Blueshirts Still a Work in Progress

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

The young NHL season has already seen a number of great stories emerge for the Rangers, most notably the team’s improved defensive play. Following a six-game winning streak during which they scored 21 goals, the Rangers were dealt a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of the hapless Washington Capitals on Saturday, setting up another storyline: overcoming adversity.


Previous Rangers’ lineups would have fallen into an extended slump, but this year’s version of the Blueshirts is cut from a different cloth, and came out strong in the first period of their game against the Minnesota Wild last night at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers jumped out to a 1-0 lead when rookie Petr Prucha buried the puck past Wild goaltender Dwayne Roloson four minutes into the game. They kept up the offensive pressure, but failed to score again in the period. The Rangers did give up a couple of odd-man rushes to the Wild, but goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was up to the task on both occasions.


The score remained 1-0 Rangers until the end of the second period, when an impressive end-to-end rush by defenseman Brent Burns helped the Wild gain the offensive zone. Lundqvist stopped Burns, and then Alexandre Daigle, before Pascal Dupuis finally put the puck past the sprawled-out rookie goalie to tie the game.


Midway through the third period, a seemingly textbook defensive play by Rangers defenseman Michal Roszival neutralized Marian Gaborik, as he first chipped the puck away from the Wild’s star forward and then took him down to the ice. Alas, the official’s arm went up and Roszival headed to the box for an undeserved penalty. Once again demonstrating their new-found character, the Rangers killed off the penalty with renewed vigor.


A few minutes later, Tom Renney’s club capitalized on a power play opportunity of their own. The triumvirate of Prucha, Martin Straka, and Martin Rucinsky battled in front of the net, and Prucha flipped the puck over Roloson to take a 2-1 third period lead. A couple of good scoring opportunities in the final minutes were turned away by a very impressive Lundqvist, who rebounded quite nicely from Saturday night’s debacle in Washington. In total, he stopped 22 of 23 shots for the victory.


Straka was particularly impressive last night, demonstrating a surprising willingness to engage the Wild defensemen in front of Roloson. Though he measures just 5-foot-9 and weighs only 178 points, Straka played the game of a power forward against the Wild last night, and the results were uncontestably positive.


The one disturbing constant that remains for the Rangers, however, is the general difficulty they’ve had putting the puck in the net – and putting opponents away. Five of the Rangers’ six wins during their streak came by way of a one-goal differential. With the bulk of their scoring coming from the top line of Jaromir Jagr, Straka, and Michael Nylander, it was of little surprise that the Blueshirts would look to ramp up their offense against Jacques Lemaire’s defense-first Wild team.


They fired 39 shots on Roloson, but the Wild goalie was more workmanlike than spectacular in keeping the Wild in the game – the Blueshirts generated surprisingly few high-quality scoring chances. It wasn’t until Straka fired the Rangers’ 40th shot into an unoccupied Wild goal with 19.8 seconds remaining that their victory was ensured.


To be certain, there are many good reasons to be excited about these Rangers, not the least of which is the simple fact that the team is on track for a playoff spot more than a quarter of the way through the season for the first time since 2001-02, when Eric Lindros’s “FLY” line carried the team to first place in the Eastern Conference at the end of December.


But when a concussion to Lindros derailed the first line, the rest of the team was unable to maintain the torrid pace. By season’s end, the Rangers were out of the playoffs, and the season is now but a footnote in the organization’s ongoing playoff-less streak that extends back to 1996-97.


While it would be easy to get excited about the team’s playoff prospects – and perhaps go shopping to add a talented veteran or two to the lineup – it would not be a wise decision to do so. The Blueshirts are undoubtedly on the right track, from a player development perspective, for the first time in well over a decade. And it would be a terrible shame if GM Glen Sather were to veer away from what is undoubtedly the correct course of action.


With Swedish sensation Henrik Lundqvist delivering an admirable rookie season performance between the pipes – and Cuban-American heartthrob Alvaro Montoya expected to join him next season – the team’s goaltending is in very capable hands.


The Blueshirts’ defense is also well stocked, with Fedor Tyutin and Maxim Kondratiev already playing key roles and prospects Ivan Baranka and Marc Staal expected to join them on the blue line within the next two seasons.


However, the problems the Rangers have had scoring goals are unlikely to go away anytime soon. The team doesn’t have a single A-list forward prospect in the lower levels, and if the NHL continues on its current offense-first path, the team will need to significantly upgrade its organizational depth up front. Rather than trading away well-regarded prospects for aging veterans, Sather should be looking to snatch up prospects other teams have lost patience with. The old adage “buy low, sell high” applies to hockey talent as with anything else, and Sather has missed the boat on some key opportunities.


Three talented young forwards have been available for the taking this season, and despite the Rangers’ lack of offensive firepower, Sather hasn’t really gotten involved. When the Ducks waived power forward Mike Leclerc, it took just a fourth-round pick for the Coyotes to land the player who is now one of their leading scorers. When the Edmonton Oilers decided to deal Brad Isbister, the Bruins acquired him for a fourth-round pick.


And when the Florida Panthers decided they couldn’t go another day with Kristian Huselius in their lineup, the Calgary Flames traded Steve Montador and minor league center Dustin Johner to Florida. Huselius promptly tallied three assists in his first game with the Flames; the talented Swede might have been just what the doctor ordered alongside Michael Nylander, creating a dynamic second line to take pressure off a first line of Jagr, Straka, and Martin Rucinsky, whose back from injury.


Put simply, the Rangers should not consider dealing for any players over the age of 30. They should not trade away any of their well-regarded prospects. But they should look to deal players like Dale Purinton (Montador’s equal) when inexpensive young talent like Huselius comes available.


It’s clear that the current team cannot realistically be considered a Stanley Cup contender, and it’s crucial that Sather stay the course. If he jumps at the opportunity to deal away some young talent for a quick-fix solution or a hasty playoff run, it might pay immediate dividends – it could guarantee a playoff spot and, perhaps, even a first round victory. But more important, such a maneuver would set the organization’s rebuilding efforts back, and that’s something the Blueshirts cannot do under any circumstances.



Mr. Greenstein is the editor-in-chief of InsideHockey.com.


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