Three things the New York Rangers need to do to stop the slide in 2020-21
There’s three things that could help stop the rot for the New York Rangers.
Boy, this has been a tough start to the 2020-21 season for the New York Rangers. Now, let’s not forget that this was always going to be another development year for a young team in the final year or two of a rapid and hugely successful rebuild, but they were expected to be competitive in a stacked East Division.
Well, a month or so in, it hasn’t been that case with the Rangers currently 4-7-3 on the year having dropped a tough 5-2 loss to a New Jersey Devils team on Tuesday that hadn’t played in two weeks after being shut down due to a COVID-19 outbreak.
More from Puck Prose
- Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
- This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
- 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
- 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
- This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings
Not only did the Devils win but they also dominated their Hudson River rivals, outshooting them 16-9 in the first period and it looked like it was the Rangers who were sitting on their backsides for two weeks rather than New Jersey.
That was just the tip of the iceberg for a Rangers team that would be bottom of the East Division were it not for the Buffalo Sabres having played less games due to a COVID-19 outbreak of their own. Throw in some drama with defenseman Tony DeAngelo who remains in exile, coupled with losing star defenseman Jacob Trouba to a broken thumb for four-six weeks, then it has been a pretty tough stretch for this franchise.
However, it isn’t all doom and gloom and we’ve pinpointed three things the New York Rangers will need to do in order to stop this current slide and start living up to their potential. So, without further ado, let’s delve right in…
Three things the New York Rangers need to do in order to turn things around in 2020-21
3. Add some toughness & leadership
While there are some out there that believe you don’t need mutants running around the ice and taking people out in order to send a message anymore, toughness and grit is still an important aspect of the modern-day NHL. I mean, just look at the St. Louis Blues who bullied the Boston Bruins on their way to winning the Stanley Cup in 2018-19.
Even the Tampa Bay Lightning, who pride themselves on their skill and potent offense, understood that they needed some substance in order to go along with their boatload of style, acquiring players in the ilk of Zach Bogosian, Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow at the 2020 Trade Deadline, with all three playing key roles in the Lightning finally winning the Stanley Cup last year.
Boasting such a young roster that is loaded with skill and speed, the Rangers are missing that sandpaper finish and, while they have Jacob Trouba, who is now out for up to six weeks, Ryan Lindgren and Brendan Lemieux, that isn’t enough and toughness isn’t just slamming someone in the boards or dropping the gloves.
Toughness can be doing the dirty bits of the game, like playing hard along the boards and battling in the dirty areas, putting your body on the line to block a shot in the dying seconds of the game or taking bumps as you try to redirect the puck in-front of the net in the slot area.
All of the above translates to playing with a tough underbelly, which the Rangers lack currently, and they also lack that real veteran leadership that can help to grind out wins even when you aren’t at your best. For the most part this season, the Blueshirts have been right there in games but they maybe need that presence on the ice and on the bench to help teach the young players what it takes to turn those close battles into wins.
Someone in the ilk of Brian Boyle, who is still a Free Agent and knows the New York market well having played five seasons with the Rangers organization, would be a good fit and he would provide the kind of grit, toughness, leadership and in-your face approach that this roster currently lacks, not to mention expertise in the faceoff circle given his career win rate of 50.3 percent.
Whether it is Boyle or someone else, however, the New York Rangers do need to add some snarl to their lineup, a physical presence that will make an impact in all three zones and take care of the intangibles that are crucial to winning hockey games. If they can inject some toughness or leadership into the locker room, then that could help this young core to really flourish.
2. Execute better on the power play
As we mentioned on the first page, the New York Rangers have actually played pretty well in the majority of their 14 games this season, aside from one or two notable exceptions. However, one of the main reasons they are under .500 is because of their inability to convert on the man advantage.
This is a problem dating back to last year when the Rangers almost sat back and admired their own talent on the power play, chucking the puck back and forth between stars like it was a fun game and getting more obsessed with passing the puck than actually shooting it.
It is a fatal flaw that has carried over to this season, too, and it is something that has consistently frustrated Head Coach David Quinn, who has accepted that his young team either pass the puck when they should shoot it or shoot the puck when they should pass it.
I mean, when you have the likes of Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, Chris Kreider and Adam Fox all out there, you should be doing better than converting at a 11.5 percent clip, which is ranked 28th in the entire National Hockey League.
Related Story. Top 8 New York Rangers Prospects. light
Now, to get our point across further, the Ottawa Senators, who have been historically bad this year, are ranked higher on the PP than the Rangers, as are the likes of the New Jersey Devils, the Arizona Coyotes and the New York Islanders, all teams who have considerably less talent to throw out on the man advantage compared to the Rangers.
It has consistently hurt this team and it has been even more of a letdown when you consider that the Blueshirts rank 9th on the penalty kill (83.0 percent) and went on a crazy run without allowing a power play goal. So, if the New York Rangers can simplify things on the man advantage and buy into the mantra that good things happen when you throw the puck on net and get to the dirty areas, then hopefully the power play can start clicking as it should and, if that happens, this team should start winning a lot more of those close battles.
1. More needed from the big guns
This is a simple one and it goes without saying, but the New York Rangers need a hell of a lot more from their superstars if they are to be competitive in the East Division, and be in with a chance of stealing the fourth Playoff spot come the end of the 2020-21 season.
It has been well documented that No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Alexis Lafreniere has struggled with just one goal in 14 games and, while he should be allowed to adapt to life in the NHL, it would help his team considerably if he were to get hot and absolutely go off at any point this year.
However, most of the burden falls on players like Mika Zibanejad, who just hasn’t looked right since dealing with a bout of COVID-19 during the offseason. The No. 1 center missed most of training camp and, having also dealt with a couple of minor injuries since, hasn’t gotten into a flow and his lack of production is hurting this team.
Zibanejad, who carved out a career-year in 2019-20 with 75 points (41 G, 34 A) in 57 games, has only three points (1 G, 2 A) in 14 games this season while averaging 20:42 of total ice time, and he’s shooting the puck at just a 2.3 percent clip. That obviously isn’t going to get the job done and the Rangers will need their star pivot to figure things out, and quick, if they are to get back on track here.
The same applies to the likes of Chris Kreider who has just four goals and one assist for five points in 14 games with a plus / minus rating of -6, and Kaapo Kakko who has three points (2 G, 1 A). It says a lot when role players in the ilk of Colin Blackwell and Phillip Di Giuseppe are producing at a similar rate.
Next. How should we feel about the Florida Panthers?. dark
Granted, Artemi Panarin, who is expected back for tonight’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers after missing a couple of games, has come as advertised yet again with 15 points (5 G, 10 A) in 12 games, but the New York Rangers will need their other stars to step up and deliver in order to boost 5-on-5 scoring that is ranked in the bottom-five in the league having scored just 1.91 goals per 60 minutes and, as a result, get this thing turned around and at least be competitive in the East Division.