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Rangers take on Blues as entire team is put on notice by Drury |
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The Rangers come into tonight's game against the Blues with a revamped lineup and hopefully, a revamped attitude. Off two brutal losses in a row, we expected some changes to occur, Yesterday, started that brigade, this am, came another change, then the bombshells of who may be on the block started. Get your popcorn ready, it certainly has become interesting at Penn Plaza.
Brett Berard was a healthy scratch for Hartford and promoted yesterday. This morning, before news even broke, @nohopeleague and @keeganjarvis reported that the Hartford Wolf Pack's transaction page included the promotion of Matt Rempe. All became somewhat clearer when it was announced that Chris Kreider is dealing with an upper-body injury and will miss today's game.
The lines tonight are certainly different. Will Cuylle and Berard, making his NHL debut, bookend Mika Zibanejad with the hope that their physical style of play unlocks whatever has been ailing Zib. Kaapo Kakko makes his first start at center for the Blueshirts with Adam Edstrom moving up a line and Reilly Smith sliding down one. Rempe assumes his previously occupied fourth line spot as New York's attempts to wake up a sleepwalking team that looks slow and disinterested on the ice.
Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere
Cuylle - Zib - Berard
Edstrom - Kakko - Smith
Vesey - Carrick - Rempe
Miller - Fox
Lindgren - Trouba
Jones - Schneider
Power Play No. 1: Fox-Zibanejad-Trocheck-Panarin-Lafreniere.
Power Play No. 2: Jones-Berard-Cuylle-Smith-Kakko
The big bombshells started coming shortly after the Kreider scratch and Rempe news was reported. Below are just some of the tweets and articles written during the day on the news that Rangers GM Chris Drury has sent a loud message to the team that no one is safe by leaking certain names to the media.
There is no question that the locker room appears fractured and the product on the ice similar. Drury created some of this mess by the manner in which he has handled things. Start with the manner in which he gave Barclay Goodrow 15 minutes notice before placing him on waivers after "working" a deal with Sharks' GM Mike Grier, a former teammate of Drury, to claim Goodrow. On paper, clearing $3.642 million based on analytics and what Goodrow brought on the ice made sense. In the locker room and the optics of how the transaction was handled, especially to an associate captain and well-respected member of the team, not so much.
Following this misstep was the Jacob Trouba leak. Drury wanted to move Trouba to clear cap space and allow the team to get younger. The problem is Trouba held the cards and information leaked before Trouba had to submit his 15-team NTC. In addition, as we know, Trouba's wife's residency was in essence extended a year due to COVID, all of which resulted in him in essence blocking any deal from taking place. Now you have a lame duck captain trying to lead and his forceful style that wwe saw in the past few years has been substantially muted.
Last but not least is the leaking of the contract negotiations with Igor Shesterkin. Maybe 88 for 8 didn't happen and maybe Shesterkin didn't decline it, but you certainly now created a mess in the locker room and the psyche of a player. Drury in the past few years was very good at keeping everything close to the vest. It was somewhat of a refreshing change from an organization that in year's past couldn't keep their mouths shut. Granted, no info was not ideal as well. But now, we have had three situations, each of which has chipped away the vibe in the room and possibly bled onto the product on the ice.
Part of the "leak" is the shock value which it creates. Leaking the captain and the longest tenured Ranger, especially the latter, is certain to open eyebrows. If Kreider is not safe, then no one is. This is especially so on a team that is 12-6-1 but has broader aspirations and rightly feels is underachieving.
Trouba is not having a good year, irrespective of his pair mate. Currently paired with Ryan Lindgren, who certainly is one the team may be looking to move, his play has declined substantially even from what we saw in the playoffs. Attitude and mentality play a part in preparation. Questioning whether the backdrop of what occurred this offseason is even having a slight impact on each is valid and would explain a small portion of what we have seen on the ice.
Kreider's play is a shell of what we are used to seeing. That burst up the wing has been lacking all season. Only two of his goals have come 5x5 and lacks the physical presence of years gone by, a change in his game that began last season. I miss seeing the CK20 who would dish out hits and defend his teammates. In 2021-22, where he scored 52 goals, he dished out 148 hits. Last season, just 99, a pace that he is on again this season. At $6.5 million for each of the next two seasons beyond this one, Kreider would certainly be a sought after target, despite his rough start. Dealing him though would largely depend on if the team is looking to remain a playoff contender - which appears to be the case - or starting another rebuild around the youth of the squad.
Unfortunately, Kreider is not alone in his poor play. If he was, moving him down a line or trading him might be easier. But he is not. Mika Zibanejad is somehow having an even worse season, continuing the decline that began a year or so ago. Reilly Smith, imported for a third round pick, has proven to be a poor fit next to the Glimmer Twins or the Glimmer Twins or a poor fit next to any winger, see the numbers for Roslovic,Jack in Carolina. Add in Vincent Trocheck with just 10 points in 19 games after a career-best season last year and only a few are exceeding expectations.
The third line of Cuylle-Filip Chytil-Kakko has been the team's best and three main parts of the young core. Cuylle has certainly come faster than expectations while Kakko has shown he can be a solid, physical part of the third line. Add in Alexis Lafreniere to that trio and that may be it. Berard adds a physical presence and eventually Brennan Othmann, we hope, and Gabe Perreault will join that mix. At that point, and maybe not for a year or two, they all will be vying for top-six minutes. but that doesn't mean a deal of Kreider etc. is required. Meshing these players in will be a challenge. Moving one of the top-six or -nine now just accelerates that learning curve, though may not make the team better in the short-term.
New York looks slow on the ice. That was evident Thursday and Saturday. Berard will bring a smidge of speed and the addition of Rempe will certainly up the physical quotient. Puck possession has been a foreign concept, as the team continually gets pinned in their own zone and depend on Shesterkin and/or Jonathan Quick standing on their head in net. The advanced stats bear this out.
As Vince Mercogliano wrote, "they've gone 7-6 in their last 13 games but done so while allowing a league-worst 34 shots per 60 minutes in that span. A look under the hood is equally concerning, with an average of 3.41 expected goals against per 60 that ranks 28th out of 32 teams, according to Natural Stat Trick." Ugly numbers overall, made even worse by how poorly they played against Calgary and Edmonton, likely triggering the leaks today.
Concern over complacency is certainly warranted. Two runs to the ECF in three years has looked great on paper, but the end result was a team not advancing to the SCF or raising the cup. The team stopped listening to Gerard Gallant after the first run, along with a host of other problems, leading to his firing. Peter Laviolette was hired and pushed some of the right buttons last season, but overreliance on the goalies along with an inability to get the team to play in a way that would force Florida to adjust were evident.
The shots across the bow and grenade have been thrown. I think we all expect some kind of deal to occur, even if not a blockbuster one. All have been put on notice that what we have seen is not acceptable. If the team doesn't react positively, as they did to when Trouba threw the helmet a few years ago, a tear down could occur and for all we know, that could reach up to senior management. Get your popcorn, the show has just started.
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