Ok so before I get crazy heres how it is right now...
- The Rangers are in 10th place in the east, in a virtual tie for the 8th spot.
- The Rangers, since their 7 game win streak, have the worst record in the NHL
- The Rangers are only 6 points better than Minnesota with 1 more game played from being the 3rd worst team in the NHL
Yeah so based off of the facts I've listed above, most people would say "It's still early in the season" and they're right.
Lets take a look at the positives...
- The Rangers are scoring more than they did last year. Good.
- The Rangers Power Play is much better than it was last year. Great
- Despite being rookies, Michael Del Zotto, Matt Gilroy and Artem Anisimov have played well. Fantastic.
And now the negatives.
- The Rangers support players blow. This has nothing to do with secondary scoring, but more to do with the lack of players who do those little things that lead to goals
- The Rangers are too small and soft. No one can throw a hit that hurts or win a battle along the boards. The forecheck has been inconsistent.
- The team defense sucks. This is by far the biggest problem for this team. I expected there to be struggles with a new system and all, but I didn't think that it'd be this bad.
Whats the Remedy?
Outside of switching rosters with the Chicago Blackhawks and keeping our goalie, nothing can really be done to elevate this squad to contender status this year. The Rangers are playing a new system that doesn't highlight the strengths of 75% of the players on the roster. I think that its time to leave Tom Renney alone, but I can't help but think that this team is still "rennyized" a bit too much or as Torts says "They're soft thinkers."
Hell, they're soft players too.
I can get into the nooks and crannies of Tortorella's system but the details would get pretty indepth and would probably make you wonder why you watch hockey in the first place but his philosophy is simple.
If we have the puck, they can't score and if we have the puck more often than they do, chances are we will win.
Gee, I wonder if thats why they call it puck possession.
We're soft on the puck and don't control it. That was something that was a staple of Tom Renney's team where we'd limit the opposing team's quality scoring chances by focusing on defense. It worked out OK at first, but eventually team would find their way around it and we'd end up getting bailed out by Hank a billion times a night. I can make an argument for that type of system to succeed in the NHL today, but you'd need a really strong group of sizeable defensemen and tough forwards to win board battles most of the time. But we're pretty much in the same boat now except we don'
t have a defensive foundation to "limit" those scoring chances. Sure we're capable of winning a 7-4 game, as we saw last week, but we're not going to score 7 goals a night and when you're bordering on giving up 3 goals a night, you're not going to win consistently in this league, I don't care how good your offense is.
Now the way I see it, there are two ways that Sather could have been looking at this team coming into this season.
The first way would be: "I'll get you a superstar forward and a few other pieces, I'll get you what we need at the deadline if we need an extra push and after that we're playing with the house's money!"
That would be terrible. In fact, if he does go this route this year while we're fighting for the 8th spot Slats will have completely lost my faith in him as a GM.
The Second way would be: "Lets get a few new players in here, Give Torts some more time to evaluate what he has and break it down at the deadline if things aren't going so well."
That, however, is something I'd be more than happy to accept as a fan.
I for one, hope that Sather doesn't make any radical changes to this team this season. Unless its for a Bobby Ryan, Ilya Kovalchuk, Eric Staal type player, I hope that he stands pat with what he has until the Olympic break comes around.
Then he'll have two weeks to think about what needs to be done. The trade deadline is a few days after the Olympics wrap up, I'm not even sure if we'll play another game between our last one before the break and deadline day. If things keep going they way that they're going, I'd be willing to bet that we're probably pretty close to being 10 or more points out of a playoff spot. Even if we're within 4 points of the 8th spot, I think there is only one thing that should be on Slats mind.
Strip it down.
Its been the route he should have taken each of the last two seasons. Luckily enough for us, the Rangers 2008 draft is shaping up to be a huge success and the early returns in 2009 are pretty good as well.
But Girardi, Dubinsky, Higgins, Prospal and especially Rozsival. I'd look to move them out.
Now I know that Dubinsky's name sticks out in that group. I'm not saying that I'd move him for anyone but if the Blackhawks called and offered Andrew Ladd straight up for Dubi I'd do it. Speaking of Ladd, he is someone I would target in a trade regardless of what happens this year. Hes an RFA who will be due a raise and the Blackhawks have to pay Towes, Kane and Keith this off season so its almost a sure thing that he will be available. Hes one of those support guys we could desperately use. I'd even sign Ben Eager up to play on the 4th line next year since hes a guy who can hit, fight, skate and hes a little bit crazy, which isn't always a bad thing. With those two guys, we'd be going a long way towards addressing the size/grit/toughness issue and we won't have to break the bank to do it.
I'd look for a bunch of Hartford guys and returning pieces from the trade to fill out what opens spots are left on the Roster. I hope Evgeny Grachev and Bobby Sanguinetti are playing regular minutes with the team come March, if not earlier. I'd get Ryan McDonagh and Derek Stepan signed to an entry level deals ASAP and let them play the last 9 games of the season with the team - every little bit of experience in the NHL will help these guys next year. They'll both probably be with Hartford in the playoffs unless Wisconsin makes it far in the NCAA's, Stepan will probably spend the entire year with Hartford next year.
This goes way past anything I'm talking about here, but I'd buy Chris Drury out of the last two years of his contract. We'd save about 5 mill of the remaining 14+ hes due, but every little bit counts. Buying him out and shipping Rozsival to anywhere would give us 7.5 mill extra in cap space to resign our own players, bring in a few new faces and still have some room.
If theres one thing Sather has done well, its that he has complied a very strong group of prospects that most people consider to be in the top 5 in the league. The one thing this team hasn't had the luxury of having is a high pick where they have the opportunity to land an impact forward.
This might be there year.
As I mentioned before, the framework for a successful team is there. We have an elite sniper, we've got a plethora of young talented defensemen that should make up a very stout and productive blue line and we've had the goalie for the last 4 years. We even have a handful of other forwards who should do well to provide secondary scoring and do all those other little things that help teams win. What we've lacked is that one young impact forward who can change the face of a game.
Should the season play out the way its looking like it will and if Slats decides to sell at the deadline, we've got a shot at landing that guy.
This team is probably too good to finish last in the league but all they need to do is finish in the bottom 5 to have a shot at that top pick. Even if they don't get the top pick, the 2010 draft is extremely top heavy, and we'd have our pick at a very talented player.
It goes past wanting a player like this, we need a player like this. Having a young, cost controlled top line forward will not only give us cap relief for a few years, but it'll also allow other players on the team to play their roles. For example...
Artem Anisimov could be a top line center, but hes better served as a 2nd line center
Evgeny Grachev could be a top line sniper, but hes better served on the 2nd line with Anisimov
Ryan Callahan has played top six minutes, but hes better served on the third line.
Get a bunch of guys who are playing in roles where they belong, and you've got a team that will win more often than not. The Devils have done it forever, and they're Currently leading the conference with a whos who of nobodies on defense.
Add to that formula some high end talent at the forward positions, a deeper, more talented top 6 on defense and one of the best goalies on the planet, and you've got a team that may win a cup one day.
And all Slats has to do is Strip it down.
