Why are Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren Struggling Together?

During the early portion of the 2024-25 season, the New York Ranges have struggled to formulate their defense pairings.

The latest jumble has paired Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren together. After neither player could catch on with another member of the defese-corps, the team needs the two to work. Tuesday's 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks showed that so far, they have not. Why is that?

Poor Blue Line and Transition Defense

The Vancouver Canucks were able to expose Trouba and Lindgren's struggles at the blue line twice. Neither player is strong defending against the rush. When teams want to carry the puck into the zone, Trouba and Lindgren provide little resistance. Kiefer Sherwood's goal illustrated this problem.

As Canucks center Elias Pettersson carries the puck up ice, he faces no opposition. Once he crosses the blue line, Lindgren and Trouba immediately pinch in, exposing themselves to a pass to a streaking Sherwood. When Lindgren steps up to Pettersson, he is caught flat footed. This denies the Minnesota native the opportunity to block a shot. Had Lindgren allowed Trouba to take on Pettersson, he could have denied the passing lane. If they are going to give up the blue line, they need to defend well within it.

Puck Watching

The issue of allowing zone entries is compounded by Trouba's propensity to puck watch. We can use Connor Garland's goal as a case study for this.

Vancouver winger Dakota Joshua receives the puck along the end boards, pursued by Alexis Lafreniere. At the same time, Canuck's center Pius Suter drives to the net.

Lindgren rightfully picks him up, but Trouba, eyes fixated on the puck, does as well. They fail to account for the trailing Connor Garland, allowing a snipe from the slot that eludes Igor Shesterkin.

Replacement Pairs

Lindgren and Trouba have weaknesses that the other fails to support. Oftentimes, their shortcomings are accentuated by the other. If the two were to be broken up, head coach Peter Laviolette could consider an unorthodox approach to building out the new pairs.

The top pair of K'Andre Miller and Adam Fox should be left alone. According to moneypuck.com, the two have combined to comfortably form the most effective pairing in the entire league (minimum 110 minutes). Miller has also struggled mightly playing alongside anyone other than Fox. This leaves Lindgren, Trouba, Braden Schneider, and Zac Jones to fill out the two remaining pairings.

The first of these new pairings that could be a good option is Trouba and Schneider. The two have played over 100 minutes together, with mostly positive results. According to Natural Stat Trick, the pair has been on the ice for 32 high-danger-chances-for, and 24 against. Many of the subpar pairings that Laviolette has formulated have struggled to generate positive results in this department. Turning Trouba's minutes into winning minutes would do wonders for the Rangers.

This leaves only Lindgren and Jones for the final pairing. The two have hardly played with one another this season, logging only four minutes together. This would make the Rangers have a righty/righty and a lefty/lefty unit. While unconventional, it wouldn't hurt to try. The diminutive Jones could benefit from Lindgren's hard-nosed playstyle, while Lindgren could benefit from being next to an expert puck mover and transition player. This feels like a "Walmart" version of Lindgren and Fox, which has worked in the past. This pair would be given less difficult minutes, allowing them to flourish in a third-pairing role.

The rest of the Rangers season depends on getting their defense right. If Laviolette can get the most out of his defensemen, there is little stopping his troops from making a run. It's up to him to push the right buttons.