With a record of 3-4-0 so far in the month of November, the Rangers have had a clear offensive struggle after being ranked among the top five teams in the league in goals scored during their seven game winning streak in early October. The Blueshirts have only scored 14 goals in the seven game stretch, with five of those seven being contests in which they were only able to put the puck in the net two or less times. While some teams are built to win low-scoring games (New Jersey, Calgary, Boston), the Rangers have not been sound defensively and have not given goaltender Henrik Lundqvist much help, so two or less goals is just not going to cut it with this team, but the problems on defense are a a separate discussion for another time.
As I mentioned earlier in the week, Gaborik and Prospal have accounted for about forty percent of the points scored by the Ranger offense, basically making us a one-line team at the moment. Now do not get me wrong, I have been very impressed with the production both Gabs and Vinny bring to the club, but any solid team in the league has secondary scoring, and right now there is limited to no support from the forwards beyond the first line.
John Tortorella has had Enver Lisin playing on the first line with Gaborik and Prospal, but I do not feel like he has been contributing very much lately. Based on what I saw last night at e Garden, I believe Sean Avery should gt an opportunity to play wing on this line. Sean's forecheck was great, he is an under-rated passer in the game, and he has hockey smarts. I think that he would be a perfect fit on the threesome, and we know that Sean has the ability to play with high caliber individuals as we saw him do so with Jaromir Jagr back in 07-08, when he was very successful on that top unit centered by Brandon Dubinsky.
On the second line, I feel like Chris Higgins needs to be moved by to wing--the center position just doesn't seem to fit him properly. I feel that Artem Anisimov should be brought up to the second line to center, with Higgy and Kotalik to the left and right of him. I like what I have seen from Anisimov, and with a player like Kotalik on his wing I feel that he can potentially succeed and begin to produce at a more consistent rate.
This leaves an opening at third line center, and by all means, Brian Boyle should not be on our third line. With that being said, I believe it is time to call-up Corey Locke from the Hartford Wolf Pack. With Drury (concussion) and Dubinsky (broken hand) both out of the lineup, the Rangers need to be deeper up the middle and bringing up Locke from the AHL would be a start. The 25-year-old centerman has really made a statement with the Pack, as he has recorded 24 points in just seventeen games this season, and should definitely get the chance to see the NHL.
Locke would then have Hartford-mate P.A. Parenteau on his wing, as well as Ryan Callahan on the right. This would see the third line receiving much more ice time than they have been used to in recent tilts, and keep the fourth line off the ice as much as possible--specifically Voros and Brashear. I have had no problem with the game of Brian Boyle besides the inability to win faceoffs, but Brash and Voros have been just terrible and contribute nothing at all. Basically they are useless other than throwing the body around.
Changes like these could very well spark the dormant offense of the Rangers, and start providing some support for Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal. Take last night's opponent in Washington for example; Ovechkin is not their only source of offense as they have Niklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin, Mike Green, and even Mike Knuble to produce night in and night. That right there is a major difference between a team that makes it to the Conference Finals and a team that is eliminated in the Quarters. The bottom line here is that something needs to be done, but Tortorella and Glen Sather must realize this for any moves to be made, and for some reason they do not always see things the same way as us fans do.
(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
While we’re waiting
2 hours ago
Posts
2 comments:
I could not agree more with your suggestion to turn to Hartford, nor your observation about Brashear and Voros. Brashear can play better and may be hurt but Voros can't play much better and should be taken off the roster one way or the other. They need grit, so they should immediately return Byers who has 3rd line potential but could easily start on the 4th line. Parenteau should now get a very fair trial under fire and either make or break it with the NYR now. If he makes it, Drury is going to have to go somewhere. They also need to toughen up the D which they could do by looking for opportunities to trade some of the boys here who can't consistenly play. Finally, there is Tortorella. So far, I see no magic in either his tactics or his strategies. If this continues through the holidays, this team is dead and he should go with the rest of the baggage. Wo't happen, of course, becasue this is NY>
I agree on what you say about the defense. As I mentioned in my postgame analysis yesterday, the lack of size and grit on the blueline is giving this team a lot of problems clearing the zone, which ultimately leads to lazy penalties. So by toughening up the defense, you kill two birds with one stone. However, it is not as easy as it sounds.
As for Tortorella, I have disagreed with some of his decisions as well. We will see what happens in the coming weeks.
Post a Comment
NOTE: As much as we do not mind readers expressing negativity in their comments, we would still like to maintain a PG-13 environment here on the blog, so please keep it clean and mature. If we feel that a specific comment is inappropriate or offensive in any way, it will be removed. Thank You. -NYR Blogger