Three improvements Rangers must make when hockey resumes
The New York Rangers playoff push may have been halted, but when hockey does return, the Blueshirts must improve three components of their game to become legitimate contenders.
Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Rangers had put together a second-half run that saw them go 14-7-1 and move within two points of a wild card birth. Highlighted over that stretch were three players in particular; Igor Shesterkin, Mika Zibanejad, and Artemi Panarin, who shouldered the brunt of New York’s issues on a nightly basis.
Yes, things were starting to look much more optimistic on Broadway, as the Blueshirts (79 points) had already surpassed their 2018-2019 total of 78 with 12 games remaining. But there were still three glaring weaknesses to the Rangers’ game, that if they did manage to sneak into the final playoff spot, would have been egregiously exposed by the formidable Boston Bruins.
New York is loaded with young talent, who along with several budding superstars, could position the city that never sleeps for a chance to have a dynasty similar to that of the Chicago Blackhawks or Los Angeles Kings. The ultimate goal is for the Blueshirts to lift the ever-elusive Stanley Cup over their heads, but there are steps that need to be taken once hockey returns in order to get there.
None of this will happen overnight and for the Rangers to be able to go toe to toe with the league’s best, they will have to drastically improve their possession metrics, their penalty kill, and their defensive structure.
Improving Puck Control and Possession
On the surface, the New York Rangers look like a juggernaut offensively, scoring 3.33 goals per game, good for the fifth-best total in the league. That consistency in scoring usually means that you possess the puck the majority of the time, but in the Rangers case, that goal amount can directly be correlated to the team’s high shooting percentage.
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As a team, New York scores on 8.89 percent of their 5v5 shots, according to Natural Stat Trick. That is the seventh-highest percentage in the league, an astounding number considering that the Blueshirts are only 13th in scoring chances per 60 (26.53) and 16th in shots per 60 (30.63). In addition, the Rangers have six players who have played at least 50 games with a shooting percentage over 10, and eight players with a shooting percentage over nine.
A casual 3️⃣0️⃣ goals for the Breadman for the first time since 2016-17.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 20, 2020
That and so much more made Wednesday night the best. pic.twitter.com/wBKxphvyaI
What we are seeing at MSG this season is a team that is not generating the same opportunities as the top-flight teams in the NHL but capitalizing at a much higher rate. Eventually, that will even out and when it does, the Blueshirts will see their winning ways abandon them.
To correct this, the Rangers must improve their CORSI percentage, a metric that shows whether a team is controlling the puck more than their opponent. A team wants their CF% to be over 50%, but for New York, their CF% is 28th in the league at 46.73%.
The Blueshirts have proven that when given the opportunity to score, they will convert, so now they must start to control the pace of the game, holding the puck and waiting for openings to strike. By doing that, they eliminate the opponent’s chances and improve their own due to their high conversion rate.
If the other team does not have the puck they simply cannot score, and a simple tweak in how the Rangers control the pace of play will not only improve their CORSI but help them improve defensively and win more hockey games.
Stepping Up on the Penalty Kill
Win the special teams battle, win the game is an old hockey mantra which stands true to this day. If you better your opponent both while up and down one man, your odds of winning the game grow significantly higher. With the seventh-ranked powerplay in the league at 22.9%, the New York Rangers positioned themselves well nightly to win that special teams battle.
In the Rangers case, they merely needed to kill just 78% of their penalties to win the special teams war on a nightly basis, but they managed to kill off just 77.4% of their sin bin transactions instead. The gap between seventh on the power play and 23rd on the penalty kill is astronomical and really held the Rangers back from optimizing their high goal totals on the season.
Now, the penalty kill is a hard thing to correct because you are indeed down a man and the whole premise is that you will give up goals. But there are ways to make changes starting with your personnel.
The key to the penalty kill is twofold, first, you cannot let the seam pass get through, and second, you have to have the footspeed to read and react to the numerous situations presented. The seam pass is any pass that moves the puck from one side of the ice through the middle to the other. On a penalty kill, allowing this pass shifts the whole dynamic and forces a unit to go from structured to running around in a split second. If you’d like to see the seam pass in action, watch this video from NHL Now explaining the emergence of the seam pass.
The Rangers lack defensive footspeed, especially in Jacob Trouba, Marc Staal, and Brendan Smith, three big guys who are not known for their elite quickness. That forces the defense to play closer to the men in front, leaving the seams open and exposing the one-timer which so often comes back to bite the Rangers.
If New York wants to win more hockey games, it is no secret that the penalty kill needs to improve, and by swapping personnel and improving structure the Rangers may be able to do just that.
Zone Exits and Defensive Structure Must Improve
Long gone are the Rangers teams of the early 2010s that would seemingly finish in the top-five in goals-against perennially. A rebuild has paved way for a revolving door of young defensemen to be paired with some stale, and aging stalwarts of the past. In the 2018-2019 campaign, the discombobulated Blueshirts finished 23rd in the league with a 3.26 goals allowed per game, a full goal higher than their 2011-2012 brethren.
During this halted season, the still youthful but more prepared Rangers remain 23rd in goals allowed but have managed to improve that mark to a 3.14 total. Hidden by tremendous offensive outbursts are the countless defensive lapses that so often lead to the red lamp being lit behind the Rangers’ goal.
The defense has to be the focal point for the Rangers moving forward, as offensively they have the ability to score on any team in the league. If the Rangers can mold the young defensive corps into a solid and mobile group, then the blueprint toward the Stanley Cup will have been laid out.
Currently, the Blueshirts allow the fifth-highest shot total per game, yielding a little more than 32 shots per game. To make matters worse, the Rangers also allow the third-most high danger scoring chances per 60 minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick, at a whopping 12.49.
The Blueshirts’ problems defensively stem from their inability to move the puck cleanly out of their own end as well as their problems staying structured and not running around their defensive zone. Too many times the Rangers get pinned in deep due to a bad pass or clearing attempt, and then instead of staying in a zone or man to man structure, they start to chase the puck.
To correct this, the Rangers must improve drastically when it comes to breaking out of their own end. According to Corey Sznajder, the majority of the Rangers struggle to get the puck out of the zone efficiently. In fact, only Adam Fox, Jacob Trouba, Artemi Panarin, and Pavel Buchnevich are truly efficient at exiting the zone with possession.
Marc Staal ranks the lowest, followed by Libor Hajek, Ryan Lindgren, Brendan Smith, and Tony DeAngelo, who is just about average. Improved zone exits mean the Rangers will spend less time chasing in their own end and more time attacking offensively. A second aspect to improve in the defensive zone setup.
Since the Rangers employ several older defensemen along with younger and more inexperienced d-men as well, they should adopt a zone structure in their own end. A hockey zone is similar to that of football, where every player has their own specified coverage spot. The big adjustment in hockey is that when the puck switches sides, the defenseman who is in front must move to the corner, while the defenseman who was previously engaged in a battle must now slide to the front.
If the Rangers can master these two integral aspects, their defensive game and overall point totals will drastically improve. Rangers head coach David Quinn has been praised for his player development, getting collegiate players prepared for the NHL game.
Now, he faces his toughest challenge yet. He must change NHL players from offensive-minded talents to two-dimensional athletes who can get back defensively. These changes will take a while to implement, but in order for the Rangers to become the elite team they foresee themselves being, alterations must be made by the time the season resumes play.
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