Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Today is an off-day for the Rangers, so the day is slow. Yesterday saw a little bit of action, as John Moore was suspended for give games, and Alain Vigneault shook up the defensive pairings as a result. In some good news Derek Stepan is on track to be activated off LTIR next week.

  • Looking at those new defensive pairings, that bottom four is just bad. First, Dan Girardi on his off-handed side is risky, and pairing him with Kevin Klein doesn’t exactly instill confidence. Second, Matt Hunwick has been good, but he’s seen sheltered minutes. Pairing him with Mike Kostka, who is better than his epic fail game this season, is a risk. These two are a pair of 7Ds being asked to play 12-14 minutes together. Dan Boyle, please heal soon.
  • I’d have to venture a guess that this is a one game trial for these pairings. At least it’s against Winnipeg. But it does beg the question: Why are there no call ups? It’s early in the season, and at some point you have to see what you have in Conor Allen. The opening came on the left side, so why not see what he’s got? He has a very similar skill set to Moore, Kostka, and Hunwick as well.

  • Personally, I’d like to see Allen in a low-risk, early season game against a non-conference opponent. He’s 24 years old, at some point you have to see what you have. Perhaps the Rangers aren’t that high on him, or perhaps they’d prefer to see what they have in Dylan McIlrath, who is younger and appeared to beat out Allen in camp. If the plan is to have the current pairings get a trial run before a call up, that’s fine. Just curious as to why there has been no mention of a potential move.
  • Perhaps no move is being made because Boyle is almost ready to go? I feel like we would have heard about that by now.
  • The new line of Mats Zuccarello-Derick Brassard-Rick Nash sure did well on Monday. That shake up, due to the ejection of Chris Kreider, led to the shake up we saw yesterday. No matter which way you spin in, the Rangers are not going to have four strong lines while Derek Stepan is out, they are just too weak down the middle. That’s the problem we have with the fourth line right now, as it appears to just be a constant “throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks” mentality.
  • That said, Kevin Hayes on the fourth line with Tanner Glass and Chris Mueller isn’t exactly ideal. Wouldn’t shock me to see Mueller move to the middle, Ryan Malone slot in on RW, and Hayes watch this one from the press box.
  • Speaking of that fourth line, the ideal scenario is J.T. Miller-Dominic Moore-Jesper Fast. Problem is that skips a couple of steps along the development process. I can see Lee Stempniak getting bumped to the fourth line with Moore once Stepan returns, but the issue is that Glass will still, for some reason, get that 4LW spot. Fast and Miller are both better options now. That one still baffles me. Glass simply isn’t good, and enough with the fighting argument, he has as many fights this year as Zuccarello and Kreider.
  • One last bit on Glass: I get that he has some positives: He’s a good skater and he’s at least more useful than the fighter-only guys. But he’s constantly out of position at even strength and on the PK, he’s a possession anchor, and –as mentioned in that post– he is a negative impact on his teammates.In AV’s DZ system, the winger’s job is to assist in the overload along the strong side or cover the weak side pass (depending on puck location). He does neither, and it’s led to quality chances and goals. Even if you hate #fancystats and want to rely on plus/minus: He’s a minus-5.
  • I guess that last bullet point was more of a mini-rant than a musing.
  • If I told you that the Rangers would be above .500 and two points behind the division leader coming out of October with two key injuries, you would be pleased. It hasn’t been pretty, and there are some gaping holes that need to be filled, but they are treading water while they wait for reinforcements.
  • A few questions:
    • If you had the choice of Mike Milbury or Dave Nonis as your GM, who would you pick? You must pick one.
    • Are you concerned about Zuccarello’s slow start to the year?
    • How many goals do you think Nash will finish the season with?
    • How in the world would you fix the faceoff issues?

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