Expectations for the 2020-2021 New York Rangers, part 2 – Defense

What should New York Rangers fans expect from their 2020-21 defense?

Over a four part series, we continue to remove the fan goggles and explore the realistic expectations for the New York Rangers for the 2020-21 season. In part one we reviewed the expectations for the Rangers goaltenders. Here, in part two, we will analyze the defense.

As noted in part one, the hiring of Jacques Martin will be expected to have a helpful effect on the Rangers goaltending. That impact will be felt even more immediately by the Rangers defensive pairings.  The difference between last year’s Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins defensively is night and day, specifically in terms of their penalty kill, shots allowed and the danger level of those shots allowed. With improvements to the overall defensive structure, the defensemen will be able to spend less time defending in their own zone and more time in transition.

This should relate to a team that feels less under siege and is less prone to mistakes or blown coverage. Individually, or at least by pairing, this should enable the players to take advantage of their own specific attributes to impact the game, more so, on their own terms. Ideally, this leads to the more offensively gifted defensemen having to defend less and pressing the offense more, while simultaneously not physically burning out the more physical stay at home D-men.

To review, we will look at the defensemen in pairings and prorate their statistics to a full 82 game schedule. It is impossible to know who Coach Quinn will pair together, so all pairings will be based on the current roster.