For the fourth game in a row, the Rangers fall short, this time getting shut out by the New York Islanders in the only match-up between the two on Long Island. With this being the Blueshirts fourth loss in a row, frustration is certainly settling in and what makes it all the more difficult is the team isn’t playing terribly. The turnovers have been a major issue but getting pucks to the net isn’t the problem. As you can recall from Tuesday night’s game, the Rangers put up almost 50 shots and last night against the Isles, they put up 41. Part of it is running into hot goalies, part of it is just not being able to finish. Whether it’s mental, an early slump, the inability to play without Chytil, a combination of everything. Whatever it is, it needs to change soon, and it will.
When you’re shooting the puck as much as the Rangers are, they’re bound to go in eventually. It’s incredibly unfortunate and even a bit disheartening that this cold streak is coming so early in the season. However, it will be a good test to see how this team deals with adversity as things are always going to come up that get in the way of your team's success. Winning isn’t easy and isn’t always going to just magically happen. Before we get into some of the positives we can take away from last night, it’s important to talk about a couple of the issues that are starting to come across as concerning.
One of the biggest issues right now is the Rangers all around depth. With Chytil already hurt and Vitaly Kravtsov, who we’ll talk about in length later, joining him, the Rangers opted to recall Julien Gauthier, who we’ll talk about when we get to the positives, from the Hartford Wolf Pack. Excluding Gauthier, the Rangers bottom six forward group currently looks almost on the abysmal side. Individually, I like what the Rangers have there but in the grand scheme of what is the bottom six? It’s a bit counter productive. Again, if Chytil is healthy and Kravtsov is what he’s supposed to be, we’re not having this conversation but as of right now, Chytil is out and I’m sorry, but nothing about Kravtsov’s brief showings thus far have indicated he’s anywhere near NHL ready and we’ll get to him in a minute.
A lot of fans are hard on Sammy Blais for no good reason. He is barely halfway to ten games played after missing close to an entire year with an ACL injury. He has shown plenty of good signs in this early games but it’s going to be a process getting him back to the player he can be. At his best, he can be a productive member of the Rangers third line but until he gets there, he is perfectly fine on the fourth line. Barclay Goodrow, who is filling in for Chytil would be best used in a fourth line role. Jimmy Vesey is a great depth piece, should not be a constant on the third line. Ryan Carpenter is helpful on face-offs but not much about his game has proven him to be a necessary part of our line up for the better half of 82 games. Ryan Reaves is literally a role player, what he brings to this team is great and very important. Nevertheless, he is best used on the fourth line and not night in and night out.
When you factor all these points together and consider that two full lines of your team are currently made up of inconsistent role/depth players, that has to raise some concerns. What we essentially have right now, is two fourth lines and that is surely contributing to the Rangers lack of offensive production. At full strength, in an ideal roster setting, the fourth line would best be Blais - Goodrow - Reaves/Gauthier with Vesey and Carpenter slotting in when needed. If this thing with Chytil or even Kravtsov becomes long term, getting Gustav Rydahl in the mix wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world as he could also give that fourth line a spark. At the end of the day, injuries are going to come up and you have to wonder at what point the Rangers look to bolster up their depth because for as alarming as it is with the forwards, it’s arguably worse on the back end.
The third pairing has been noticeably shaky throughout the start of the season and there’s no question they have to be better. Braden Schneider is starting to gain a lot of fan attention and not for great reasons. There is a lot of pressure on him now that the Rangers have traded Nils Lundkvist and for every game he doesn’t perform, it’s going to be that trade and that decision that fans and everyone looks toward. As for the other two, Libor Hajek played in his second straight game as Gerard Gallant has basically made it known that the competition for that position is going to be ongoing. Which is all well and good but the more important winning becomes, the more you have to think about making a move to increase the depth regarding that role.
We’ve talked about it earlier but after Hajek and Jones, the Rangers really don’t have any reliable options to play at an NHL level. The more that becomes noticed and the more this team goes into games with two fourth lines, the less worried about Patrick Kane people should be as the conversation should change to depth, depth, depth. At this point, if things continue like this and honestly, even if they don’t, the Rangers don’t need one big fish at the trade deadline. They need several medium fish to make this team better. Sort of like they did last year. Without factoring cap space, contracts and other logistics let’s use Vegas as an example because prior to a couple of extensions with these players, this would’ve been a perfect move for the Rangers to make.
Kravtsov, C level prospect a first and third for Riley Smith, Chandler Stephenson and Brayden McNabb.
Again, I’m just using this as an example so let’s not over analyze the reality of that trade proposal but bringing in two guys to revamp the third line and adding a GOOD (no disrespect to Nemeth or Braun but better than them) reliable NHL defenseman would make this team way better than Patrick Kane or any one top player would. Just think about it:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Kakko
Panarin - Trocheck - Lafreniere
Stephenson - Chytil - Smith
Blais - Goodrow - Reaves/Gauthier
Regardless, we’re far away from anything like that happening. It’s so early in the season, hopefully Chytil and Kravstov aren’t out long and we stop getting hit with injuries but it is worth thinking about this while it is becoming a noticeable problem. Now let’s revisit the whole Vitaly Kravstov situation because like many fans, I’m starting to grow impatient and have lots of concerns.
With normal rookies, they tend to get a nine game trial to start the season and as we approach our ninth game this weekend, let’s look at what we’ve seen from Kravtsov:
Game 1: Got hurt
Game 2: out
Game 3: out
Game 4 out
Game 5: out
Game 6: played, fine
Game 7: hurt in the third period
Game 8: out again
While it’s been eight games, we haven’t gotten a good enough look at him because of injuries which sure, isn’t his fault but at the end of the day, it’s fair to raise the question. Is he really NHL ready if he can’t seem to stay healthy? Sure the Victor Hedman hit was a little questionable but what even happened against Colorado? Unless it’s the same injury that flared up it seems that he can’t get through a game without getting hurt. If it was any other player I would set him up with a nice window seat on an Amtrak train and give him a week in Hartford to get comfortable. However, with his whole history which again you can argue whether or not that’s his fault as well, sending him to Hartford likely spoils any future relationship this player has with the franchise so unfortunately, we have no choice but to sit there patiently with our hands tied.
If Kravtsov manages to stay healthy and continues to be a non-factor, then a conversation about his future with this team really needs to take place. Especially if the team continues to struggle like this, we can’t be throwing games away this early in the year, put 20 guys on the ice that are going to make an impact. Filip Chytil’s contributions to this team have to be evident by this point as his absence is taking a toll on this team. I expressed my concerns with the Trocheck contract before the season even started but if the Rangers aren’t able to keep Chytil because of it, that’s going to be quite a problem long term. This has turned into quite a rant but frankly, there wasn’t much else to talk about from last night’s game.
It almost felt like groundhog day as it was a very identical game to the Avalanche loss on Tuesday. Only difference? No goals. Frankly, I’m surprised I’m surprised. Historically, these games tend to happen with the Islanders. It was the second half of a back to back, no Igor, injuries, yadda yadda yadda. As I said in the pre game preview, the Islanders have a great penalty kill and that shut down our power play all night. Cal Clutterbuck essentially glued himself to Mika Zibanejad which inevitably left the rest of our power play utterly lost. Ilya Sorokin had a strong showing which brewed up the perfect storm that was a 3-0 win for the Isles.
As frustrating as everything is, we have to remind ourselves it’s early and that this team will get out of this rut. The way they’re playing isn’t bad, they just need to be smarter, simpler and find ways to get pucks in the net. The Rangers have the star power, the goals will come, the slump is just happening at a very inopportune time. Julien Gauthier was among one of the positives last night as he came out of the gate flying, finding himself a couple of scoring chances. As long as Kravtsov and Chytil remain out, Gauthier should stay in the mix. The Rangers have their third back to back of the season this weekend and it will be all the more important to come out of it with as many points as they can. Ideally, winning both should be the goal but if they can at the very least muster up three points and start fresh the following week, there won’t be cause for any major panic button pressings just yet.
Chris Feldman
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