The Rangers have two more days off before heading to Montreal to face the Canadiens on Saturday. As we have discussed, New York is in the midst of a bit of a lull in their schedule, with games Saturday, Monday versus Minnesota and then the following Saturday against Winnipeg. During this timeframe, hopefully some of the system concepts and weaknesses seen in the first seven days are getting the needed focus.
A mark of a good team is the ability to deal with adversity and adjust the lineup to deal with it. Early in the season, with the Rangers scrambling to mix-and-match, there was a lack of continuity readily apparent the first four games. The past three, the lineup has been somewhat set, similar with the lines, which has helped. In addition, what is very apparent is the communication between the players that is ongoing on the ice and bench, as the players start to mesh with each other. Granted, there will be additional flux when Derek Stepan and Dan Boyle return, exacerbated by the potential combination changes up-and-down the lineup. You can make myriad changes or can just make one or two, so it will be interesting when each return to the team to see how AV handles this.
The most recent lineup adjustments is the insertion of Chris Mueller while Matt Hunwick has stepped in for Boyle. I firmly believe winning begets winning, as the winning helps drive team confidence. Mueller falls into the rubric of a winner, as spelled out by Steve Zipay below.
There's no doubt that Mueller has produced for winning teams. He averaged 13 goals and 28 points in his final three years at Michigan State and was an alternate captain when the Spartans won the NCAA Championship in 2007. Last season, with the AHL Texas Stars, he had 25 goals and 57 points and six goals and 11 points in the playoffs as the Stars won the Calder Cup. Mueller's Texas coach, Willie Desjardins, now coaching the Vancouver Canucks, had said that Mueller gets better in tougher games: "A real big-game player."
Having that experience as a winner, works well on a squad that advance to the Cup Finals but one that has had some personnel turnover. Granted, it's only been two games that Mueller has been in the lineup and he has bounced in and out of the lineup in the past and no guarantee he sticks. But, he has proven he can at a minimum be the 13th forward, and when Stepan comes back, if Kevin Hayes is sat, Mueller can fill in at center.
In that space, Mueller has won 13-of-21 draws during his two games, while to see Hayes is struggling at this level, is being kind as he has been getting hammered between the dots. Mueller said he learned a lot in Nashville from Paul Gaustad, who to me is one of the better pivotmen for draws in the league. Hearkening back to what I said in the first paragraph as to working on areas that are deficient, hopefully in these few days off this week and next, Mueller takes Hayes aside and teaches him some of the tricks of the trade. As big and as good as Hayes has looked with Nash and Kreider, if he continually loses draws, eventually it will be difficult to keep running him out there.
On Hunwick, what I wrote yesterday applies. " Hunwick has been steady in his own end while showing good closing speed and hockey sense. It's nice to have a seventh d-man that can get plugged in without a major drop in play and he is clearly a better option than Michael Kostka. If Hunwick comtinues to play like this, he could tajke away time from John Moore when Boyle returns." Boyle won't be back for a while, but when he does, if Hunwick is playing as steady as he has to date and Moore hasn't taken that next step, then I could see Hunwick getting paired with Kevin Klein while Boyle skates with Marc Staal.
In addition, as I said in the comments, let me know if there is anything the blogs are missing or if my writing isn't doing it for you anymore, as the comments field have dried up substantially lately. Unsure if it's just a coincidence, lack of interest in what I am writing or something else.
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