Jan Levine: Game 6: NJ 3 NYR 2, Fire AV drumbeats getting louder & louder among fanbase Is management far behind?

Relax. It's only October

I've been saying it for 2 years & im not even a fan!

I've been saying it for 2 years & im not even a fan!
- Aussiepenguin

I've been saying it for 2 years also but no one listens, just like when I told them Shattenkirk can't play defense.

Jan Levine: Game 6: NJ 3 NYR 2, Fire AV drumbeats getting louder & louder among fanbase
Is management far behind?
- airjan23

First, great blog Jan, and thank you for the mention.
This falls on A.V. & Arniel, as I wrote in the prior blog, in being the longest tenured coaches here, as well as on GM, Jeff Gorton, despite what cap issues and partial player mess that Sather had left him. In addition, A.V. should no longer have a say as to any future moves. Their current 12-15-5 run in their last 32 regular season games overall since Feb.13th of last season, is long enough proof that something is severely wrong here.
A.V. wanted only players with speed to fit his style of coaching. Yet he does not know how to employ them with his at times questionable lines, & his in game, and game to game constant shuffling of them, preventing the players from becoming acclimated well enough with their line mates. This has been especially the case since he mistakenly broke apart his best producing line of early last season in Miller/Hayes/Grabner, to compensate for Zib's loss due to his broken fibula injury in November.
After the loss to Columbus on Friday, A.V. stated that "EVERY LINE SEEMS TO HAVE ONE GUY FIGHTING IT". We all wonder why, as we also do as to the reason of not keeping in tact as planned during the summer, the two defensive pairings of McD/Shatty, and Skjei/Smith for every game.
A.V. also stated after each of these last 2 losses that "WE ARE NOT PLAYING 60 MINUTES". The warning signs of that actually best occurred last postseason, in him employing a "SAFE = DEATH", or prevent defense to protect those two games' 3rd period leads against Ottawa, resulting in losses instead, & losing the series in 6 games, instead of winning it in only 5.
Even worse, he answered a reporter's question as to his team's 2nd Period non showing Saturday, in claiming that, "WE COULDN'T PLAY AS FAST AS WE WERE IN THE 1ST PERIOD". Well then what good does having all that speed do for you, A.V. if it can't be played for 60 minutes minimum? A.V. and Arniel are lost, and so is this team, in not playing well enough for 60 minutes, or even possibly worse in tuning them out.

I've been saying it for 2 years also but no one listens, just like when I told them Shattenkirk can't play defense.
- nyrangers9479

How about with what you said on Jesper Fast, along with .......................?
The Rangers knew the defensive woes that Shatty would come with, along with his offensive game positives that were much more DESPERATELY needed here since the Zubov & Leetch days. Their needs (which you will never say, & failed to say), besides improving the power play, was to also have McDonagh concentrate greater defensively as his partner, along with improved offensive zone puck penetration & greater puck possession time & play, along with less play in the Rangers end in front of a now 35 year old Hank in net.
Shatty's PLUSES offensively, outweighed his MINUSES defensively for the Rangers, and that was the bottom line. You never also said that, but I bet you LOVED the Daniel Boyle signing, and his recent playing days here until 2 years ago.

how I expect watching the Pitt game gonna be like...

With the Rangers scoring issues, the best thing I could advise AV to do is to dress nine d-men next game

I like AV and I think the D is nicely built and will improve. But the league has changes to younger and faster and a lot of what AV has been preaching is now the norm not the exception.

I'm not saying the Devils are a better team but in 2017-18 they are younger and faster. That's a bit shocking. The old Devils teams and playing style are History. A lot of what set AV's teams apart are now fairly common.

Something's got to change but Lindy Ruff is even more of a dinosaur and not the answer. But I'd let AV coach my team, honestly. That said every coach seems to have a shelf life and his might be up.

Jan, thanks for the mention.

Time for Gorton to face the unfortunate fact that the mix is wrong. This group can't play the speed game AV wants to play, due in large part because there's just not enough of the speed on the team. Aside from Krieder, who remains an enigma, and Grabner, who has regressed as expected, who really has breakaway speed? Coupled with the fact that the league now features and abundance of speed, the Rangers look ordinarily slow.

So, the sad truth is, the team can't play the way the coach wants, not with any marked success. If we think it will dramatically change if AV is fired, is most likely untrue. The next coach will find himself with the same cast of characters in a bad play,

Relax. It's only October
- Crushers68

I never understand this type of thinking. When is it “ok” to expect your team to play? If not in the first 5, why bother at 10 or 20 and so on.

You can’t make the playoffs at the beginning of the season, but you can sure set yourself up to miss them.

Great blog as usual Jan.

So the Rangers after being 4th in the league in offense last year and losing arguably their slowest forward over the summer, suddenly turned into a slow team that can't score.

Yeah I'm not buying it. The problem is they can't finish right now. How many games have we watched where an easy goal just isn't going in. Doesn't help when there has only been 1 line that has stayed together and even that didn't last yesterday night.

Team is mentally fragile as hell. As soon as they get scored on they fall apart.

Not sure what the answer is, but a little mental toughness, some line combos that stay together and a bit of finish and I'm guessing they start winning some games.

Serious question, does anybody remember or enjoy the 1980 Rangers season?

So the Rangers after being 4th in the league in offense last year and losing arguably their slowest forward over the summer, suddenly turned into a slow team that can't score.

Yeah I'm not buying it. The problem is they can't finish right now. How many games have we watched where an easy goal just isn't going in. Doesn't help when there has only been 1 line that has stayed together and even that didn't last yesterday night.

Team is mentally fragile as hell. As soon as they get scored on they fall apart.

Not sure what the answer is, but a little mental toughness, some line combos that stay together and a bit of finish and I'm guessing they start winning some games.
- mdw7413

I think what we're seeing is, the league catching up to the Rangers and in some cases surpassing there ability to keep up.

In their 1st 6 games, notwithstanding Columbus who typically plays Torts game, the other teams used speed to upset the Rangers into critical turnovers. So, the advantage they have had as early as last year, is diminishing quickly.

I think what we're seeing is, the league catching up to the Rangers and in some cases surpassing there ability to keep up.

In their 1st 6 games, notwithstanding Columbus who typically plays Torts game, the other teams used speed to upset the Rangers into critical turnovers. So, the advantage they have had as early as last year, is diminishing quickly.
- OLDSCHOOL#6

I just don't see that much of a change. Obviously there are some ebbs and flows to a game so no team will usually dominate a whole game. Last night and even against Columbus you could argue the Rangers were the better team 4 of the 6 periods. Now that and a nickel won't buy a cup of coffee, but I see it more as execution(not finishing, stupid turnovers, etc) than the Rangers not being able to keep up.

Listen to the devil fan talking about making the playoffs. You won the game 3-2 and were dominated in the first and third periods. Congrats!. Rangers are having a tough time right now but please stop talking about the rangers you sound stupid pay attention to your own team right now while their playing well it won’t last long

I just don't see that much of a change. Obviously there are some ebbs and flows to a game so no team will usually dominate a whole game. Last night and even against Columbus you could argue the Rangers were the better team 4 of the 6 periods. Now that and a nickel won't buy a cup of coffee, but I see it more as execution(not finishing, stupid turnovers, etc) than the Rangers not being able to keep up.
- mdw7413

For any devil fan to imply that the devils are a faster team then the rangers is just talking stupid it’s really hilarious.

They're definitely faster. Better? I'm not claiming that yet. Rangers did a good job of slowing the Devils down, but just couldn't capitalize on their chances and allowed the Devils to gain momentum and come back.

They're definitely faster. Better? I'm not claiming that yet. Rangers did a good job of slowing the Devils down, but just couldn't capitalize on their chances and allowed the Devils to gain momentum and come back.
- Devilspep87

Sorry if I don’t agree

They're definitely faster. Better? I'm not claiming that yet. Rangers did a good job of slowing the Devils down, but just couldn't capitalize on their chances and allowed the Devils to gain momentum and come back.
- Devilspep87

You sound like you belong on the flyer board like I said your team is playing well enjoy it while it lasts.

Reason why I brought up 1980 is because this is the Rangers first 1-5 start since then. That team ended up going 6-14-3

They're definitely faster. Better? I'm not claiming that yet. Rangers did a good job of slowing the Devils down, but just couldn't capitalize on their chances and allowed the Devils to gain momentum and come back.
- Devilspep87

I don't know if its definite. Maybe it just seems that way from the way they played last year.

In all seriousness the Devils are much better team than they were last year, got some very good young guys in the lineup now. Will be interesting if their offense could be better than some of the defensive lapses for the rest of the year.

Listen to the devil fan talking about making the playoffs. You won the game 3-2 and were dominated in the first and third periods. Congrats!. Rangers are having a tough time right now but please stop talking about the rangers you sound stupid pay attention to your own team right now while their playing well it won’t last long
- Bobd62

You’re getting super defensive for reasons unknown. The Devils shouldn’t have won the game last night. While I’m grateful for the two points, I almost hate that they were rewarded for such a bad effort.

And if you’re referring to my comments about playoffs in general, I was actually defending Rangers fans being pissed right now. My point was, it’s ok to hold your team to a high standard 5 games in because that can impact making the playoffs, nothing more, nothing less.

I've been saying it for 2 years also but no one listens, just like when I told them Shattenkirk can't play defense.
- nyrangers9479

He’s terrible at defense lol -6 already

So the Rangers after being 4th in the league in offense last year and losing arguably their slowest forward over the summer, suddenly turned into a slow team that can't score.

Yeah I'm not buying it. The problem is they can't finish right now. How many games have we watched where an easy goal just isn't going in. Doesn't help when there has only been 1 line that has stayed together and even that didn't last yesterday night.

Team is mentally fragile as hell. As soon as they get scored on they fall apart.

Not sure what the answer is, but a little mental toughness, some line combos that stay together and a bit of finish and I'm guessing they start winning some games.
- mdw7413

That mental fragility is a big component. Confidence is huge in any athlete but especially elite ones. The great ones can push past the self doubt, the average ones cannot. Let’s see what intestinal fortitude this team has. Can they pull themselves out of this downward spiral or will they get trapped by it?