New York (St)Rangers – Fallen Stars?
2024-03-03
New York, NY. An alarming ten games into the new season, the 3-5-2 New York Rangers and their revamped roster look like a complete catastrophe instead of a cup contender. After an alarming ten games into the new season, the Broadway Blueshirts look a lot closer to showing up for the Celebrini sweepstakes than for the celebration of a Cup Final encore.
What about the Rangers‘ top UFA market acquisition, J.T. Miller, whose five goals — one of which being a short-handed marker — and six assists for eleven points and a stellar 20.8 shot percentage don‘t seem so bad?
What about the Rangers‘ aging top center in his final contract year, Claude Giroux, who at 36 years of age is still one the best, if not THE best face-off performer in the league, who has posted six goals, three of them on the powerplay, and eight assists for a total of 14 points?
What about the Rangers‘ aging Hall of Fame forward, Patrick Kane, who at 36 is clearly in decline while also serving out his final contract year but is still contributing ten assists accompanied by two goals for ten points in total?
What about the Rangers‘ All-Star defenseman Cale Makar, whose one (powerplay and game-winning) goal is accompanied by eight assists for nine points — but also by a plus/minus rating of minus-seven?
What about the Rangers‘ recently extended power forward Chris Kreider, whose three goals and two assists are merely put in perspective by the fact that two of the tallies were game-winners and one was a ”shorty“?
What about The Rangers‘ last year‘s revelation, Troy Terry, who hasn‘t lived up to the hype yet, tallying just three goals and one assist for four points? Kind of the same can be said about Tim Stützle, who sits at four goals – two on the man-advantage – and two assists for six points. That goes even more so for Kaapo Kakko, who cashed in at one goal and one assist for just two points thus far.
And finally, what about the Rangers‘ elite goaltender, Igor Shesterkin, whose career-year performance from last season is followed by a sub-par 0.89 save percentage and an unacceptable 3.44 goals-against average thus far? And what does that say about the Rangers‘ new backup netminder, Jonathan Quick, who has yet to get the coach’s nod for a start between the pipes?
All of the good and bad aside, the Rangers’ third-line and role players are not contributing enough, as the Blueshirts‘ defense has done a so-so job in keeping their opponents off the scoreboard. The Rangers have reacted — by adjusting their aggressiveness and defensive awareness in both the O-zone and the D-zone. Maybe it‘s time for head coach Jon Cooper to juggle his lines.
An alarming ten games into the new season, it is about time to right the ship — or else.
hat das jammern ja anscheinend geholfen :D
New York (St)Rangers – Fallen Stars?
Dysfunctional Roster a Mess at Ten-Game Mark