The ills that have ailed the Rangers all season showed up again yesterday. Despite so-so play the first two periods, New York entered the third up 2-0. Two more poor defensive zone coverages in slightly more than three minutes and the game was tied. The Blueshirts were able to earn a point but JT Miller's second of the night sent New York home a loser. Vitali Kravtsov has been loaned to the KHL while Matthew Rempe signs a three-year ELC. In addition, an Adam Fix autographed jersey auction for a good cause.
Game recap:
A few thoughts:
1) As said in the blog, I blame
Steve Valiquette for saying how well the team has played holding third period leads, not relying on Igor to be Superman like Hank. That aged well. But in reality, two more defensive zone misplays and the puck was in the back of the net.
2)
K'Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba - the difficulties the two have had so far this year were evident again yesterday. On the first goal, Trouba for some reason went out to the point while Miller failed to mark JT Miller in front, allowing him inside position for the tap in goal. Poor positional play and ice awareness. On the second, the bigger issue was Alexis Lafreniere not picking up the trailer down the slot, but Trouba and Miller were on the ice.
Miller has not looked like the player we saw last year. Maybe the league has a book on him, but he has looked a step slower and his awareness is not what we have seen as a rookie. Coach Gerard Gallant has sat Nils Lundkvist the last two days - somewhat to the detriment of the D - to allow him to see the ice from the press box and learn. The same treatment might be needed for Miller or dare I say, an AHL stint to help him fully find his game.
In lieu of that, we have discussed breaking up the Miller-Trouba pair. Separating Adam Fox - who notched two points, including the 100th of his career yesterday- and Ryan Lindgren makes little sense. We may see Patrik Nemeth, who was a little better yesterday, especially on the PK, with Trouba with Miller paired with Nils. If Miller's play does not improve or Gallant and/or GM Chris Drury decide Nils needs some time at Hartford, look for Zac Jones to get the call
3)
Larry Brooks had several good points in his column today. Posting here with my views below. Let me know your opinion.
There are underlying concerns throughout much of the lineup, but let’s start at the top, because the Blueshirts are not getting nearly enough from neither Artemi Panarin nor Mika Zibanejad, and if this somehow keeps up, the team has no chance.
Zibanejad has scored one goal at five-on-five, that one in Toronto in the fourth game of the season. Panarin, horribly deficient coming back on J.T. Miller’s second-chance decisive overtime goal in Monday’s 3-2 defeat in Vancouver, somehow doesn’t even have one, yet.
Is there any wonder that the Rangers have scored the sum of 13 five-on-five goals through 10 games?
So it is still early in this transition. And, yes, the record is 6-2-2, even if built primarily on Psst: Igor Shesterkin. The goalie is, after all, part of the team. The Sabres of the ’90s didn’t spend their time apologizing for having Dominik Hasek. The Tortorella and Vigneault Rangers sure didn’t apologize for having Lundqvist.
And 6-2-2 provides a springboard and mitigates against doom-and-gloom scenarios as the team awaits a back-to-back against the Oilers and Flames commencing in Edmonton on Friday.
But make no mistake, there will be gloom and doom indeed if these first 10 games are representative of what Zibanejad and Panarin — going through his most inferior stretch of hockey on both sides of the puck since coming to New York — bring to the table this year.
If the top-six doesn't get hot, the team is going nowhere, regardless of how much Igor stands on his head. Too early to panic but early enough to be somewhat concerned. As I have said a few times, what I don't see in Panarin is the jump that was always visible in his initial year and parts of last season.
With Zib, despite the slow start, he still has eight points while Panarin has ten. But neither have really taken over or carried a game. That's the most surprising component to date. You would expect more, but again, it's only - getting harder to say - 10 games into the year.
Would anyone watching a Rangers game — be it a casual fan, student of the game or talent evaluator — be able to identify Alexis Lafreniere as a first-overall selection?
Lafreniere seems to be having less impact on the ice then he did during last year’s challenging rookie go-round. He is not driving play, he is not generating offense, he is not creating chances — though, yes, he does lead the team with three goals at five-on-five.
On the other side of the puck, Lafreniere’s failure to clear the zone on what appeared a rather weak effort to begin with, directly led to the sequence on which the Canucks tied Tuesday’s game in the third period. This less than a week after he was chastised for turnovers.
I wonder, with Lafreniere’s ongoing issues and Filip Chytil’s generally blah work, would it make sense to move No. 13 into the middle, which is where many personnel people believe he’s belonged from the start?
Because if Lafreniere can capably make the shift to center, that would sure solve a whole lot of issues going forward for the Rangers.
We see snippets but not enough. Way too early to call Laf a bust in general or a failed first round pick. Last season was the pandemic and a learning curve. But it's fair to expect more, which Gallant has stated as well. Maybe the new system that is not really a system, per Gallant, takes more time to master than we think. Sooner or later though, you want to see the snippets become more frequent and the norm not the exception.
Zib took time to blossom. Mark Scheifele as well. Laf is not the first high pick to take time to adapt and succeed, The same can be said about Kappo Kakko, but the success of other picks makes us forget those who struggled initially and focus on why the #2 and #1 picks are not dominating the league.
If Laf is not handling his defensive assignments at wing, why do we think center would be better? The idea though is not that far fetched, as it has been brought up in the past and some view pivot as Laf's possible best position down the road. If that change is made, which then shifts Chytil to wing, you are setting a precedent and can't flip flop the two back to their original spots.
Is it fair to be concerned that Kaapo Kakko doesn’t have a point through six games (five games plus one period) and has faded away through the first two matches of this trip that began with a 3-1 victory in Seattle on Sunday?
Kakko has recorded eight shots, five in the opener in Washington and three against Columbus on Friday, when he returned from a four-game absence because of a suspected shoulder injury. He has, at least for the moment, been dropped from the penalty-kill rotation, replaced by a combination of Chris Kreider and Greg McKegg. He played only 12:32 in Tuesday’s game that featured just 40:39 of five-on-five.
You do want to give Kakko the benefit of the doubt off his strong work through training camp that he is still catching up from missing nearly two weeks. But, despite the fact that he has been on the ice with Panarin for 64:04 of his 70:07 at five-on-five, No. 24’s xGF rate of 37.48 leads only McKegg (and Morgan Barron) among team forwards, per Natural Stat Trick.
Or maybe that is because he’s been with Panarin? Might be time for another top-six adjustment, perhaps moving Kakko up with Kreider and Zibanejad while dropping Barclay Goodrow down.
As said above, patience - to a certain extent - grasshopper, patience. I know that's a dirty word, but it needs to be remembered. Kakko did miss two weeks, and like Chytil last year, re-acclimating may take longer than expected. The cut in ice time though is concerning.
Thinking about the top-six alignment, Panarin had a ton of success with Jesper Fast. Quickie did a lot of the dirty work, opening the ice for Panarin. If Laf remains on the third line, and I really want to see if he, Chytil and Sammy Blais can recapture the magic from the Nashville game, then the logical move is to try Goodrow with Panarin and Strome. Making that change would then mean Kakko gets a shot with Zib and Kreider. Not that he has deserved it, but if the top-six continues to fail to generate consistent chances or score 5x5, a change will need to be made.
Kravtsov heads to the KHL. Both sides have left the door open to a return to the team, either at the end of the KHL season or next season's training camp, but this sure looks like the Lias Andersson situation part 2. Andersson went back home, played well enough to raise his value and the Rangers traded him for a second-round pick that became Will Cuylle.
The two parties have to play nicely in the sandbox. New York to recoup something for their asset and Kravtsov to get a trade elsewhere. If Kravtsov had stayed in New York and went to Hartford, he likely would be up with the parent club now. That ship unfortunately has sailed, meaning that a second top-10 pick is likely going to be out of the organization by next year's draft. I still think Kravtsov has a ton of talent, as does Drury, and maybe he ends up part of the team in the future. Consider me skeptical, however.
Rempe, selected by the Rangers in the sixth round, 165th overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft, plays for Seattle of the WHL. Known mainly for his size - as he is 6-8 - Rempe had a solid rookie camp this past year. Rempe showed he has skill to go with that size, earning the ELC.
A friend of mine is auctioning off a
signed Adam Fox jersey to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. My friend used to work with Fox's father, who got his son to autograph the jersey, so I can tell you that the autograph is authentic. Happy to answer any questions and please share the tweet with your colleagues
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