Podcast Ombudsman Report for Blueshirt Bandwidth Ep. 64
The laughs were easy; the conclusions were not—this week’s Ombudsman Report circles back to the Rangers’ familiar structural problems.
Joe and Eric in the Morning
With their pre-dawn recording time, Eric said that we were listening to “Joe and Eric in the morning.” This was, of course, a reference to the “Troy and Abed in the Morning” bit from Community:
Episode 64
Eric pointed out that Tyler Motte, the only New York Ranger to ever wear number 64, was acquired twice under the same circumstances. While Motte was acquired at both the 2022 and 2023 trade deadlines by the Rangers, he was acquired for a 2023 fourth-round pick from the Canucks at the 2022 deadline and then for Rangers legend Julien Gauthier and a conditional seventh-round pick from the Senators at the 2023 deadline.
Number of Games Played
It was mentioned that the Rangers position in the standings doesn’t look that bad, with the team being only 3 points behind the Florida Panthers for the second Wild Card spot. The Panthers (and Buffalo Sabres, who have the same number of points in the same number of games played as the Panthers) have played three fewer games than the Rangers and have a .579 points percentage. Following the overtime loss to Carolina, the Rangers points percentage stands at .524. In order for the Rangers to catch up to those two teams in points percentage, they would need to win 7 straight games.
Nashville Fans
Eric complained about fans at Nashville Predators games behaving “amateurish,” with the “you suck” chants directed at opponents during player introductions and goalies during games. I recognize these chants because they are common at the ECHL Atlanta Gladiators games that I take my son to.
Eric also said “30 percent of the fans are tourists there for bridal showers” when he meant bachelorette parties.
Side note: I have attended a game in Nashville with Eric, which the Rangers lost. We were not there for a bachelorette party.
Rangers Special Teams
Eric said that in the past the Rangers were special teams merchants, and the power play has been awful without Adam Fox. He is largely right. As you can see from this chart, the Rangers rode a top power play in their Eastern Conference Final appearance seasons:
In December without Adam Fox, the Rangers power play has cratered to scoring just 15.4 percent of the time, which would be 28th in the league if kept up for the whole season.
Alexis Lafrenière
There was a lengthy discussion about Alexis Lafrenière and his failure to live up to his potential. Per JFresh, Lafrenière is a 73 percent WAR forward, which translate into a solid second liner. Lafrenière will likely have a long and productive NHL career even if he falls short of being the transcendent player that you want out of your first overall pick.
Lafrenière’s lack of “desire” was brought up, with his lack of offseason training discussed. During training camp, Lafrenière said, “instead of skating a couple times a week, I skated once or twice more a week and I think that helps a lot to work on your game.”
Even being generous with that quote, it means that he went from skating 2-3 times per week to skating 4-5 times per week. That seems out of line with how other elite players train.
Nathan MacKinnon’s training routine was also discussed. MacKinnon famously had run-ins with teammates over them eating junk food. Nikita Zadorov described MacKinnon’s attitude like this:
"He got rid of them from the dressing room and pregame meals. He even got rid of the white sauce for pasta. He replaced the actual pasta itself with chickpea pasta. He says, 'Guys, if you want to eat crap, you have the offseason for that. When you come here, there will be none of that because we're winning the Cup.'"
Why Are the Rangers Bad?
In the Nov. 6th Ombudsman Report, I put together a table showing how the shooting percentages by players compared to their career averages. I added a column for each player’s shooting percentage through Dec. 30, and while there has been some regression to the mean none of the major contributors are at or above their career average shooting percentage on the season:
James Dolan Demanding a Superstar
Which superstar is it even possible for Drury to acquire?
Shakira
Joe mentioned Shakira and asked how old she is. She is 48 years old.
Skating Speed
It was mentioned that Adam Edstrom is injured and he is one of the team’s stronger skaters. The NHL Edge stats agree, with Edstrom delivering 4 of the 10 fastest skating bursts on the team this season.
