Category Archives: In the Crease
The Problem with the Process
John Dundon
Photo courtesy of Bruce Bennett/Getty Images.
The Blueshirts started out the year strong but wound up limping past the half way mark of the season sporting a modest 26-16-5 record. One cannot but help wonder what the main underlying cause is for the team’s decline in play could possibly be. Not because they are hard-pressed to find issues, which have been plentiful and even overwhelming thus far through the 2015-2016 campaign.
It’s surprising though given the fact that right around this time last season, the Rangers took off. They dominated the league, even in the wake of losing Henrik Lundqvist for an extended period due to a freakish neck injury. Cam Talbot had replaced and even duplicated the edge that Lundqvist gave the Rangers night in and out. The Rangers finished the season on a tear and made a trip to game 7 of the conference final, where injuries eventually caught up to them in a humbling 2-0 loss on home ice. While the decline may be a surprise to some it didn’t sneak up on people who have looked at and made a point of the organizations failures, especially dating back to the offseason after that heartbreaking 4-1 Stanley Cup Final defeat. Read the rest of this entry
Vigneault finally used Yandle properly, and the Rangers were a better team because of it
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
When the Rangers fell apart against the Capitals on Sunday, a lot went wrong. The defensive coverage was bad, there were guys open in front of the net, the penalty kill was poor, and there were turnovers. I could go on and on. Needless to say, it was a bad performance from a Rangers team that had been playing much better, even in their losses.
Heading into yesterday’s game, I expected the Rangers to win against a pretty bad Vancouver team that was missing their best player (Henrik Sedin) and because they’ve been alternating wins and losses for a few weeks now. And although they ran into a red-hot Ryan Miller, who stood on his head all night long, they managed to get a win.
If you just looked at the box core, you wouldn’t realize that this was total and utter domination by the Rangers. At even strength, the Rangers led in shot attempts by a massive margin, finishing as a +35 on the night (70-35). They had 36 scoring chances and 17 high danger scoring chances. And they had 49 shots on goal, which isn’t including the six times that they hit the post in the game. If it wasn’t for Ryan Miller, and if they had a bit more luck, this could have easily been a 5+ goal night for New York. Read the rest of this entry
Keith Yandle trade rumor update and how Vigneault is wasting his talent
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
For the past few weeks, trade rumors surrounding Keith Yandle have been flying around. He’s a UFA after this season, the Rangers don’t have much maneuverability under the salary cap, and Marc Staal and Dan Girardi are above him on the depth chart.
When the Rangers shipped Anthony Duclair, John Moore and some draft picks for Yandle, they got one of the best puck-moving defensemen in the NHL, a power play specialist, and a 50 point scorer. It gave Vigneault and the Rangers their best offensive-defenseman since Brian Leetch.
But flash forward to this season. Keith Yandle is a third pair defenseman. He averages 19:05 of ice time per game but plays under 17 minutes at even strength. He’s on the second power play unit and hasn’t been utilized with the best teammates. Read the rest of this entry
Should the Rangers explore trading options with Chris Kreider?
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
It seems like many people had predicted that Kreider would break out and become a consistent 20 goal scorer, maybe even hitting the 30 goal mark, including myself. Head coach Alain Vigneault had high expectations for Kreider before the season started.
But he hasn’t lived up to expectations. While the offense has been very good this year, scoring 2.93 goals per game, Kreider is one of the forwards that hasn’t been a big part of the scoring. Despite playing on the second or first line for almost every game, he has just six goals in 39 games. He’s scored just two goals in the last 14 games, and three in the last 22 games. Read the rest of this entry
Tanner Glass changing his playstyle to become a more valuable fourth liner
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
Last year, I would have given anything to get Tanner Glass out of the Rangers lineup. For almost the entire year, he was ineffective, contributed little to the game and was more of a detriment than anything.
Today, I would actually advocate for him staying in the lineup as an everyday player.
Currently, it seems like the fans opinion on Tanner Glass is mixed. Some people really appreciate his grit and toughness in the lineup. Other people believe that he still isn’t contributing much to the lineup and would be better off in the press box. Read the rest of this entry
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