The New York Rangers need to bolster their defensive play in 2020-21. Signing Joel Edmundson and Erik Haula would be a good start.
The sooner the New York Rangers realize there’s no shame in being thrifty, the quicker they’ll build enough depth to qualify as a legitimate Stanley Cup threat. At the moment, the Blueshirts appear content to continue purchasing big name players with expensive price tags instead of checking the clearance racks for bargains. Which is a shame.
Sure, trading for Jack Eichel or Johnny Gaudreau, or signing free agent Taylor Hall, would be fashionable moves. Any of the three would add firepower to the offense and give opponents another headache on top of migraines Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad.
The only problem with that logic is, the Rangers didn’t have trouble scoring last season.
The Blueshirts scored 233 times — fifth-most in the thirty-one-team NHL. Their trouble was keeping the puck out of their own net. New York allowed 220 goals — eighth-most in the league. (Montreal also permitted 220 goals but played one more game.)
Can you imagine if the Rangers had poor goaltending instead of the trio that included a seasoned-veteran and future Hall of Famer, a highly-touted rookie who won 10 of his 12 games, and a 24-year-old who could easily be the starter on at least a half-dozen teams?
Indeed, if not for Henrik Lundqvist, Igor Shesterkin, and Alexandar Georgiev, the Rangers would’ve been the United States’ version of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Two years ago, Toronto added John Tavares to an already potent offense led by Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander. The Leafs finished fourth in the NHL in goals (286) that season and second last year (237), just six shy of the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.
Like the Rangers, however, Toronto lacked strong defensive play and struggled to keep the puck out of its own net.
The Leafs allowed 222 goals last season, seventh-most in the NHL, after permitting 249 in 2018-19. Both years, their goaltender Frederik Andersen was average in the regular season and subpar in the playoffs. Both years, the Leafs and their high octane, big-name-saturated offense bowed out of the playoffs after the opening round.
As we saw last month in three straight losses to the Carolina Hurricanes in the best-of-5 Qualifying Round, the Rangers don’t have a strong blue line or the scoring depth to be serious players for hockey’s Holy Grail. In the regular season, they can get away with opening things up and, if necessary, winning in a shootout.
But there are no shootouts in the playoffs and talented individuals can only do so much.
In the Rangers’ case, their top seven scorers from the regular season combined for154 goals and 415 points before the NHL paused in March due to COVID-19. Last month against Carolina, the same seven players tallied a grand total of three goals and nine points.
The Rangers’ top three scorers (Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and Ryan Strome) mustered just two goals and six points after combining for 91 goals and 229 points during the season, while their best offensive defensemen (Tony DeAngelo and Adam Fox) produced just one assist after tallying 23 goals and 95 points prior to play being paused.
That’s not going to cut it come next spring. Especially not when you consider that after sweeping the Rangers, the Hurricanes were dispatched in five games in the first round by the Boston Bruins, who then were defeated in five by the Lightning in the Conference Semifinals.
The Rangers were the only of 24 teams invited to either Toronto or Edmonton last month to go home without a victory. If they want to avoid a quick exit next spring, they must improve their defense. And not just on the blue line.
New York had the NHL’s fourth-lowest Fenwick percentage last season at 47.3, meaning their opponents controlled the puck for more than half of each game. Faceoffs were a huge problem; the Rangers won just 46.6 percent of their draws. The only team worse was Eichel’s Buffalo Sabres at 45.9%.
The Rangers also allowed the second-most high-danger scoring chances in the league (261) although, opponents scored just 30 times. In a related matter, Lundqvist, Shesterkin, and Georgiev didn’t have to buy a single drink or steak last season.
Two unrestricted free agents, defenseman Joel Edmundson and center Erik Haula, could significantly upgrade the Rangers’ defense and possession numbers. Here’s a look at the pluses and minuses of each.