The New York Rangers have been a completely different team than expected. They have been consistent, dominant in many facets of the game, and are establishing themselves as a contender not only in the Eastern Conference, but in the entire NHL.
They are doing all of this without two players who make over $11 million this year. Igor Shesterkin suffered a brutal leg injury and will be sidelined for the rest of the season. Pavel Dorofeyev is perfectly healthy, but he has been a complete disappointment thus far.
Emphasizing Dorofeyev, he has been moved to the top line to try to ignite some newfound success, but it hasn’t caught on yet. Some more extreme measures might need to be taken, and it is not a good look for No. 16.
Third-line demotion
It might be time for Dorofeyev to get some tough love from head coach Mike Sullivan. The third line is a good place to start.
With two more goals last night, Will Cuylle is establishing himself as a top player on this team. He is doing it all and has been what’s been missing from this team since Chris Kreider was traded away. Cuylle is a power forward who can change the game with the puck on his stick, in front of the net, and with his physicality, and for a coach like Sullivan there's a benefit with having options to deploy someone with that versatility.
The correct movement of lines would be as follows. Cuylle moves to the second line as a winger for J.T. Miller and Tye Kartye. Then, Alexis Lafrenière, who has been the best player on this team, would go back to the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Gabe Perreault. Dorofeyev would then go to the third line with Noah Laba and Eeli Tolvanen.
That should be enough of a wake-up call for Dorofeyev, and it might not be the worst thing to have him in a lower leverage role against inferior players to try and get into a groove.
Power play position on thin ice
There is also the discussion of his power play position. Dorofeyev scored 20 goals with the man-advantage last season with the Vegas Golden Knights, but has yet to make any kind of impact inside of first eight games of this season. It is still early, and it takes time to develop chemistry, but the Rangers need that unit to get going sooner rather than later.
Sullivan may have to make a dire change with that as well, but not yet. The power play could be where No. 16 starts to find his footing, and help improve his 5v5 play, and the time to pull him off of that unit is not there yet.
But he is on very thin ice. If after another significant stretch of games Dorofeyev has nothing to show for it, the plug could be pulled to try and give someone else more deserving an opportunity to contribute.
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