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Where's the depth up front? Right now, there isn't any |
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Where's the depth? In years past, the Rangers had what can be described as fairly decent depth offensively. This year, at least as of August 4, that is not the case.
Heading into 2016-17, New York signed Michael Grabner, Brandon Pirri and Jimmy Vesey. In addition, Nathan Gerbe and Josh Jooris were brought in on one-year, low-dollar deals to provide additional depth. Neither panned out, but the acquisition of Vesey made up for it, lengthening the lineup. Pavel Buchnevich made his US debut, and during the season, Matt Puempel was added off waivers.
The prior season, New York traded Carl Hagelin and received Emerson Etem (yes, that one was a failure) and a second round pick. Same with the Cam Talbot deal. On draft day, Antti Raanta was brought in for Ryan Haggerty. In free agency, the office boy Joe that worked out was the addition of Viktor Stalberg, as the other additions basically just faded away. But that team only lost Martin St. Louis from a deep lineup, so depth wasn't as big of an issue, especially since Oscar Lindberg earned a roster spot in training camp and Kevin Hayes had been added the prior summer.
This year's team lacks that depth. Derek Stepan was traded and Oscar Lindberg lost to alas Vegas in the expansion draft while David Desharnais is the only forward added to date. Regardless of how you set the line combinations, right now, here are the 12 forwards penciled into the lineup, excluding Lias Andersson, who right now probably is a favorite to earn a roster spot, and Boo Nieves, who should get a shot in camp.
Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich
Nash-Hayes-Vesey
Grabner-Miller-Zuccarello
Puempel-Desharnais-Fast
Jesper Fast likely will miss the first month of the season, so if Andersson does break camp, he is the 12th forward. Are you really comfortable with Puempel as a consistent member of the fourth line? Is there anyone else in the minors that likely will break camp? The losses of Marek Hrivik and Niklas Jensen cost the Rangers depth and players that could be plugged-and-played on the fourth line. With those two gone, who else is knocking on the door besides Nieves? Paul Carey and Coke Schneider were signed to give Hartford some scoring but neither strike me as fourth line candidates.
It's this reason why I wanted Jussi Jokinen signed, especially at the $1.1 dollar figure. He would have lengthened the lineup and provided a cheap alternative for a top-nine option. I felt the same way about Scott Hartnell and Michael Cammalleri, as each could have slotted onto the third line and made the fourth line a strength, since right now it's a weakness.
GM Jeff Gorton has done a good job with rebuilding the D by adding Kevin Shattenkirk, re-signing Brendan Smith and acquiring Anthony DeAngelo to go along with all the young d-men drafted and signed (Sean Day, Neal Point etc). Between the pipes, we have discussed Ondrej Pavelec a ton, but the young depth is solid, with Adam Huska, Igor Shestyorkin etc. The same cannot be said about the offense, though I love the Filip Chytil pick and hope that Ryan Gropp or Robin Kovacs pan out. But no one is that close to breaking through and forcing his way onto the roster.
Gorton needs to be aggressive, signing a few forwards to PTO or one-year deals. Not all PTO pan out but it's a worthwhile risk to take for a decent reward. We saw what Lee Stempniak did and although it's somewhat rare they work out, maybe New York gets lucky. It's possible Alex Kerfoot sighs here as a free agent, and maybe Gorton is waiting to see what happens there before adding a player. But as seen above and knowing New York only has 21 players and really needs 23, expect some moves before training camp opens in about a month.
I know who I want and will cover that in a follow up blog. Who would you like to see. Thought in on a PTO or one-year deal? Answer it with another name besides Kerfoot.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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