Skjei
Kevin Klein left the game early against Carolina on Monday, with an announcement coming later that the defenseman would miss 2-3 weeks with a strained oblique muscle. While Klein’s injury is a serious blow to the Rangers’ struggling defensive group, crises often beget opportunity in strange ways. The absence of Klein will almost certainly mean significant playing time for Dylan McIlrath, but I’d like to suggest that the conditions might be right for Brady Skjei to receive an extended look in New York.
First, it’s important to sketch out clearly what losing Kevin Klein means for the team. Among Rangers defensemen (not counting Dylan McIlrath because of the small sample size issue), Klein has the highest even strength CF%, at 49.37%, just slightly above Keith Yandle’s 49.27%. Boyle is the next highest, at 46.97%, followed by Marc Staal, Ryan McDonagh, and Dan Girardi logging average CF percentages of 44.32%, 43.53%, and 38.74% respectively. Suffice to say that this defensive group is struggling both individually (Ryan McDonagh’s issues have been noted before by Chris, for example) and collectively, with no Rangers defenseman coming in above 50%. Despite these grim defensive numbers across the board, Kevin Klein has still been one of the most effective defensemen the Rangers have lately.
Clearly there’s an issue with the Rangers defense corps, and whether it’s systems execution or defensive pairings adding Skjei into the mix for a couple of weeks could only help, or at least probably couldn’t make things much worse. Skjei’s noteworthy for his skating ability and defensive smarts, skills that might help a Rangers team that’s often finding itself pinned in the defensive end and struggling to move the puck. Calling up Skjei would also mean juggling the defensive pairings, given that the young d-man is a lefthander.
A smart move in this scenario would be to switch Keith Yandle, who’s been one of the Rangers’ most effective defensemen, from the left side to the right and pair him with the struggling Ryan McDonagh. This move makes room for Skjei on the third pairing, where he’d receive sheltered minutes, and could potentially alleviate some of the captain’s issues. It would also mean bumping Dan Girardi, who’s increasingly a defensive liability, down to the third pair where he’d receive minutes and matchups more in line with his skill set. While pairing Skjei with Girardi could be seen by some as setting him up for failure, Girardi is still on some level capable when deployed appropriately, and a veteran presence could be helpful for the young Skjei in the 2-3 weeks Klein’s out.
Kevin Klein’s injury is going to have a substantial impact on a defensive group that’s already having issues, but it doesn’t have to be all bad. The Rangers have very little to lose by calling up Brady Skjei and a lot to gain, given the kind of skill set he brings and their specific struggles in defensive play lately. His mobility and puck moving skills could be beneficial to a team often struggling to make the right pass out of the zone, and while fitting him into the lineup would involve shuffling some things around that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. Bringing Skjei into the lineup might mean moving Keith Yandle to the right side, where a switch with Dan Girardi could prove beneficial to both players, as well as the struggling captain, Ryan McDonagh. At the vey least a Skjei call up could be beneficial for informational purposes, helping the team get a handle on how far along his development as a prospect is and providing the young player with serious experience at an early stage. The length of time Klein is likely to be out helps too – even in a worst case scenario it’s only a couple of weeks.
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