When Kevin Klein was confirmed to be starting alongside Keith Yandle at the end of the preseason, I theorized that the two could be a solid duo. Klein has a heavy shot, looks to shoot often, and does a fairly good job of putting himself in a position to shoot. Yandle, on the other hand, is one of the best passers in the game, and makes many subtle plays to draw attention before dishing for a chance.

Klein goal

We started seeing this last night, as Klein scored the Rangers second of the game off a feed from Yandle, GIF’d above. From this play, we see Klein enter the zone at the high slot, then drift to the left circle. As Klein moves to the left circle –while the play is on the far side of the ice– Yandle moves from the left point across the blue line to support the play on the right point. From here, Yandle draws two Hawks to him with a fake shot as Klein angles himself towards Yandle to accept a pass. Yandle sees this, and feeds it right in his wheel house. Klein buried it.

klein goal copy

Above is the still image right before Yandle gets the pass to Klein. Klein is wide open, and Klein recognizes that D1 can’t move to cover because of the man in the slot and D2 is slow to shift coverage. Klein also drifts a little towards the dot, to give Yandle a better passing angle.

This is par for the course for Yandle. He’s made a career out of these kinds of looks, and it’s why he’s one of the premier offensive defensemen in the game. Heck, he was able to put up solid numbers on an Arizona Coyotes team that couldn’t score. But this is relatively new ground for Klein, even though we’ve seen him put himself in positions to shoot often through games. Here’s his overtime winner against the Devils from last year.

Klein vs NJD - 10/21/14

Klein vs NJD – 10/21/14

On this play, Klein actually starts back at the Rangers goal line as the puck moves up the ice. He follows the entire play, finds the seam in the defense, and makes sure he’s in a position to receive a pass. Here’s where he started the play:

Untitled copy

He tracked that the entire way, as the “offensive” defenseman on the ice, John Moore, wasn’t in the play. He was able to read the weakness in the Devils defense and exploit it.

This isn’t to say Klein is going to repeat his 2014-2015 campaign. All signs point to him having some serious regression. He shot 12% last year, which is high for a forward, let alone a defenseman. His career average is less than half that. At the same shot rate, expecting five goals is fair. But this pairing might click if deployed properly –meaning a lot of offensive zone starts– and they could put up some solid numbers.

Klein is never going to be a possession darling. He’s not the best guy in his own end either. But last year was a solid season for him, even if he fell off a cliff in February. I still think the Rangers showed some some poor asset management this summer by not trading him. But all that aside, it’s about getting the most from Klein this season. This Yandle-Klein pairing has some serious potential.

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