Rangers Analysis: Grading the Blueshirts thus far (Update)
by Joe Fortunato on Dec 3, 2009 7:00 AM EST
in Rangers Analysis
28 comments
Since we are literally one-third through this season it's about time to grade the Rangers. Here is a list of every player, coach, and general manager of the team; their grade and the reason why (in no particular order):
Marian Gaborik : There isn’t too much more the guy can do aside from pad up and step between the pipes. His 21 goals lead the league and his 37 points are tops among all NHL players (he has only played in 25 games mind you). He is doing everything the Rangers expected him to when they gave him the 7.5 million dollar contract in July. Grade: A+
Vaclav Prospal: When you think about offense on the Rangers two names come to mind and one of them is Prospal’s. His play with Gaborik has been outstanding and his effort on both sides of the puck is commendable. Prospal has also shown up as a leader on this team which is huge since the Rangers have very little leadershipOne of the few bright spots on this suddenly average team I have no problem rewarding Prospal’s play with a good grade. Grade: A.
Brandon Dubinsky: In the time that we got to see him thus far (18 games) he notched 3 goals and 10 points, and really solidified the top line. His penalty killing was fantastic and currently the Rangers are really hurting without his face-off prowess. On my radio show last night Steve Zipay said he should be back in 10-14 games (you can download the podcast here) and the Rangers couldn’t be any happier. Grade: B to B+.
Ryan Callahan: While I am a huge fan of Callahan and he is a huge fan favorite there is no arguing that he is having tons of problems with his game. Thus far through 27 games he has 4 goals and 4 assists and has simply not looked anything like the Ryan Callahan of last year. While he is giving every shift his all and he is leaving his heart on the ice his play is hurting this team. While normally I would give him a pass because of his hear filled play I can’t, he was expected to be an offensive force this year and currently he simply isn’t. Grade: C.
Chris Higgins: Many people (myself included) expected Chris Higgins to be an offensive force this year. Yet again the Ranger faithful found themselves disappointed as Higgins is also having an off year. With just 2 goals and 5 assists in 26 games it seems as though he is playing horrible hockey. He’s not, he is just as snake bitten as I have ever seen a player in my life. Regardless his lack of goals is hurting this team but unlike Callahan he is at least generating scoring chances. Grade: C+.
Join me after the jump.
Ales Kotalik: In the beginning of the year Kotaliklooked like the steal of free agency, now that he has foundlevel ground Ranger fans are pretty sick of him. While his shot from the point is unbelievable and his shootout prowess is invaluable his five on five play is atrocious. He is also a minus 12 on the year and can’t seem to click with any of the line-mates he is paired with; still he makes the power play lethal and without the power play (even if it is bad right now) the Rangers would be much worse than they are now. Grade: C+.
Michael Del Zotto: Michael Del Zotto hit Broadway like a bang and quickly became the Rangers hottest defenseman. Currently he has 5 goals and 12 assist for 17 points and is a monster on the power play. While his numbers have slowed down a little of late he may actually be the hardest hitting D man on the team. Also his defensive game has come along quite nicely. He is another one of those few bright spots on this team; plus he is only 19. Grade: A.
Marc Staal: Usually the backbone of the Rangers defense this is the first year where Staalseems to be finding level ground. He is suddenly making mistakes he never made before, giving the puck away in the defensive zone and losing his control of the neutral zone. While there have been some blemishes he has still been reliable at the back. Grade: B.
Sean Avery: In the beginning of the year he wasn’t playing his normal brand of hockey but currently he is back on track. When he is on he is one of the most effective players in the league. Grade: B to B+.
Dan Girardi: Had an awful start to the year but has shored up his defensive game considerably. While his offensive game isn’t where we want it to be he is playing better. Grade: B-.
Wade Redden: While he will never live up to his contract he has really played very well defensively compared to last year. He is a solid second pairing defensemen who has played pretty well of late. Grade: C+.
Michael Rozsival: I have nothing to say. Grade: F.
Matt Gilroy: Coming straight from the NCAA I was not sure how effective he would be but he is actually playing quite well and has adapted to the NHL game quite nicely. His offensive game is finally starting to catch on and his defense is coming along nicely as well. He has flashes of brilliance and hopefully we will see more of it soon. Grade: B.
Donald Brashear: While I didn’t expect him to be the next coming of Wayne Gretzky I did expect him to be more effective. He is losing pretty much every fight he gets into and when he does fight it is often at inopportune moments that don’t change the momentum of the game. Grade: D.
Aaron Voros: He goes through stretches where he plays really well and then stretches where he is invisible. His fighting has improved though. Grade: C.
P.A Parentenau: Is a monster in the shootout and has been good five on five. Has earned a spot on this team in my opinion and has been solid of late. Grade: B.
Artem Anisimov: Hard to get a good read on him since he sees so little top line (1st or 2nd) time. I like what I see thus far though. Grade: B.
Brian Boyle: I expected more scoring out of him and currently he is doing little more than taking the body occasionally. He always talks about how he needs to score / more but he only has 2 goals. Grade C-.
Chris Drury: I honestly don’t know what to say. He is not playing good hockey right now, and seems like he will never break free. Like Jim said "if Drury is not winning face-offs he brings nothing to the table." Let’s just say he isn’t winning face-offs. Grade: D.
Henrik Lundqvist: Lundqvist has not been the Lundqvist of old and maybe he is taking more time to adjust to the Tortorella system than originally thought. He is still an all-world goaltender and although he has let in more soft goals than usual his play has still kept the Rangers in a lot of games. Can’t go too low on him. Grade: B to B+.
Glen Sather: Can’t blame him for Higgins, Drury and Callahan not scoring. The moves for Gaborik, Gilroy and Prospal were nothing short of brilliant. Still he needs to make some moves to fix this team and he hasn’t. Grade: B.
John Tortorella: In my opinion is trying to force feed this system to some players and has not been the fiery coach we expected. I also have a sneaking suspicion that this team is starting to tune him out. I do like him as a coach though so here is to him turning it around and for him to stop being stubborn. Grade: C.
Update: How did I forget Enver Lisin and Stephen Valiquette?
Enver Lisin: Personally I am a pretty big fan of Lisin. Regardless of whether you like him or not you can't deny that he is a huge upgrade over Lauri Korpikoski. Still he hasn't been great offensivley and I think the injury has hurt him more than we thought originally. Grade: B- to B.
Stephen Valiquette: Again I am unsure what to say here. We all epected alot out of him but his skill simply wasn't there this year. He looked out of place most games and gave up more soft goals than I can count. Find your game again Vally hope we see you soon. Grade: D.
Mike Sullivan: As far as I know he is responsible for the penalty kill which is close to tops in the league. Grade: B+.
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Torts D to D-
You are too kind JOe
-He put in his back up goaltender (who is really not very good to begin with) against two of the top teams in the leauge. San Jose first changed the entire direction of the season, and pitts brought us to new lows. That is horrible horrible leadership and decision making. He almost set his team up to fail by those actions alone.
-Its pretty obvious why gabby is doing so well compared to the others. Honestly him and brash (of all freakin players and avery as of late) are the only ones who are always in or getting in position for rebounds and “crash the net.” Gabby will stand 5 inches in front of their goalie. The others look so soft like they just are afraid to get anywhere near the net. Is anyone even screening the goalie anymore? At least Voros used to do that. If Torts can’t see this rebound problem alone, then honestly he needs to be replaced. Our players are also throwing the puck at the net way too early without checking to see if anyone is there and no one usually is. It immediately creates turnovers which is why we are fighting back for possession so often.
-He took a decent team that now has better players to work with and either made or allowed it to get a lot worse. There is not much more to say than that.
What about Lisin & Vally?
Don’t see Lisin or Vally listed, I think they warrants a grade no? I also think you were a tad generous with the grading except for Gabby and Prosp, this is currently a mediocre team at best right so I find it hard that we only have 1 F and 2 D’s for grades, way too many B’s and B+’s I feel that should be C’s and those C’s should scale down to D’s. Lets not kid ourselves, this team is just not playing right now and deserves lower marks. Just my 2 cents! Anyone agree??
by Lone Ranger in Florida on Dec 3, 2009 8:12 AM EST reply actions
My Take
I’ll just list the ones I disagree with:
Dubinsky – I (Incomplete)
Callahan – D, other than hustle, he hasn’t given the team anything.
Staal – C. First couple games he was an A on a D full of Ds but he’s been declining, which isn’t good.
Girardi – C+. Trending up but was close to an F early.
Redden – C-. Steady, average. Screams of C. Except he makes critical mistakes that lead to minuses, so he gets one tacked on.
Rozsival – Q. Really, F isn’t far enough down the alphabet.
Anisimov – A-. Producing points almost at the rate of Prospal, but doesn’t get the ice time to have the same totals. He’s going to be a good one.
Lundqvist – C. He’s not been great this year. The D lets him down yes but he has not been sharp.
Sather – I. He’s not done yet.
Tortorella – C-. Seems lost, but he did get us 8 games of quality play so I can’t fail him.
Lisin – B-. Good player, same ice time issues as AA, lost defensively but it hasn’t hurt the team, which says something. I don’t know what, but it says something.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
Well
Callahan is still killing penalties and hitting people which is good. It’s also hard to give him a D when he is one of the few players who gives a damn every night.
Staal and Girardi: Have been playing MUCH better so I was nice
Anisimov: While he would get an A if he played more minutes (which you can’t fault him for) we have yet to see how he would respond to top line minutes every game.
Blueshirt Banter: Covering the New York Rangers the only NHL team with three home arenas.
by Joe Fortunato on Dec 3, 2009 10:55 AM EST up reply actions
Cally
8.18 ga per 60 minutes of PK.
Drury 4.67, Higgins 5.52, Dubinsky 5.72, Gaborik 7.49.
I don’t like giving him a D, but honest assessment is his hustle is the only part of his game that’s been there all season. If he didn’t hustle or had a big contract, we’d be destroying him. Sort of like Drury.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Dec 3, 2009 11:15 AM EST up reply actions
I certainly can agree with most. At first thought I would almost give Rozsival a F+ for the goal against the Penguins, but no. Way too much F play for that to change anything.
Lundqvist isn’t at B+ level at all, but you are right about still being world class. He hasn’t gotten used to the defensive breakdowns just yet.
Lisin gets knocked a lot (especially by Tortorella it seems) but he’s a kid that can still do more than Korpikoski, so I have no qualms with him.
I must say I hang on to people after years, so sad to see Valiquette moved. When the defense got bad this year, he instead got worse with them and that cost him his job, at least for the moment. Solid for a long time, but that’s the business – get it done now because nothing else matters.
"Malik now." "6 foot 6, 238, not a noted goal scorer but he's gonna give it a shot here." "Malik has not scored this year. In on Kolzig, faked it....SCORES"
Apparently Joe waived Valiquette and Lisin, LOL
I’ll give Lisin a C+. He would have gotten a C, but he gets props for playing with a busted foot.
Valley gets a D, and its only that high because of the early season shutout against the Ducks.
Blueshirt Banter: Covering the New York Rangers
Big Blue View: Unofficial New York Giants blog
by Jim Schmiedeberg on Dec 3, 2009 9:34 AM EST reply actions
How about grading groups?
Defense: Overall grade: D
Pairs: Redden/Gilroy – C
Staal/Girardi – C+
Rozsival/DelZotto – C or C-
The defense, as a whole, is the “Achilles Heel” of this team. Say all you want about the lack of secondary scoring – the fact that opposing players feel completely comfortable taking liberties with the goalies, the fact that opposing forwards clear our D from in front of our net, the fact that positional play – overall – has been horrendous, the fact that they’re a porous and “soft” group – remains the single largest obstacle to any on-going success. The only true “bright spot” amongst this group was MDZ’s early success on the power play, which has since cooled considerably given that opposing teams now know how to counteract him.
Forwards – this is next to impossible to do by “line” – since there are no lines.
So – how about – Top “Line” – Prospal/Gaborik + whomever gets tossed there = A
Second and Third “Lines” = C – No scoring of consequence, plus occasional lapses in backchecking, and an often “disinterested” look.
Fourth “Line” – which is really “the afterthought group” – play so little they aren’t worth rating as a group.
Power Play – Started hot and has cooled since Kotalik’s in Chateau BowWow, teams have figured out that MDZ’s going to pass 95% of the time. Overall a B+, which is better than expected
Penalty Kill – similar – started hot and has cooled off, miss Dubinsky and for a while, Drury Overall, again a solid B or B+
Awww…remember the summer, when we talked about a dream trade of Drury for Marleau? Those were the days! I’m just joking because Im sure Captain Clutch is due to break out any day now! He’s the 15th highest paid player in the league for a reason!
Glen Sather is a Hockey Genius.
http://glensathersucks.com/
http://twitter.com/ThGeneralissimo
Steve Sullivan?
Did I black out and miss something?
More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.
At first I thought, “is there another Steve Sullivan, perhaps?” but then I followed the link, and sure, that’s our Sully.
No, you can’t have him, even if he can work the PK.
More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.
I'll give you Drury
come on thats a good price I promise
Blueshirt Banter: Covering the New York Rangers the only NHL team with three home arenas.
by Joe Fortunato on Dec 3, 2009 10:50 AM EST up reply actions
Only if you take Erat, too
More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.
Sullivan and Erat for Drury?
Where do I sign up?
"It ain't over till its over"---
by FreeBradshaw on Dec 3, 2009 11:31 AM EST up reply actions
Yes you did
I just fixed it. I was wondering why it got tagged in the players section lol
Blueshirt Banter: Covering the New York Rangers the only NHL team with three home arenas.
by Joe Fortunato on Dec 3, 2009 10:48 AM EST up reply actions
I myself have been a big Drury supporter but outside of good PK from him …. it gets harder to swallow my hard earned money paying his salary. Then again, I just start drinking if I think of how much I’ve paid into rosi’s salary …
by NYR9320 on Dec 3, 2009 12:07 PM EST via mobile reply actions
It must be the holidays...
Joe you are pretty damn generous on these rankings.
Gabby is obviously an A+.
I wouldn’t give Prospal an A either. He’s been a revelation….but he plays with Gaborik, so his assist total has to be high, and it is.
I don;t know how anyone gets higher than a C+, especially Avery. He’s been better lately…but he was a pile of crap for most of November.
"It ain't over till its over"---
I’d give Gilroy and A. MDZ gets one, so does Gilroy in my opinion.
"Jaromir Jagr.... it's a POWER PLAY GOAL!"
- Sam Rosen
I gotta agree with that assessment. I think Del Zotto is quicker on picking up the offense while Gilroy has been quicker picking up the defense. He definitely deserves an A. When they both master the other side of the game they will be really solid two way D-men.
Rule #1. Cardio. Rule #2 Double Tap.
I really hope they don’t package gilroy or del zotto in a trade this season … especially del zotto … he is gonna be a star in a few years
by NYR9320 on Dec 3, 2009 1:34 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Del Zotto isn't going anywhere
The Rangers wouldnt move him for Heatley, they aren’t moving him for anyone else
Blueshirt Banter: Covering the New York Rangers the only NHL team with three home arenas.
by Joe Fortunato on Dec 3, 2009 3:00 PM EST up reply actions
I wish i had you in college
these grades are ludicrously high!
Gaborik, Prospal, the Gomez trade
alone would give him an A+++
Brashear takes that down to a B (I hated that move….still do…2ys $2million per for this clown…), Kotalik is a wash cuz he’s good on the PP (which they needed ) but is bad everywhere else (which they didn’t).
For what he’s made the team into this season, you gotta give him credit. Gotta also credit him (and the scouts of course) for MDZ, Gilroy, AA, Paranteau…w/o those 4 rooks, the Rangers are even in more dog crap.
The moves in the past, and you know who they all are….Sather gets a C (for the .500 of course) for constructing the team as a whole.
But the moves that were made for the new additions this season, really aside from the lice-induced head scratcher Brashear….have been excellent.
"It ain't over till its over"---
Great ing system
In all Honesty I have been only watching a few games and am in total dismay at the lack luster appearence of Turtles system or scheme. no continuity among the line changes.
no crisp passing except on the power (less) plays. A team lacking emotion in areas needing spark, and appearences of careless puck possesion in their own end.
The bad news is that they are steeped in talent, skill and emotional leaders.
In all reality they should be trading places with The Pens in first place.
I am aware of key player injuries, no excuse, they are steeped with talent from the net out.
Their coach needs to find a way of freeing them up from this team of disfunctional
living. It is all there , all the pieces just a coaching adjustment and some self belief and they will turn it all back to where they should believe they belong at the top of their game and the division if not the confrence. I Believe The New York Rangers ALL OF THEM , as a TEAM can OVER COME and Come over to the Top of This Season.
You All Have The answer, now you have to ask yourself the right question, can I be great, and Great for the team. Good Luck and God Bless. a safe and happy holiday season to all of you.
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Atlantic Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Jersey
|
82 | 48 | 27 | 7 | 103 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
82 | 47 | 28 | 7 | 101 |
|
Philadelphia
|
82 | 41 | 35 | 6 | 88 |
|
New York Rangers
|
82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 87 |
|
New York Islanders
|
82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 79 |
(updated 4.12.2010 at 9:21 AM EDT)
Rangers Schedule
Next 5 Games
|
New Jersey
|
Thu 09/23 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
@
New Jersey
|
Sat 09/25 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
@
Detroit
|
Sun 09/26 | 5:00 PM EDT |
|
Detroit
|
Wed 09/29 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
Ottawa
|
Fri 10/01 | 7:00 PM EDT |
Last 5 Games
|
@
Philadelphia
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Sun 04/11 | SO - L 1 - 2 |
|
Philadelphia
|
Fri 04/09 | W 4 - 3 |
|
Toronto
|
Wed 04/07 | W 5 - 1 |
|
@
Buffalo
|
Tue 04/06 | L 2 - 5 |
|
@
Florida
|
Sat 04/03 | W 4 - 1 |
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