More Rangers Musings

Seriously, however, the Rangers remind me of my Penguins teams back in the mid to late nineties. (Jagr and Martin Straka were on the team at various points.) Those Penguins teams—by virtue of Jagr’s presence and of a few other gifted offensive players—managed to produce offensively. Defense, however, was—er—how to put this—not exactly a priority. There were days when the Penguins routinely gave up more shots than they took.

In any case, the Rangers’ rookie sensation in goal doesn’t look as though he is about to suffer the ill effects of a sophomore slump anytime soon. But the Rangers are surely not going to help Henrik the Great remain great if they make it a habit to give up 30, 35, and 40 shots an evening. When Jagr and Shanahan are producing, fine, wonderful, the Rangers have two lines that can score, perhaps even score at will. Nevertheless, at some point, team defense is going to have to kick in for the team to make real progress.

Granted, my best Penguins teams often treated defense as an afterthought during the regular season and managed to execute a defensive game plan come playoff time. But the NHL now is different than the NHL was ten to fifteen years ago, and 90 points are required to make the playoffs. This isn’t to say the Rangers will not make the playoffs if they don’t tighten up defensively, it’s just to say—there’s room for improvement given the amount of shots the Rangers are giving up habitually.

To summarize (as if my suggestions carry weight anyhow): Let the offensive stars do their thing, but also make sure the whole team knows how important team-wide defensive play is.

Still, the best thing about the Rangers, at least two games into this season? Just like my Penguins of old—they’re a fun team to watch. No matter how many shots they give up.