New York Rangers Have a Long Way to Go but Reasons to be Hopeful

After I got home from Madison Square Garden last night, I realized I forgot to post a "View from the Seats" on the blog. But you aren't missing much (that doesn't mean I wasn't appreciative for the tickets, though, so thanks to Ben W and Glenn). The Rangers lost 3-1 last night to the Pittsburgh Penguins and playing one of the top teams in the NHL showed the Rangers weakness: they don't have enough difference makers. That doesn't mean they don't have a good core--Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Henrik Lundqvist and Marc Staal make up a pretty great young core--but they don't have players who you rely on to finish. 

Sean Avery's Rangers couldn't get the puck into the net last night (WaPo)

Brandon Dubinsky leads the team with 12 goals, Brian Boyle has somehow notched 10 (considering he generally seems to have bad hands), and Marian Gaborik has 5 despite only playing in 13 games, but with the game on the line, there's few guys you want to stop from getting the puck. I admit that I haven't watched as much Rangers hockey as I usually do, but watching the Rangers gameplan for Sidney Crosby (who should have been ejected for a slew-foot and I think has cemented his place as the most hated opposing player in the NHL) and Evgeni Malkin made me realize the Rangers need to find a way to develop more scorers. Maybe a guy like Derek Stepan (6 goals) or Artem Anisimov (7 goals) develops into that sniper, but right now, who from the Rangers really scares the opposition besides Dubi and Gaborik?

The real problem is that the Rangers have been killed in free agency and did the right thing this year going with lesser cost moves to try to fill holes. Unfortunately, guys like Ruslan Fedotenko, Alexander Frolov (who The Blueshirts Blog points out got 1:37 of icetime in the 3rd period last night) and Todd White haven't produced for the Rangers. Ditto Sean Avery, who is stuck at 1 goal on the season. If you're going to have a team that has problems finishing, you need to be dynamtie on defense and the Rangers last night showed they have way too many lapses there. Michael Del Zotto (who has developed into quite a good player despite his propensity to miss the net) made a great defensive play coming back but besides D-Z, no one really looked overly fast or overly skilled which is not good when you're not putting the puck in the back of the net.

Overall the Rangers are basically an average team on all sides of the puck: 10th in goals per game, 14th in goals against, 18th in power play percentage, and 12th in penalty kill percentage. Right now the Rangers at 29 points would be in the layoffs as a 6th seed but even if they end up making the playoffs in the end of the season and get guys like Chris Drury and Vaclav Prospal back, it will be hard for them to go far in the playoffs. Last year's Flyers showed that you can never doubt a team, but the Rangers don't seem to have that extra gear--at least not just yet.


But that doesn't mean this season is at all bad for the Rangers. Last night's lineup featured only 4 guys born before 1982: White, Avery, Fedotenko, and Michal Rosival. The fact that they're playing this well with such a young team shows that there is a lot to be hopeful for as the Rangers look towards getting out of salary cap jail thanks to years of poor cap management and ridiculous free agent signings by General Manager Glen Sather. Put this core together with some well-timed acquisitions spaced out over time (and a coach who understands how to utilize them) and a few years down the road, I think this Rangers team will be as feared as the Penguins.