dan girardi

Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images North America

The New York Rangers defense has been called elite by some, and a disaster by others. The reality of the unit is that it is somewhere in the middle, much like how Suit graded them yesterday. The Rangers seem to be set on the left side. They have a legit top pairing defenseman in Ryan McDonagh, at least two solid top-four in Keith Yandle and Marc Staal, and then, well, it gets fuzzy on the right side.

Starting with Dan Girardi, who appears to be the most divisive topic among Ranger fans later, the Rangers have a player who thrived under John Tortorella’s zone collapse defensive zone style. But under Alain Vigneault, Girardi’s lack of foot speed, poor gap control, and poor positioning have many questioning if he can keep up in a strong side overload/man coverage system. I’ve already suggested that the Rangers consider dropping him from his top pairing role, to mixed reviews.

Dan Boyle was brought in to help the powerplay –at the expense of Anton Stralman, who I needed to mention at least once in this post due to the situation, but will forego mentioning him again– and was relatively unsuccessful. He made the opposition mindful of his presence, and he certainly gave them options, but the results simply were not there.

Kevin Klein brings up the rear for the right defensemen, and he is another player that causes a stir in the fanbase. He had an amazing start to the season, but fell off a cliff in January before his hand injury. Considering his contract, Klein is the most likely defenseman to be dealt in a cap saving move.

But here’s the thing, at even strength, only Boyle pushes possession with relative consistency. They are mediocre defensively, as I’ve pointed out numerous times with Girardi and Klein, who are counted on for their defense. Boyle is counted on for scoring, and he didn’t really do much of that this past season. Here’s this season’s usage (minimum 500 minutes, which is why Keith Yandle doesn’t appear on this chart):

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

We see all Girardi and Klein are getting buried with defensive zone starts, which is to be expected. Boyle received 60% offensive zone starts, which certainly helped him drive possession. While on the surface this is expected, it goes beyond the usage. Klein and Girardi have never pushed possession in their careers. While we may not expect (or pay) either to do so, Klein was deployed a lot differently last season.

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

That’s Klein on the bottom right, getting 60% offensive zone starts and still not really driving possession. So, neither of them are good at really pushing play up the ice. But there’s more to defense than that. There’s shot suppression (CA/60) and there’s limiting quality shot attempts (SCA/60). Girardi is the biggest concern here, as his CA/60 (60.36) and SCA/60 (27.24), two things he is paid to be good at, are the worst on the team. For comparison’s sake, his defense partner Ryan McDonagh is at 56.71 CA/60 and 26.17 SCA/60. These two are rarely apart, yet for those few times, McDonagh’s numbers improve dramatically.

There’s also the stuff beyond the numbers, what we see on the ice, and what we see isn’t necessarily pretty. Don’t get me wrong, both Klein and Girardi are warriors, and tough as nails. Girardi is one of the best shot blockers in the game. But the concern is that neither skate well, neither gap control well, and neither position themselves well. How often have we lamented on the “Girardi snow angel of death” this season?

Part of the solution could simply be tinkering with the defense pairs. Girardi isn’t going anywhere, neither is Boyle. Klein is likely on his way out as a cap casualty though. Since it appears that the Rangers can get more mileage out of Girardi by moving him off the top pairing, thus freeing Ryan McDonagh, that may be the easiest solution. That won’t happen though.

Assuming Klein is traded and Girardi stays on the top pairing, the focus shifts to the 6th defenseman. Matt Hunwick, if he stays is someone that was solid in injury replacement stints, playing on the right side. He is certainly capable of at least being a stop-gap until Brady Skjei and/or Dylan McIlrath are ready.

Regardless of the numerous solution options, and I’ve only really covered one here, this is an area of weakness for the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist masks a lot of issues on this defensive unit. As we’ve seen in the playoffs the past two seasons, depth is key, and the Rangers need to get better on the right side.

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