New York Rangers Playoff Player Profile- Marian Gaborik

Continuing our player profile series, I'm gonna take a look at the Rangers Slovak Sniper Extraordinaire Marian Gaborik. Gaborik is one of the big reasons why Rangers are in first place after bouncing back from a disappointing 2010/11 season in which he only had 22 goals and was off his game for most of the season last year and had a lot of Rangers fans (you know who you are) calling the Rangers to trade him.

When Gaby is on his game he is one of the best shooters on the planet and can blow anybody away with his speed as evidenced by his 41 goal season up to this point. Marian is one of those players that can turn a game around in the blink of an eye and has done just that a lot this year. It also doesn't hurt when you have one of the best playmakers in hockey feeding you the puck for the last month or so.

Marian Gaborik doing what he has done best this year

See, Gaby finds his space and in the blink of an eye the puck is somehow behind Nabokov for the Rangers OT win against the Islanders.

After the jump, let's take a look at what Gaby is like when he is off his game

As we saw last year, When Gaborik is off his game he does his best Erik Christensen impersonation and becomes invisible for long stretches of games and with a team with so few offensive weapons, Gaby needs to be on his game for the Rangers to go places in the playoffs.

Also, being a mostly offensive force Gaborik is not exactly Ryan Callahan in his own zone but under john Tortorella Gaby has improved his defensive game.

All in all Marian Gaborik is the Rangers best offensive weapon and is a force to be reckoned with going into the playoffs, here's hoping he can carry his play deep into May and June.