The Rangers completed their practices at the training facility Sunday, opting to get one more in locally before heading to the hub in Toronto. Below is the schedule for the week, practices starting 10am Monday. Carolina's blueline depth and talent took a major hit with the news that Dougie Hamilton is likely to miss the series. Due to this new information, I decided to complete my analysis of the two defenses first and then cover the forwards during the week.
Schedule from July 27-August 4:. The schedule is pretty much what was noted earlier in the week. Practice Monday-Tuesday, exhibition game Wednesday, off Thursday and practice Friday. The first game is Saturday with a practice in between Games 1 and 2. Back-to-back games Monday and Tuesday, which is a new tweak this year.
Monday, July 27
Practice beginning at 10:00 a.m. at Ford Performance Centre
Zoom Availability to follow at approximately 1:15 p.m.
Tuesday, July 28
Practice beginning at 10:30 at Ford Performance Centre
Zoom Availability to follow at approximately 2:00 p.m
Wednesday, July 29
Rangers vs. Islanders – exhibition game at 8:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 30
Team is OFF – no media availability
Friday, July 31
Practice beginning at 10:00 a.m. at Ford Performance Centre
Zoom Availability to follow at approximately 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, August 1
Rangers at Hurricanes – Game 1 at 12:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 2
Practice beginning at 10:00 a.m. at Ford Performance Centre
Zoom Availability to follow at approximately 1:30 p.m.
Monday, August 3
Rangers at Hurricanes – Game 2 at 12:00 p.m
Tuesday, August 4
Rangers vs. Hurricanes – Game 3 at 8:00 p.m.
One other bit of news is
Vinni Lettieri, who is one of the Black Aces skating with the Rangers, has reportedly signed to play in Switzerland next season. Lettieri has been a solid scorer at Hartford but unable to replicate that success in the NHL. A large portion of that may have been the role in which he was utilized, but he also might be a Quad-A player (baseball reference), great in the minors, not in the majors.
Defense:
New York Rangers:
Brendan Smith-Jacob Trouba
Adam Fox-Ryan Lindgren,
Marc Staal-Anthony DeAngelo
Extras: Brendan Crawley, Libor Hajek and Darren Raddysh. Ineligible to play and not traveling with the team to Toronto is K'Andre Miller, who o thought originally might go.
The top-six were basically set in stone well before Phase 3 started. Smith moved from forward to defense when Brady Skjei was dealt, pairing with Trouba. That duo gives New York a physical pairing on the back line, but one that can be beat by speed. Smith is solid in terms of positional play while Trouba is a minutes eater. One underrated aspect of the Smith-Trouba combination is their communication on the ice, which hopefully aids their ability to avoid getting beat wide, since they can help one another and switch in the defensive zone. If Smith falters, he could be scratched for Hajek, who started the season opposite Trouba but struggled and was sent down to Hartford. He had a solid training camp 2.0. restoring some of his value and upgrading the organization's view of him.
Fox-Lindgren is either 1a or 1b, depending on your view. Fox, who more than earned the trade cost for him, which amounted to a pair of second rounders, tallied eight goals and 34 assists but those numbers don't do true justice to how well he played. Defensively, he was a stalwart, aided by his speed and especially his ability to steal the puck in his own zone and pivot out of trouble to kickstart the counter attack. Add in his vision and passing ability and you have a complete top-pair blueliner. Lindgren, the hopeful modern day version of Jeff Beukeboom to Fox's Brian Leetch, put the disappointment of not making the team out of training camp to force a promotion in late-October. He never looked back, combining with Fox to be the team's best defensive pairing.
Offensively, the Rangers' blue liners put up more combined points (183) this season than the defensemen for any other team. DeAngelo, who has shown tremendous growth the past two seasons, but as an RFA with arb rights might have priced himself out of the Rangers budget, tallied 15 goals and 38 assists for 53 points, which ranked fourth in the league among defensemen. ADA praised David Quinn and the departed Lindy Ruff for keeping faith in him and allowing him to work on improving, but he still is rough in his own zone. Staal has the most playoff experience amongst the position players, relying on positional play and stick work to break up offensive chances. But he no longer has any speed and at times, gets caught out of position, chasing behind the net, leaving the slot open, reducing his effectiveness. In a perfect word, he and Smith would be the third pair seeing limited minutes, but with no one to play with Trouba, that duo is not feasible. If Staal scuffles, Hajek is waiting in the wings. Interesting to note the dichotomy of talent between the lefties and righties, which is one reason why we felt moving ADA to his offside, where he played in juniors, would lengthen the lineup. That could be a possibility in this series if desperation arises.
Miller is ineligible but impressed in camp, getting better daily. He will start next season in Hartford, who may be looking for a coach for the defensemen if Gord Murphy, who is replacing Ruff, remains with the Rangers. A strong first half of the season, if and when that happens, could land Miller in the NHL. He needs work in his own zone, but you can see the skill level and ability to learn and adjust on the fly, each of which has a chance to make him special.
One additional aspect to keep in mind. As Vince Mercogliano pointed out : "The Rangers' efficiency improved in the second half of the season, which led to their two-month push into playoff contention, but they still finished with the second-most shots allowed of any team in the league — an average of 30.7 per game." If they allow Carolina to pepper them with that many shots, especially from their fine first line, it may be a short series.
Carolina:
A week ago, all looked right in Hurricanes' world on the blueline. Even with the absence of Brett Pesce, recovering from right shoulder surgery and out until sometime in August past the play-in round, Carolina had enviable depth on the back line. Dougie Hamilton, who fractured his right fibula January 17, requiring surgery, was skating in practice and slated to return to the lineup, leaving the top six and extras as:
Jaccob Slavin — Dougie Hamilton
Brady Skjei — Sami Vatanen
Jake Gardiner — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Haydn Fleury — Joel Edmundson
Then this news broke by Sara Civian, obviating part of the above, creating a hole in Carolina's blueline:
Prior to being injured, Hamilton was having a Norris Trophy-like season with 40 points and a 57.7% Corsi rating through 47 games. With him out, Carolina likely moves Sami Vatanen, who is returning from his own leg injury that sidelined him since early-February, up to play with Jaccob Slavin on Carolina's top pairing. Slavin ably picked up the slack with Hamilton sidelined, notching a career-best 36 points in 68 games, while skating 23:24 a contest. He and Hamilton were a brilliant defensive pairing, so there is a drop off to skating with Vatanen, who is solid, just not of the ilk of Hamilton.
The second duo already consisted of Brady Skjei, acquired from the Rangers at the trade deadline. We saw chapter and verse in the past from Skjei. who is highly motivated and being relied upon for trade secrets by coach Rod Brind'Amour, so no need to go into great detail here. His pair mate now likely will be Edmundson, who had a career-high 19 points while dishing out 118 hits and blocking 91 shots. The first four have a drop off due to the absence of Hamilton and Pesce but Edmundson played in all 68 games, seeing an average of 18:27 of ice time, including 2:48 shorthanded.
Look for New York to try and take advantage of the third pairing. Gardiner is weak defensively, and while plus-minus isn't always the best indicator, he was a minus-24 this season. Once known for offense, that aspect of his game has declined as well the past two campaigns, though he also isn't asked to do what he did in Toronto. Van Riemsdyk, like Fleury, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Haydn Fleury each played at least 45 games this season. TvR was a lineup constant after Hamilton went down and might have been the odd-man out - or Edmundson - with Hamilton back. If he or Edmundson falter, Bean, who led the AHL in defensemen scoring with 48 points in 59 games, could get a shot, especially if the 'Canes are down in the series.
Outlook:
Initially, Carolina had a material edge on the blueline due to the return of both Hamilton and Vatanen, even with Pesce sidelined. Now, with Hamilton out, that gap has narrowed a bit. The Hurricanes still have a solid overall group, but the talent level, especially on the first two duos due to Hamilton's absence, has taken a big hit. New York will look to push the pace and match up the Panarin line against Carolina's second duo, taking advantage of the two defensemen who are sidelined. On the flip side, look for Quinn to have a major decision on who matches up against the Teravainen-Aho-Svechnikov trio. In my view, Fox-Lindgren should get the nod due to Fox's skating ability and skill in exiting his own zone.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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