Renney Carves a Role for Staal With an Eye on Future

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

Heading into this season, expectations were at an all-time high for the Rangers, and for good reason. The additions of Scott Gomez and Chris Drury represented a huge upgrade. With Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan, goal scoring appeared to be of no concern whatsoever for the star-studded Blueshirts. And with Henrik Lundqvist — a Vezina Trophy finalist in each of his first two seasons — between the pipes, the Rangers looked every bit the part of a surefire Cup contender … with the possible exception of their defense. In the latest edition of the Hockey News, the venerable Canadian publication ranked all 30 NHL teams’ defense corps, placing the Rangers at a startlingly bad no. 22. Identifying the Blueshirts’ blueliners as the team’s “Achilles heel,” the publication’s focus was on the Rangers’ lack of elite-level puck-moving defensemen. Indeed, there isn’t a Nicklas Lidstrom or Chris Pronger playing 30 minutes of All-Star hockey every night, as Brian Leetch did here for so many years. But when looking at this Rangers team, it becomes clear that their defense is far better than it seems.

Including last night’s 3–2 loss to the Islanders, the Blueshirts have surrendered only 25 goals through their first 15 games, for a scintillating 1.67 goals-against average. While Lundqvist has been sensational, the team’s success goes far beyond the play of their star netminder. The Blueshirts have averaged 33.3 shots per game, fourth-best in the league, while the 26.9 shots they’ve allowed is tied for sixth-best. Both stats are, without question, a reflection of the fine play of their underappreciated blue line corps.

Michal Rozsival, overshadowed during his time on Broadway, has emerged as a solid two-way rearguard. His play in the defensive zone, if unspectacular, can be counted on, and on the power play, he’s proven more than capable of holding his own with the likes of Jagr and Shanahan. His regular partner, Marek Malik (currently out with bruised ribs), is maligned for his failure to resemble erstwhile Rangers favorite Jeff Beukeboom rather than lauded for his ability to help keep the puck out of his team’s goal. Dating back to the 2002–03 season, Malik has posted a ludicrous plus-118 rating, comparing surprisingly favorably to the likes of Lidstrom (plus-131 and plus-25) over that same time period.

The pairing of young rearguards Daniel Girardi and Fedor Tyutin has also worked, as both players are continuing their tremendous progress together from last season. Tyutin’s play has improved dramatically, and he has turned out to be a steal from a 2001 draft that was a lot more miss than hit. Also, veterans Jason Strudwick and Paul Mara have performed admirably, as Mara extricates himself from head coach Tom Renney’s doghouse with more conservative play.

The crown jewel of the Rangers’ blue line, however, is rookie Marc Staal. Selected 12th overall in the 2005 draft, Staal looked overmatched during the ensuing preseason, clearly in need of more seasoning with the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League. And again in 2006, it was clear that Staal wasn’t quite ready to take a regular shift on the Rangers’ blue line.

But this season, Staal has proved to be more than up to the challenge, and is demonstrating the potential to be the Rangers’ finest rearguard since they dealt Brian Leetch away at the 2004 trade deadline. Staal is a skilled puckhandler and skater, and he is also willing to physically engage himself. On Monday night against the Flyers, Philadelphia power forward Scottie Upshall came in hard on Staal. To his great surprise, Upshall got the worst of the collision, bouncing off Staal and falling in a heap behind the Rangers’ goal.

Perhaps the best thing about Staal’s successful integration into the Rangers’ lineup so far is that he has been set up to succeed. Surrounded by stars, expectations for Staal haven’t been unreasonable. He’s been able to cut his teeth while playing about 14 minutes per night. When Malik went down with his rib injury, it paved the way for Staal to take on additional responsibilities, and the results have been positive.

Over the course of the previous five games, the Rangers surrendered only five goals. That they accomplished this despite the absence of Malik (for the past three games) is certainly a testament to the play of Staal, who appeared completely unfazed by a workload increase of nearly 50%. Playing alongside Rozsival, Staal fit right in, playing around 20 minutes each night in Malik’s place. Indeed, there was Staal helping to kill off a penalty in the final minute of last night’s game, Renney unafraid to use him in even the game’s most critical moments.

There is little question as to whether Staal’s upside exceeds that of the other six blueliners mentioned here. But rushing him too quickly could have disastrous consequences. It seems that the Rangers are taking exactly the right approach, increasing his responsibilities gradually and setting things up so that when he does need to do more — as in the case of Malik’s injury — he’s well prepared to handle it.

Staal’s integration into the lineup is reminiscent of Lundqvist’s. Assuming things continue on this path, it’s likely to yield a similarly positive result. Back during the opening months of the 2005–06 season, it became abundantly clear that Lundqvist was superior to the assumed starter, Kevin Weekes. But Renney didn’t name Lundqvist the starter until well over two months had passed, despite the constant clamoring of the Garden faithful, and the effect was quite positive.

Handing the starter’s role to Lundqvist too early would have likely placed far too much pressure on the young netminder during his first months in North America, and giving him a reasonable amount of time to acclimate likely played a huge role in his tremendous success. By doing the same with Staal, Renney is clearly drawing from his prior experience as the team’s vice president of player development.

In keeping a keen eye toward the team’s future as well as its present, Renney is proving that his importance to the Rangers’ success goes far beyond his ability to line up X’s and O’s. Calling for Renney’s head may have seemed sensible when his team got off to a shaky start. But it’s as clear as it’s ever been that he is the right man for this difficult job, if for no other reason than that he’s qualified to refine Staal into a priceless gem on the Rangers’ blue line.

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


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