David Quinn’s definition of being harder to play against

After two days of practice, New York Rangers Coach David Quinn defined what he is looking for from his players

It’s been a mantra for the New York Rangers’ brain trust ever since they were embarrassed in the Stanley Cup Qualifier by the Carolina Hurricanes.  The mission is to be a team that is hard to play against.  What exactly does that mean?  David Quinn laid out his expectations after Tuesday’s practice.

To Quinn it’s a simple proposition.  As he said, toughness “doesn’t mean fighting, doesn’t mean running people through the glass. It just means staying on top of people, taking away time and space, and being physical in your own way.   We don’t just need two guys to do it, we need everybody to do it.”

“In your face”

“In your face” is a phrase that Quinn used repeatedly.  It may replace “swagger” in the David Quinn lexicon.

He defined what he means by being in your face.  “When I say be in your face it’s just skating more.  It’s just having an urgency to not let somebody skate by you, I know it sounds so simple…regardless of your structure, if you have a mentality that you’re not going to let someone skate by me, that’s a pretty good system.”

The coach continued “and regardless of what your system is, whether you’re forechecking the offensive zone or the neutral zone or you’re getting at people in the D-Zone, you can’t let people skate by you.”

Quinn borrowed from another sport.  “It’s  a little more of a football mentality.  In football, every yard, every inch matters. And I think in hockey sometimes, people say I’m close to this guy, I’ll let someone else do it.  To me we have to get out of that mentality…we have to get out of that mentality to make the next step as an organization.”

Do they have the personnel?

These comments were in response to a question of whether the team has the personnel to be harder to play against.  It’s a legitimate question considering how meekly the Blueshirts went down in their loss to the Hurricanes.  Clearly, to Quinn, it wasn’t a matter of adding enforcers or big bodies.   The team was looking for a special kind of player who will fight for every inch of the ice.

Of all the players the team added in the off-season, draft picks Alexis Lafrenière and Brendan Schneider and free agents  Colin Blackwell and Tony Bitetto all seem to have that part of the game. One of Lafrenière’s best attributes is his competitiveness, so he is tailor made for this attitude adjustment.  Schneider is big and tough, though he may be a few years away.  Blackwell and Bitetto have both overcome numerous challenges to make it to the NHL.

Quinn also placed some responsibility on his veterans. Speaking specifically about Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome without Jesper Fast, Quinn said “We need it from everybody. We need a more in your face, stay on top of people,  defensive conscious approach to have success.  It can’t be one guy on the line.  I don’t think those guys will have to sacrifice offense to do that. I think they’ll be just as productive offensively if they take that approach.”

On Sunday, Jeff Gorton talked about the fact that the 2021 team is “deeper.”  That depth will give Quinn the opportunity to give ice time to players who play that “in your face” type of game he believes is essential to success.

As to whether Quinn feels the team has the personnel to be that “in your face” team he gave a simple answer.  “I do.”   We’ll see.