The Rangers' Special Teams last year was almost like a Tale of Two Cities. The power play for the most part was powerless while the penalty kill was lethal to other teams. This season, the goal has to be to create some balance between the two: upping the efficiency of the man-advantage while maintaining the excellent standard of play while shorthanded despite a key loss.
Power Play:
The power play had pockets when it was very good, especially around the turn of the calendar to the New Year, but it mainly was ineffective. Coming into the season, we hoped that having Scott Arniel rather than Mike Sullivan run the power play would prove to be a positive. The jury on Arniel is still out, as the set up and combination of players he used on the man-advantage at times left a lot to be desired.
The strategy of dropping the puck back and having Brad Richards rush it up the ice was an epic fail. First, Richards doesn't have the foot speed to gain the zone. Second, it left him vulnerable to turnovers, which if that happened, he didn't have the foot speed to catch up, subjecting the Rangers to odd-man rushes. Last, even if he did gain the zone, by the time the team set up, precious seconds was lost and Richards did have the type of shot from the point to force other teams to respect him.
Rick Nash's offensive struggles resulted in him getting taken off the power play. In addition, Chris Kreider's absence robbed the Rangers of the other player who was willing to take the punishment in front to capitalize on turnovers. Brian Boyle was one who could have been used to fill that type of role, but he only averaged 12 seconds of power play time per game, so it's pretty clear that option was grossly underutilized.
When New York was going well, it was combinations that were effective. Mats Zuccarello-Derick Brassard-Benoit Pouliot had some success together, same with Nash and Derek Stepan. However, the lack of player and puck movement resulted in more missed than successful opportunities. When Martin St. Louis came on board, the Rangers tried to shoehorn him into the power play with less than optimal success. In the playoffs, the team struggled again, but did come up with some big goals, aided by when Kreider returned from his injury.
So now what? Who plays the points? Who are the forwards for each combinations?
Rangerdanger94 wrote:
Logic would dictate McDonagh and Boyle on the points on the first unit, but who would be the forwards? MSL and Stepan seem like locks but do you put Nash or Kreider as that final forward? I like Kreider being placed in front of the net a lot more than any of Nash, MSL, or Stepan but I'd also love to see Nash on that unit.
Maybe move McDonagh to the 2nd PP unit and have Boyle and MSL on the points with Stepan and Nash at the circles and Kreider in front of the net? It probably won't be a popular suggestion to move McDonagh off of there but that proposed unit could be lethal and it would cut down on McDonagh's minutes a little which would be a positive.
Second unit could be Brassard, Zuccarello, McDonagh, Girardi and then maybe Miller in front of the net.
Here are my combinations with the rationale below it:
Nash-Stepan-St. Louis-McDonagh-Boyle
Kreider-Brassard-Zucc-Girardi-Moore
The Rangers have to get Nash going again. Playing with Stepan and St. Louis provided him two playmakers that can help set him up. Nash has the body type whereby he can stand in front of the net, create traffic and put home rebounds, presuming he is over his concussion worries and willing to do that dirty work. If not, sub in Kreider for Nash there. Stepan and St. Louis each have the ability to cycle in the offensive zone from hash-boards to below the net and back, maintain possession. McDonagh and Boyle, especially Boyle, give New York effective options from the point, with Boyle's hard shot something that has been lacking for years. I understand the view of splitting them up, but to start the year, pair them together, and then if the unit struggles, break them apart.
The second unit retains two-fifths of the combination that showed the most effectiveness last year in Zucc and Brassard. Since there is a good shot they stay together this season, pair them again here. As mentioned above, Kreider could move up, but seeing how week he played last year in creating space with his size and willingness to take the punishment in front, use him here with Zucc. Girardi was used at the point last year with middling success but he has shown the ability to get the puck to the net, even though he lacks a hard shot. Moore, presuming he signs, will be counted on to take a step up. What better chance for him to do so than using his skating ability on the man-advantage to gain the zone, set up the attack and dart down low, as he did at times last year. If he isn't signed, Marc Staal could get a chance or a wild card is Mat Bodie, who was so good in the NCAA Playoffs.
If it all goes to hell in a handbasket, players such as Carl Hagelin, J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes, Matthew Lomardi, Lee Stempniak all could get a look. However, that is unlikely to occur early on in the year. With the talent that appears to be in place, New York should be better than 15th overall and post a higher success rate than the 18.2% of a year ago.
Penalty Kill:
The Rangers ranked third overall last year after ranking 15th the year before, successfully killing off 85.3% of their penalties. In the playoffs, they finished third amongst the 16 teams, allowing 12 goals in 82 times shorthanded. Unfortunately, some of those goals allowed came in key moments, but overall, they were very solid in the playoffs.
Much of that success was due to the play of McDonagh and Girardi. However, two big losses off this year's team are Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman. Boyle averaged a little over two minutes shorthanded during the year but upped that by 37 seconds a game during the playoffs. Stralman went from 1:37 a game shorthanded during the year to 2:30 during the playoffs, as coach Alain Vigneault heaped more responsibility on it. Boyle was usually paired with Dominic Moore but also was used with Carl Hagelin, while Stralman was paired with Marc Staal.
Vigneault also used Nash and Stepan together, similarly with St. Louis and Hagelin, though if Hagelin played with Boyle, Moore played with Stepan and Nash with St. Louis. This year, AV needs to find a new match for D. Moore on the first unit while determining how best to slide in Dan Boyle. I expect the first part of the year to be experimentation, but here is how it could go:
D. Moore-Glass-McDonagh-Girardi
Stepan-Hagelin-Staal-Klein
AV has already said Glass will get some time on the penalty kill, so I would expect him to start out with Moore. McD-G are pretty set as the first pairings. Hagelin's speed was a major weapon on the PK last year, so he needs to stay on the second unit while Stepan gives the team a center, albeit one who is weak on the draw. I would not be shocked if Glass stumbles to see Lombardi on the first or second unit. If Stepan moves up, giving the Rangers two centers on the top unit, it gives NY another pivotman to play the second unit and Lombardi has the speed with Hagelin to create massive havoc.
Staal will likely be paired with Klein on the second pairing, though I could see Boyle see some time, even though San Jose did not use him that way last season. Klein did not see much action shorthanded last year with New York, but with Stralman gone, someone needs to play on the second pairing, and if NY tries to limit the wear and tear on Boyle, Klein, who was extensively in this role in Nashville, is probably first up. Nash and St. Louis could potentially see some action shorthanded as well, same with Zuccarello and possibly Miller, if he sticks.
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