New York Rangers dealing with the same issues that ended their playoff run last season
The New York Rangers 9-3-1 record to start the season is great, but it could be considered deceptive. The team was outworked and outplayed by the Buffalo Sabres, which saw Shesterkin pulled from the net, giving up 5 goals on 12 shots.
Igor Shesterkin can't be the only player on the team to bail them out, and the team itself needs a consistent 60-minute effort. Something they've yet to put together.
Defense
The Rangers' defensive core isn't good, as evidenced by the team's effort against the Florida Panthers, they just weren't able to keep up with the ravenous Panthers.
Lucas Standel illustrates:
It seemed as if major changes were going to be made with the big rumor in the offseason being that Jacob Trouba was going to be moved, but he used his trade protection to block a potential trade and now, the Rangers are running back the same defensive core that wasn't good enough last season, minus Erik Gustafsson, with Zac Jones and Victor Mancini fighting for the sixth defensive spot. There's a laundry list of Rangers players who are currently underperforming at the moment including Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, K'Andre Miller, and Jacob Trouba.
If you're trying to improve your team, it should be considered a lack of oversight from GM Chris Drury who decided to keep the lineup status quo. Aside from Reilly Smith, and Sam Carrick.
Lack of Identity and Top Players Struggle
While the Rangers have one of the best goalies in the league, how would you define this Rangers core? They aren't what the Bruins used to be considered "big bad Bruins", or the Panthers are "tough to play against". This is realistically what every NHL team strives for, "Broad St. Bullies" i.e.
The identity they have shown the most over these past few seasons is that they don't have the heart and the desire to win when the games get tough. In three straight playoffs, they have had series leads and have gone on to lose the series and make the other team look like juggernauts. In the 2022 Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning, they had a 2-0 series lead and went on to lose four straight to lose the series. Did they learn anything from it? Apparently not, because the next season, they had a 2-0 series lead over the New Jersey Devils and went on to lose the series in Game 7. Did they learn from it? Once again, the answer is no because against the Panthers, they had a 2-1 series lead and went on to lose three straight games and got kicked around in the process.
There's no cohesion to the roster, and it's showing on the ice.
All the while, the top two centers on the roster continue to struggle, as Mika Zibanejad can't seem to find his game. Vinnie Troecheck has been bit by the same bug as well, 9 games(3 G, 6 A) in 13 games.
For Zibanejad, this decline started last season and continued into the playoffs. Two of the most egregious things he did last season was go 30 games without a 5-on-5 goal and then, he went the final 10 games of the playoffs without scoring a goal.
Neither are performing at the clip they should and it's caused Laviolette to rush out the line blender in a frenzy.
He seems to be playing with less energy and less motivation. He looks disinterested at times and isn't playing with that in-your-face attitude like he usually does. Something is off with him and it is a bigger problem now because if both he and Zibanejad are struggling at the same time, it puts lots of pressure on the players around them to step up their games.
This troubling development or lack thereof, could lead to a point where the Rangers won't see the post-season.
The team can't continue to rely upon Shesterkin to save them, and the game against the Sabres proved it.
If the Rangers have to depend upon the bottom six to keep the offense up and running, it's not a winning proposition.
GM Chris Drury deserves the blame, as much as the players he's put together. It just isn't working like the well-oiled machine should be.
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