Rangers Analysis: 5 issues the Rangers face heading into training camp
by Jim Schmiedeberg on Sep 8, 2009 7:00 AM EDT
in New York Rangers Analysis
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With Head Coach John Tortorella conducting his first camp with the team, and a slew of new players, the Rangers head into training camp with many questions to be answered. As we count down the final days to the unofficial start of the 2009-10 season, let's take a look at some of the issues facing the Blueshirts heading into camp:
The Power Play
Obviously the Rangers biggest weakness last season, without improvement with the man advantage the overall results won't be much better than last season. The coaching staff will try many different combinations in camp, including putting a forward (Ales Kotalik has been mentioned) at the point. With the additions of Kotalik, Chris Higgins, Vinny Prospal, and of course Marian Gaborik, there will be no excuse for an unimproved power play.
The Penalty Kill
Two of last season's best penalty killers, Blair Betts and Freddie Sjostrom, are gone, leaving the Rangers league leading penalty kill unit in search of some new recruits. Betts logged more penalty kill minutes than anyone else on the roster (over 241 minutes); it is going to be a challenge to figure out who can play those minutes successfully. With Dubinsky, Callahan, and Drury still on the roster, that will help alleviate some of the burden, but there is still going to be a lot of time to be made up, someone will have to step into the position.
Conditioning
Tortorella made no secret of the fact he was repeatedly disappointed in the conditioning of his team late in games. The Rangers gave up 81 3rd period goals, not the worst in the league, but it was far more than they gave up in either of the first two. Expect the Rangers to be worked hard for the next three weeks as Torts whips them into game shape. The Rangers are going to have to play 60 hard minutes every night to succeed in his up-tempo style of play, and you can be sure he will do everything possible to make sure they are up to the task. We'll have more on what a Tortorella training camp is like later in the week.
Chemistry
Marian, Chris, Chris, Marian. Ales, Vinny, Vinny, Ales. Donald, Enver, Enver, Donald. There are enough new faces on the Rangers to fill a short bus, and it will take time for everyone to get familiar. Figuring out who the square pegs and round holes are won't happen in a day. Don't be surprised if the Rangers start slowly for this reason. I'm a little surprised the Rangers didn't schedule some kind of "team-building" exercise, like the West Point trips they've taken in the past, just so the new faces can get to know each other.
Youngsters
Anisimov, Grachev, Del Zotto, Sanguinetti. We've all been waiting to see these kids get a chance to show what they can do, and Coach Tortorella says he is going to give it to them. Only Anisimov can be considered anything close to a lock to make the Opening Day roster, the rest, especially Grachev, are really going to have to open eyes at camp to show they are ready for the NHL level.
With all the questions surrounding the team, this promises to be one of the most exciting and interesting camps the Rangers have had in years.
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The PP and PK units are completely overhauled and that will come down to execution, I believe they have the players to make both top 10 units. I mean, Betts still isn’t signed, so no matter how valuable he was to us it’s sort of interesting that the top PK player on the top PK unit can’t find a home. Maybe it wasn’t just Betts? I think Higgins will fill Betts’ shoes (except for faceoffs, that will be on Dubi), and I think the 4th line RW spot being so up for grabs right now, you will have someone jump in there who will show the grit and hustle that we got from Sjostrom.
For the PP, we have guys that are not afraid to pull the trigger, which was an issue last year. The additions of Gaborik and Kotalik alone should add a percentage point or 2 to the unit. I’m optimistic that our special teams will be fine.
Conditioning is a concern though. You are adding a lot of new parts to a system that is very demanding, and I think you might see some issues with productivity and gasp injuries later in the season. This is one area where the Olympic break might help some guys, but obviously will be very taxing and those who are playing for their national teams.
Chemistry will be an issue early but as we saw with his 28 game trial last year, Tortorella isn’t afraid to shake up lines so as long as he doesn’t overdo it, he should find line connections that work fairly quickly.
Youth will be served in the form of the established young guys like Callahan, Staal and Dubinsky, integrating in Gilroy, Anisimov and the 6th defenseman to be named later. This will establish a nice corps to help integrate the big guns next year (Grachev, MDZ and Sanguinetti), and then follow that with McDonagh and Stepan. That’s a pretty sick future to be staring at if you’re a Rangers fan, esp when it doesn’t even account for all of their prospects.
Stay tuned
I have a story all about Tortorella training camps tomorrow, I think you will like it, and be surprised.
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Sep 8, 2009 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions
Good post Jim!
Conditioning – all reports have shown that the majority, if not all, of the players “got the message” about being in shape. Aaron Voros apparently spent the entire summer at the MSG Training Facility. Guys like Gilroy and Higgins worked out on the Island. 30 players showed up at the training facility over the past 2 weeks to work out informally, and at least some of them were doing ‘bag skates’ to get ready. I don’t think conditioning’s going to be that big of an issue – Tortorella’s message was heard loud and clear.
Penalty Kill – without posting a thesis, I think this is an overrated fear on the part of a lot of people because they were SO good last year, and as you noted 2 key members of that team are gone. But Higgins played PK regularly in Montreal, and the bottom line is the guy between the pipes. The PK won’t be as good as last year, but it will still be top 10.
Chemistry – again – a lot of these guys showed up early on their own to work out and get to know each other. That’s a huge plus, and will help as camp moves forward. Chemistry on the ice is a whole different animal, and more important will be finding that chemistry within the context of Tortorella’s attacking game plan. I have less of a concern with Chemistry than I do with finding the right line combinations. The big remaining question is “Can Dubinsky be the first line center?” That plays into chemistry – but is more of a personnel/capabilities question. Time will certainly tell – and we’ll have some ideas in the next 2 weeks.
Playing into that is the ‘rookies’ question – which will make the defensive lineup, and how will they be paired up?
thanks db
Honestly, until I did the research for this article, I was in the same boat as you as far as the PK goes, but when I saw all the minutes Betts logged, it worried me a little, that’s a ton of minutes to be made up, without taxing the guys you expect offensive output from at even strength or on the PP.
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Sep 8, 2009 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions
i think that the chemistry will be a little easier to obtain
now that Renney isn’t moving the lines around like crazy. Tortorella sticks to his guns when it comes to his lines and that will help with players development in that category.
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by Joe Fortunato on Sep 8, 2009 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions
As long as Brashear is on the first line, I don’t care what else he does
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Sep 8, 2009 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions
actually I was signed yesterday
4 years 28 million. Ill be skating on the 1st line
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by Joe Fortunato on Sep 8, 2009 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions
they got you cheap
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Sep 8, 2009 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions
I think you’re an optimist ;-)
If you look at past history – Torts has tended to go with set pairs and rotated a third forward depending on game matchups (and who knows what else).
So it’s possible you could see Avery/Higgins/Prospal rotating as LW across any of the 1st 3 ‘lines’.
Whether that ‘rotation’ had more or less to do with available talent is anybody’s guess – but I could easily see it happening this season.
As for the PK – I think the biggest “miss” will be Betts ability on face-offs – that’s more of a concern to me. The minutes can be spread across any number of capable players.
Higgins!
Higgins logged 121 minutes last year.
But look at it this way:
Drury takes Betts minutes. Drury logged 196, so it’s only an increase of 45min, about 30 seconds a game. Because of the three offensive lines they’ll be rolling, it’s not bad to cut his ES time by that much to make up the difference. He logged over 250 in 07-08, so he can handle the workload.
Callahan takes Sjostrom’s minutes – that’s an extra 67 min (213 – 146), about 45sec/game. With the weapons on the PP, you’ll prob see his PP time cut a bit, not to mention Ryan got 1st line minutes some games last year, whereas you likely won’t see that with Marian around.
Dubinsky takes Drury’s minutes – that’s an extra 90sec/game for him. This will be the most taxing burden for the team. He might also see reduced PP time, but he’s expected to increase his total ice time this year, so this isn’t bad.
Higgins takes Callahan’s minutes – that’s an increase of 25 min for him from last year. That’s not a big jump.
Now the one gap you have is replacing Gomez’s 94 minutes from last year. I don’t know who handles that duty, maybe Anisimov, maybe Boyle, maybe whoever the 4th line RW ends up being. This is the main question going into training camp.
by George E. Ays on Sep 8, 2009 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions
I think the one you may be missing is Gaborik.
He played a fair amount of PK time – and is always a threat for SH goals. I think he’ll take some of the Sjostrom/Gomez minutes.
I missed Gaborik
Was looking at total ice time (only 15min last year) rather than his ice time per game (55sec / game). Yes, he’ll likely log the Gomez minutes that are missing, at least 60 of them.
Still, if they could avoid using him to kill penalties that’d be a plus, keeping him healthy all season is the bigger priority and he’s more important at ES and on the PP.
by George E. Ays on Sep 8, 2009 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions
fair points all of them
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Sep 8, 2009 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions
well adding time to Drury and Callahan might not be the best solution
If you add Drury and Callahan’s extra minutes you state they need thats 113 minutes of PK time. I expect both to be weapons during even strength and the power play. Torts usually does not use his 4th line, so maybe some of them will take over some time. Maybe Boyle or Byers (if he makes the team) or even Avery.
Plus I hate the idea of putting Dubinsky on the PK, let him run the PP.
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by Joe Fortunato on Sep 8, 2009 12:34 PM EDT up reply actions
Well
I don’t expect Callahan or Dubinsky to be a major PP force with the new additions.
The first team would probably be Prospal – Drury – Gaborik – Kotalik – Roz/Red
And if Kotalik doesn’t play point, he’d be the 2nd unit, something like
Higgins – Dubinsky – Kotalik – defenseman-defenseman.
So I don’t foresee Callahan even logging much time there. And I don’t think Dubinsky killing penalties is avoidable, he was a fairly major factor last year and he’s one of the few remaining elements of last year’s kill.
I guess you could argue for Drury and Dubinsky to switch between the two units, but either way they’re both going to log PP minutes on top of their PK stuff. Drury did it last year, now maybe Dubi will learn to also.
Boyle would be an interesting choice. His huge frame would cause alot of problems if they can get his positioning correct.
by George E. Ays on Sep 8, 2009 2:42 PM EDT up reply actions
well you also have to understand that Torts was
in love with Callahan and Dubinsky while he coached. So my feelings are that he will give them every chance to flourish on the PP.
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by Joe Fortunato on Sep 8, 2009 2:50 PM EDT up reply actions
Fair enough
But Callahan and Dubinsky also looked liked they were playing at light speed compared to Antropov, Naslund, and Zherdev. That fact alone probably appealed to Torts.
Like it or not though they are among the best PKers on the team now, so they almost have to log big minutes on that side. So either their total ice time goes up (which would be fine by me) or they’re going to lose time somewhere, and on the PP seems like the most likely case, given the firepower around them.
by George E. Ays on Sep 8, 2009 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions
chemistry
All coaches juggle the lines now,it’s not like the old days when guys played on the same line for years.Last season Zheredev-Dubi-Voros played great at the start but couldn’t keep it going(mostly because Zheredev is a puss and Voros stinks),was Renney supposed to keep them together?
no but Renney wasn't supposed to
change the lines 3 or 4 times A GAME.
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by Joe Fortunato on Sep 8, 2009 3:37 PM EDT up reply actions
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Sep 8, 2009 4:10 PM EDT reply actions
chemistry
Agree to a point Joe,but what were his choices at the time,nothing was working.
Gomez wasn’t clicking with anyone for more then a game,sometimes not even for a couple of shifts.I think Renney was desperate and would have done anything he could to jump start the offense.Torts is known to do a lot of juggling himself and sometimes over the course of 82 games guys will gel for a week and look lost together the next game.i just think that’s the way hockey is now,I’d love to see another GAG line,but that ship has sailed.
even torts took st. louis away from vinny from time to time when they were struggling, but renney was ridiculous. how would u know in 2 or 3 shifts if guys would work well together, u have to give them time to gel.
and that renney line generator is hysterical. brought a tear to my eyes when i saw the automatic prucha scratch, even though it is funny, and true
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| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Rangers
|
55 | 37 | 13 | 5 | 79 |
|
Philadelphia
|
56 | 31 | 18 | 7 | 69 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
56 | 32 | 19 | 5 | 69 |
|
New Jersey
|
56 | 32 | 20 | 4 | 68 |
|
New York Islanders
|
56 | 24 | 24 | 8 | 56 |
(updated 2.15.2012 at 8:59 AM EST)
Rangers Schedule
Next 5 Games
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Chicago
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Thu 02/16 | 7:00 PM EST |
|
Columbus
|
Sun 02/19 | 8:00 PM EST |
|
@
Pittsburgh
|
Tue 02/21 | 7:00 PM EST |
|
@
New York Islanders
|
Fri 02/24 | 7:00 PM EST |
|
Buffalo
|
Sat 02/25 | 7:00 PM EST |
Last 5 Games
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@
Boston
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Tue 02/14 | W 3 - 0 |
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Washington
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Sun 02/12 | W 3 - 2 |
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@
Philadelphia
|
Sat 02/11 | W 5 - 2 |
|
Tampa Bay
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Thu 02/09 | OT - W 4 - 3 |
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New Jersey
|
Tue 02/07 | L 0 - 1 |
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