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My Take on the Rangers with Vesey Now In the Fold |
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The signing of Jimmy Vesey gives the Rangers additional depth. He is expected to be at a minimum a top-nine player and possibly top-six. While I saw some comments that Vesey was needed due to the Blueshirts' having one of the leagues weakest top-six, I am not sure how that evaluation and determination were made. While the top-six might not be elite, elite, to call it weak is somewhat of a stretch.
As we all know coach Alain Vigneault loves to roll four lines. The top-three trios will see similar minutes, which may be one reason why Vesey chose to sign with New York. It's very possible that even if Vesey is on the third line, he will still see 15-17 minutes each game, providing him ample opportunities to produce, just like Kevin Hayes his first two seasons. The question that now exists a few weeks before training camp is how should the lines align?
This is how I see it, at least as of August 23:
Kreider-Stepan-Nash
Zuccarello-Zibanejad-Miller
Buchnevich-Hayes-Vesey
The second and third line may mix and match. Miller and Vesey have a history from the World Junior Championships, so AV might try and recreate that chemistry. This would then mean Buchnevich moves up a line. However, some friends, whose views I trust and watched the post-draft camp, indicated that Buch has a ton of work to do in his own zone, as he looked totally lost. To pair him with Zucc might be a recipe for disaster defensively and would then likely require Stepan to center that duo. Plus, Buch needs to get a lot stronger.
The fourth line will have some combination of Grabner, Fast, Gerbe, Jooris, Jensen, Hrivik and Lindberg who will miss the first month. Also available are long shots Malte Stromwall and Robin Kovacs, whose coach feels that each have a realistic chance to break camp with the parents club, plus Tanner Glass and Maxim Lapierre, who is in camp on a PTO.
The favorites right now might be Graber-Jooris-Fast with Lindberg out. But seeing the sheer volume of names above bolsters the belief that one or more could and likely will go in a trade. For example, Lindberg might be packaged with a defenseman, maybe Kevin Klein, to upgrade the position. What the 11 names above indicate is that AV and management has options that didn't exist previously. It also means that players will need to procure to retain their roles because a similar and possibly better option will be sitting in Hartford.
One other component of Vesey's addition is that he adds to the youth on the team. If you look at the top-nine listed above, other than Nash and maybe Zuccarello, who would be considered old? Do any of the remainder from these nine fall under the category of old: Kreider-Stepan-Nash, Zuccarello-Zibanejad-Miller and Buchnevich-Hayes-Vesey. The add in Fast, Lindberg, Jensen, Hrivik, Kovacs and Stromwall; what stands out is how young the forward depth is.
Defensively, however, regardless of age, the wear and tear for the blue line makes that grouping old. Plus, as we have highlighted repeatedly, this is the weakest link of the team. Right now, hopes appear to be pinned on a rebound from Girardi and Staal, which as we have also pointed it, may be a stretch. Now again, the term rebound is thrown around but the quality of the defense will depend on the extent of that rebound. By this I mean, we all probably expect some mild sort of rebound. If that happens, the end result is that D most probably still struggles. But our belief is that management may be expected a complete reversal of fortune for both back to how each looked several years ago, which is fools gold.
For the D to be effective, the communication in their own zone had to be eons better than what it was a year ago. In addition, for the love of all that is holy, cover the front of the net and limit the number of quality shots from the slot. For this to occur, the forwards will have to be a lot better in their back check. Hopefully, AV and Jeff Beukeboom switch to a zone rather than man-to-man coverage to mask the lack of speed on the back line.
A ton of reliance is also getting placed on Brady Skjei to replace Keith Yandle's puck moving ability while also providing shut down D. Nothing like heaping a ton of pressure on a rookie. Add in Ryan McDonagh to the list of those that need a rebound to an extent. Then for good measure, hope the Dylan McIlrath builds on last year while taking another step forward, possibly also benefitting from Beukeboom's presence. If any of the above doesn't pan out, then hopes will be pinned on Nick Holden playing as he did back in 2013-14 and Adam Clendening showing he can slide into the lineup. When you read all of this, it's not hard to see why a deal is needed to bolster the blue line.
Between the pipes, Henrik Lundqvist has something to proof. Not to true Rangers fans, who realize the siege he was under against Pittsburgh. But to himself and the 'experts' who have already declared he is in decline and which Hank will we see? The one who was dominant during the season or made to look bad against the Penguins.
Knowing Lundqvist and his pride, I expect another huge year. But concessions to age will have to made to a certain extent. As such, Antti Raanta will need to play 25-30 games, especially in back-to-back contests. It's up to AV and goaltending coach Benoit Allaire to use Raanta properly and force Hank to sit at times even when he doesn't want to. Goaltending is not an area that I worry about on this team.
The ball still remains in Gorton's court. As we have seen, Gorton looks to have the right level of patience needed for the role while also acting when need be, so he won't force a deal to make a deal. I don't believe for a minute he is satisfied with this team but that also doesn't mean he will rush out to deal from a position of weakness, at least not right now. He may be content to see what he has or let the market come to him or down before making a trade. Kevin Shattenkirk is probably still on the radar. Possibly Hampus Lindholm or Chris Tanev. But Gorton won't overpay and might go into the season with what's there, evaluate their play and then make a move. His actions to date give him some leeway and hopefully a leash from the fanbase before they go crazy on Twitter. I don't believe he is content to throw away this year and is looking for 2017-18, so I would expect some form of deal to bolster the blue line.
As noted in the Grading the Rangers: Oscar Lindberg blog, I have now covered 12 F, 4D and 1G. To complete the team, grades are still to be provided for J.T. Miller, Dan Boyle (not posting a grade for him as somewhat pointless) Dylan McIlrath, Henrik Lundqvist and Alain Vigneault. While I realize some time has passed, I likely still will complete those over the next week or so, leading us into training camp. If something else breaks, I will obviously blog on that.
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