james sheppard

Last night, the fourth line accounted for all of the scoring for the New York Rangers in their 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers. While the Rangers probably didn’t deserve to win that game (Florida doubled up on them in shot attempts and scoring chances), the game illustrated just how important four line depth is to team success.

The ability to roll four lines is something we talk about a lot here. Aside from the obvious benefits of additional rest time for the top players, rolling four lines is critical to the success of the Rangers, given the way Alain Vigneault deploys his lines. The top-six in an AV system get split starts between the offensive zone and the defensive zone, while the third line usually gets sheltered minutes in the offensive zone. The fourth line gets the defensive zone burden.

With the addition of James Sheppard to Dominic Moore and Jesper Fast on the fourth line, Vigneault now has a defensively responsible fourth line that is capable of handling heavy DZ starts. Last year’s fourth line had about 65% of their shifts start in the defensive zone, and it was one of the best shutdown fourth lines in the league. If you assume Sheppard for Brian Boyle is a wash and Fast is an upgrade over Derek Dorsett, then this year’s version should be more successful.

The top two lines at the moment are fully able to split their zone starts, although you prefer that the Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Martin St. Louis line gets more starts in the OZ. That line has had significant issues with puck possession and defensive zone coverage. That line does score in bunches though (and goes in droughts in bunches).

The third line of Carl Hagelin-Kevin Hayes-J.T. Miller may be able to absorb some of those DZ starts from the second line. Miller may be a work-in-progress in the DZ, but Hagelin and Hayes are great in their own end. Last year’s team had the third line get 60% of the OZ starts. I think this version can get a 50/50 split, like the first line, and give the second line a 60/40 split.

This, of course, gives the fourth line the majority of the defensive zone starts. This is something that wasn’t possible with Tanner Glass in the lineup, simply because he can’t defend or move the puck up the ice. Sheppard gives the offensive ability to put the puck in the net while understanding where he is supposed to be in the defensive zone. We’ve seen that both Moore and Fast have the ability to put the puck in the net as well. When you put this together, you have a fourth line that is solid defensively and can chip in when needed.

If the Rangers want to make a run in the playoffs, four line depth is going to be absolutely critical to their success. The addition of Sheppard gives the Rangers the flexibility to run all four lines and gives AV the ability to match up based on zone start and opposition skaters. Assuming these lines remain consistent, Sheppard may be the unheralded pick that balances out this club.

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