In his first season out from under the tutelage of Lindy Ruff, Neal Pionk has exceeded everyone’s expectations with the Winnipeg Jets and is currently enjoying a career season.
Neal Pionk’s brief career with the New York Rangers lasted just 101 games, all of which came under the tutelage of Assistant Coach Lindy Ruff, who was responsible for the defensive corps. During Pionk’s tenure with the Rangers, he tallied 40 points and posted a minus 17 rating, finishing the 2018 – 2019 season with a minus 16 rating and a Corsi of 41.6 percent.
After the season, General Manager Jeff Gorton packaged the young defenseman and a first-round pick in a trade to Winnipeg in exchange for Jacob Trouba, ending his time on Broadway.
Despite numerous glimpses of offensive potential, Pionk’s continued lapses in the Rangers defensive zone wound up being too much to overlook, and just like that, a promising young defenseman was shipped away.
Here is a trip down memory lane when Pionk went end to end against the Canadiens showing his potential.
Neal Pionk's Spin + Coast-to-Coast Skate + Amazing Goal = 4 #NYR wins in a row! https://t.co/uQCgJK2GZU
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 7, 2018
Now Pionk is proving the naysayers wrong under the guidance of Jets Head Coach Paul Maurice and Assistant Coach Charlie Huddy, tallying a career-high 29 points just 45 games into this season. His four goals and 25 assists give him the highest point total among all Jets defensemen and his rating of plus-five is a 21 point improvement over his poor rating with the Rangers. Couple that with a Corsi of 53.6 percent and it is no secret that Pionk has enjoyed a monster season thus far.
Pionk’s improved play is an implication of Ruff’s inability to connect with all his young defensemen, readdressing the question of are the Rangers doing a disservice to their rebuild by allowing Ruff to remain on the staff?
Struggling Rangers
Prior to Tony DeAngelo’s surge this season, Ruff had seen countless defensemen struggle under his command, the most notable of whom is Brady Skjei.
Preceding Ruff’s takeover in 2017, Skjei posted 39 points and a plus 11 rating. In the first season under Ruff, Skjei’s numbers dropped to a point total of just 25, with a rating of minus 27. That is a substantial drop-off in performance that can be correlated directly to the man behind the bench.
Granted, Ruff did start coaching Skjei at a time when the Rangers gutted their defense, dealing away Ryan McDonagh and buying out Dan Girardi, compromising the integrity of the defense.
As for Pionk, he went to a team that has a plethora of high-end talent which does enable him to produce more effectively on the offensive end.
But when you look at Jacob Trouba, the player Pionk was swapped for, you can see a disturbing trend that has one factor in common: Coach Ruff. Trouba looked like the top pair defenseman the Rangers desperately needed with a career-high 50 points and a plus/minus rating of plus eight. Since his arrival in New York, he has only 21 points and even more disturbing, is a minus five.
The common denominator in all of this is Ruff, whose defensive zone structure seems to put the Ranger’s defensemen in compromising situations on a nightly basis. According to the NHL’s statistical database, the New York Rangers have allowed the fifth-most goals per game over Ruff’s tenure at 3.25 goals.
Yes, the Rangers are a young team and yes the Rangers defense is heading in the right direction. But after watching Pionk surge after departing from Ruff’s system and key defensemen like Skjei and Trouba struggle after trying to adjust to it, it is time for Jeff Gorton to take action and use Pionk’s play as justification for Ruff’s time in New York to be up.