Where The New York Rangers' Defense Stands

Agree with everything, and I’ll say that it’s going to have to be the forwards who are going to have to step up their game. Aside from Wolski, who probably would have been benched anyway at some point, and a useless Rupp, they’re healthy. There’s nothing we can really do about the defense except give guys like MDZ/Erixon/Eminger/Stralman more minutes so Girardi and McD don’t drop dead.

Torts is going to have to ask more of the forwards. A good deal of our guys are the 2-way type who know the defensive side of things, they need to step it up. I said it in the other thread, no more damn neutral-zone turnovers, get the fore-check going, back-check hard, and help out as much as possible in their own zone.

People want to say “well, IF we had Marc Staal or Michael Sauer this game would be different,” but those things can’t be controlled. They’re going to have to rely on what they have which is quality goaltending and good depth at forward. Hagelin is about the only guy that’s really consistent in his effort out there. Dubi, Boyle and Feds have contributed very little offensively. The GAS line seems to have run out of gas. They all need to step it up.

its the transition game that has really slowed down almost tot the point of being stagnant. The defense hasn’t been able to get the puck up and out of the zone fast enough and the forwards haven’t been able to generate fast breakouts into the offensive zone like they have before…if the Rangers can get back to those fast breakouts then I think they would be fine offensively. On the defensive end its hard to change much because we don’t have enough bodies to give Girardi and McD a rest…just gotta ride through this storm and hope for reinforcements to come in, we’ve won before without Staal in the line up and the team is still the same group of players. Just have to pick up the tempo and wake the fuck up

I think Stralman has been improving. He has some decent mobility. The weak link in our pairings is Woywitka. Eminger has done ok. Woywitka keeps getting beat one on one and along the boards.

I think part of the hesitation in putting Erixon in is the mini slump the team is in.Not the ideal situation to be thrown into but maybe his mobility can help move the attack along.

Instead of making one move for a guy who can eat up 20 a night, he added Bell, Witwiki and Strawman to the mix after Staal situation surfaced.

Create some cap space and pull the trigger already. The d is clearly over worked and getting exposed.

Our defense has been more than adequate to win in almost every game we have played. Last night’s game was an example of our forwards causing our defense to break down. Our forwards pretty much took the night off. They figuratively and literaly got their asses kicked by the Blues. The Blues out hit, out hustled, out shot and out backchecked
them ( not sure if out backchecked is a legit phrase but I’m using it). The complete breakdown on offense led to the Blues swarming in our end. Frankly it looked like they all couldnt give a shit during the game. If Feds, Boyle, Dubi, etc arent going to score they damn well better hit someone and play some tenacious d.

And re-sign Bryan McCabe to a league minimum contract?

Still not signed. Veteran D man we know and He knows us. Yes, he’s slowed down, but he’s still better than Woywitka or Stralman. Take a flyer on him at 1 mil from here on out.

whats wrong with the defense? Sauer and Staal are out with concussions…thats whats wrong with our defense….nothing we can do about it except wait.

Even beyond the past two losses and Toronto game, this team doesn’t have great size and has been getting worked over quite a bit. Dubinsky should be noticeable like Backes..the D doesn’t have anyone that instills fear.

I’m not saying they need Deveaux..but i would swap Rupp for EC these next two games.