Five characteristics of this New York Rangers season

1. The defensive coverage is not cutting it

One of the quickest ways to notice New York’s mistakes is to compare how the opposing team defends. In recent games, the Rangers have been allowing the other team to pass effortlessly and set each other up to score.

If you’re looking for specific examples, think of the December 2nd Vegas game at Madison Square Garden.   Alex Tuch broke in alone on the rush less than two minutes after the initial puck drop to score. Then consider Tuch’s second of the game, again, alone and able to capitalize on a pass from Nate Schmidt. Then, Reilly Smith was able to get on a breakaway and score on the first shot of the second period.

The blunders for New York didn’t end there, though. Max Pacioretty’s goal, the final of the game for Vegas came after a series of infuriatingly clean passes with Pacioretty wide open and able to send it home.  Granted, it was on a power play, but no Ranger got even close.

The Vegas Golden Knights are an efficient team with solid defense, but in that game, it appeared the Rangers were basically handing the puck over. The Vegas game was not the exception but the rule.   The man-to-man coverage has been in need of improvement as of late.

The Rangers need more from their veteran defensemen. Many of our players new to the league are doing quite well. Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, and Libor Hajek (currently injured) are making themselves known.

Brady Skjei and Marc Staal, however– that is a different story. Even though the kids can stand on their own, there is some mentoring expected from these veterans, and the young players are looking to learn from the vets. Yet it seems the seasoned defensemen are the weakest link within the Rangers.

2. There is a lack of aggression

Being an aggressive hockey team encompasses consistency with a lot of smaller actions. Applying pressure, attacking the puck, and preventing passes are some of the biggest weak spots for the Blueshirts. The Rangers certainly do not come to mind when you picture a team with a strong forecheckers.

Specifically, the Rangers, like most other teams do, need to delegate a few guys to be on the forecheck. This will make New York a hard team to play against, and will not allow the other team relax. Hockey is just as much of a mental game as it is physical and if a team does not feel pressure with the puck, they are going to exploit that.

Not only can they increase pressure in the opponent’s defensive zone, but the Rangers need to attack in their defensive zone. In fact, we can see most teams usually moving the puck around the Rangers with ease. They are able to pass cleanly and take shots because the Rangers are passive in their zone, making the goaltender’s job that much harder.

When the same bad habits are carried over from game to game, it is going to wear the team down mentally. The final score (3-2) from December 5th against the Columbus Blue Jackets appeared to be a simple win, but that was not really how the game went. The New York club was outshot in the opening and last frame and tied with 11 in the middle period. In total, the shots were 47-19 in favor of Columbus. What should stand out is that the Rangers only had two shots in the last period.

3. They give up center ice too easily

This one is pretty easy to notice, because the majority of opposing teams do not allow the Rangers to get in this prime scoring position. What’s worse is that their coverage is never even enough to make up for allowing them to set up in the middle.

In most occasions when the opposing scoring player is not scoring directly from the slot, their teammates are set up there and able to feed clean passes. The Rangers need to increase their coverage here and break up cross-ice passes like we see other teams do.

https://twitter.com/SanJoseSharks/status/1205360350138228737?s=20

In general, the Rangers could push for more offensive zone time, but as of late that has been one of their strengths in certain periods. The opening period can sometimes make or break the Blueshirts in terms of zone time for the rest of the game.

4. Puck possession must be strengthened

The Rangers do not necessarily have size on their side, but with youth comes speed. This speed needs to be capitalized upon and each line must consist of players able to fend off opponents.

Notice how other teams are able to take time with their passes and hang out in the Rangers’ defensive zone, but this is not the case for the Blueshirts. Too easily is the puck swiped away and taken down to the other side of the ice.

This ties into increasing physicality and being aggressive as well. The sport is inching closer to a game of speed and less size and the Rangers should be in prime position here. With the time that the Rangers do have with the puck, they tend to be passing it when they could take a shot on goal. They usually are not set up to get the rebounds either, instead opposing players clear, or able to pass it out of their end and skate to their offensive area.

5. Losing to easier teams, beating harder teams

The Rangers are increasingly able to hang with tougher, perennial contending teams. This season, the Rangers recorded wins against the Nashville Predators, the Washington Capitals and most recently, the San Jose Sharks.

The San Jose game was a great illustration of how they are capable of bouncing back from opposition goals, but we hopefully can look forward to the team being in fewer positions like that in the future. It requires a great deal of mental toughness to not only match the score, but to overcome that with several goals.

The Blueshirts have secured crucial points in their current trip on the West Coast. Shutting out the Las Vegas Golden Knights and their big comeback win over the Sharks should instill some confidence as they move onto the Anaheim Ducks.

Despite the Rangers flashing significant promise, they have also dropped to teams like the Los Angeles Kings, Ottawa Senators, and New Jersey Devils who are at the bottom of the standings. Although this isn’t profoundly worrisome, it is very frustrating from a fan’s point of view.

Down the road

The organization is still moving pieces around, nothing is set in place and most recently, their 2018 first-round draft pick, Vitali Kravtsov has rejoined the club in North America. This is a great sign for New York, an opportunity to jump start more development.

While these next few years are all about the future and deciding how to proceed with roster changes, there are a lot of positives in hidden in the ups and downs of the New York season. Regardless, the rebuild is off to a solid start, and will flourish from there.