first period against Arizona on Tuesday night.
An effort like that should bring the next W, and this team desperately needs a W. The team needs to build chemistry, and you simply don’t build team chemistry while losing, This lab experiment will only work if the team starts winning.
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