The title of the blog says it all. The Rangers this season clearly have a split personality, as you can't tell from night to night and game to game which team you will get. In addition, the way the team plays in front of Henrik Lundqvist and Cam Talbot also makes one believe that the squad should just be called Sybil.
Friday, coming off two wins in a row and a really good effort against Florida, the Rangers took a step up in class against Pittsburgh. What happened was a complete and utter domination. No forechecking, turnovers galore, poor own zone coverage no heart, no passion and no true effort. The end numbers, beyond the score might have told a different story, but if you watch the game, it was pretty apparent that New York had no business being on the same ice with Pittsburgh talent wise. Unfortunately, this has been a theme we have discussed over and over again, but just when we say that, a game like Saturday occurs when it all seems to flow together.
What came out of Friday's loss may have been even worse than just the defeat. In the game Derek Dorsett, who is one of the few that plays with passion nightly, fractured his left fibula blocking an Ollie Maatta shot, yet was able to finish the shift. That break will sidelined him for 4-to-6 weeks and costs NY a forward who was good on the forecheck and become very valuable on the penalty kill. When the injury initially happened, my immediate thoughts were: I guess that gets JT Miller back into the lineup, possibly on a line with Benoit Pouliot and Carl Hagelin, which was working before Ryan Callahan took Miller's spot, and do the Rangers wish they hadn't had to place Taylor Pyatt on waivers so they had another option?
Of course, those thoughts mostly became obviated at around 5pm Saturday, when the Rangers traded a seventh round pick to the Kings for Daniel Carcillo. Carp summed up what most of us were thinking very well in his column today: "He is one of those repeat offenders—so don’t cry about the Patrick Kaletas and Matt Cookes if you’re going to cheer for this guy—and he’s a bad penalty waiting to happen. So the penalty killers might get more ice time. The Rangers, who desperately need some anti-softness in their lineup, didn’t do this from the seat of their pants...
The irony of the whole thing is that it was the whole Carcillo-Gaborik event a few years back that forced the Rangers to toughen up, to get Brandon Prust in the Olli Jokinen trade, to man-up as a team. Carcillo’s disgusting mugging of Gaborik eventually made them the rugged, all-for-one team that slapped up 51 wins, 109 points and a trip to the Eastern finals in 2011-12."
The arguments for the trade are simple: it's by comparison a minimal salary at $825k, at a low cost for a seventh rounder and it does make the Rangers tougher, which has been an area of need all season The cons are just as apparent: he is a glorified goon, his play has tailed off both in LA and Chicago, he is not a great skater and his presence now means that Miller is likely to be scratched once again. Despite the Gaborik incident, once the initial blending in period is over, he will probably be accepted, though Brashaer, who had similar run ins with the Rangers, never was by the fanbase.
Saturday, the team's schizophrenic personality came to the forefront, as they dominated Toronto early and often. Seven goals on 50 shots with 15 of the Rangers' 18 skaters notching a point. Brian Boyle, who seemingly hadn't scored since the Bush administration, notched a goal, which tells you all you need to know. What I loved the most about the win is Chris Kreider taking on Dion Phaneuf in a fight, though this one came as a result of Kreider chatting too much, but whatever the reason, I liked the aggressiveness shown by Kreider. He then topped it off with a beautiful goal. Size, speed, power, Kreider has it all, he just needs to show it more consistently.
To me the key subplots in the win were: 1) Talbot-Lundqvist. 2) Del Zotto back in the lineup after his agents meet with GM Glen Sather
1) Talbot-Lundqvist. It's pretty clear that the Rangers play differently in front of Talbot then they do Lundqvist. However, given how Hank has been fighting it nearly all season while a Talbot makes key save after key save, you would think it would be the inverse. But, Lundqvist has the history on his side while a Talbot is the unknown.
Every time you think Lundqvist is about to go on a roll, he spits the bit and struggles. Yes. He was left out to dry many times Friday, which has been the case a lot this year, but he also has not stepped up to bail out his team when needed. While the a Rangers have been better in front of a Talbot, when there is a break down and the team requires a big save to either keep or shift momentum, Talbot has been there. The difference is that Lundqvist has not.
It may be a technical issue. It also could be one of a crisis of confidence and be between the ears. Whichever reason you or I think it is, right now, Talbot is the better goalie. That doesn't mean AV will go to him Monday! but to me, Lundqvist has to fight through this and find an answer to show he deserves to play since Talbot has been the better goalie.
2) Del Zotto gets back into action after being a healthy scratch the past two games. He notched an assist in the victory and didn't have any glaring mistakes. It could be a case of the Rangers showcasing him, but as I have said before, unless you get a reasonable return back, there is no reason to trade him. In addition, as Larry Brooks points out, if one of the top four go down, because MDZ has played left and right D, he can step in on either side.
The Rangers were reportedly scouting the Avs, though the rumored object of their desire, Tyson Barrie or Ryan Wilson didn't play in the contest. On the MDZ for Barrie rumor: DDM-Coga gave a great analysis: I think its a lateral move for both teams, Barrie is promising and is a good right handed shot PMD on the rise, but just doesn't seem to have Roy's trust. His biggest flaw is he is prone to a bad turn over clearing attempt in his own zone once every game or 2 by trying to do too much razzle dazzle. Experience to simplify it with game time will fix that eventually. But he sure can wheel with the puck.
It's swapping a lefty for a righty and also saving about $2 mil in cap room, as Barrie at 715k and Del Zotto at $2.9 million. In addition, it's swapping a mirror image of one another, though to me, I still prefer Del Zotto. For all the talk about how inconsistent he has been and how he ends to be dealt, I view him as a better D man than Barrie. I just watched the Winter Classic against the Flyers again and it's amazing how effusive the broadcasters were in the praise of Del Zotto and how much different and confident he looked on the ice. Giving up someone who I think can still be an effective defenseman for another problem child makes little sense to me, though I can under stand the opposing view especially if believe MDZ will never get back to where he was here in NY.
Offensively, the a Rangers, despite the seven goals Saturday, are still struggling. That is the main story of the season. Other than Zuccarello, since he was a healthy scratch, and Pouliot, who scored in Toronto and had another goal waved off on a goaltender interference call, has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his last 14 games and eight goals overall, who has been productive on any consistent basis? There has been spurts from Kreider, minimally few and far between from Nash, occasional solid games from Brassard and really very little from Stepan and Callahan. Plus, Richards, who was so good early in the year and scored Saturday, went 12 games without a goal with just four assists and was a sieve in the faceoff circle. So is it the name on the front of the jersey that's the issue or us and Rangers brass overrating the names on the back?
The seven goals are nice but the team has had games like that before, then revert to prior form and score four goals in three games. Unless they can find a way to bottle whatever formula they used Saturday, we will be right back in the place they were after Friday's game. That's the big problem. We talk about blowing it up and rebuilding but then a game like Saturday happens and it changes the mindset a bit. Rangers' management has to make a call one way or the other and getting Carcillo isn't really the answer to what ails the team. It adds toughness but it remains to be seen if the cost, in terms of penalties etc, is worth it.