bleacher report.com
By now, anyone reading this site is painfully aware that the Rangers were embarrassed at the Garden last night, 5-0 by the Penguins and now stand on the brink of elimination. Combing various recaps, Twitter, the comments section, etc., has given me a (somewhat frightening) glimpse into the current psyche of the Ranger fan community.
In seeking out a topic for this post, once the dust settled, I found myself coming up empty. I really enjoy writing “thoughts” posts, but I don’t think I could really organize my thoughts in a way that would make for worthwhile reading. I feel like it would just read like a laundry list of complaints.
Instead, I think I’m just going to write, and see what comes out of my brain that is Ranger-related and see how that goes. Work for everybody? Good.
In seeing how this series has unfolded, I cannot stop coming back to the concept of adjustments. It’s natural for angry fans to try and target specific players and decisions as scapegoats for failure. Rick Nash hasn’t scored 5+ goals? Trade him (never mind that has three points in four games, so far). Henrik Lundqvist wasn’t at his absolute best in game 4? He’s clearly past his prime, no longer elite and he shouldn’t be the focus of the team going forward. The coach? Oh, god help the coach. You get my point.
Everyone’s frustration by these specific examples isn’t invalid, necessarily. Hank was not at his best. AV has stubbornly clung to decisions that have worked in the past, despite ample evidence of their current failings. I guess the point I am trying to make is that the club as a whole, did not make the necessary adjustments in this series, and that, not individual player failure, is the reason they are down 3-1.
In fairness, the Rangers made the first adjustment. In game 1, they made Jeff Zatkoff look like Carey Price. They adjusted, and hammered him in game 2. Fortunately for Mike Sullivan and Co., Matt Murray was ready for game 3, but they made significant defensive changes to stifle the Rangers speed and momentum through the neutral zone, effectively sapping their offensive game entirely. Last night, it was up to the Rangers to adjust back. They did not.
If you look at the goals that were scored, it reeks of symptoms that plagued the team earlier in the year. This is Alain Vigneault’s third year behind the Rangers bench. The first two seasons of his tenure, the Rangers ranked 3rd and 6th, respectively on the penalty kill. This season: 26th. Now, there is a fundamental disconnect between fans and the organization when it comes to systemic changes, especially in New York. A system doesn’t work for one game; three of the five boroughs are changing half the lineup and re-writing the system in place. Patience is a necessity for allowing professionals to do their job consistently.
The other side of that coin is a stubborn refusal to recognize when integral parts to the system are no longer functioning as they once were. When you add in attrition of players who were once indispensible to the system’s success, it is a recipe to evolve or die. Carl Hagelin is gone. Anton Stralman is gone. Brian Boyle is gone. Ryan McDonagh has been consistently banged up for two years. Dan Girardi and Marc Staal are in serious decline. All of these guys had significant PK roles over the past few years.
There are many aspects to being a quality coach. You have to deal with these guys on a human level. They are your employees. You have to motivate them. They have to want to play for you. They have to trust your decisions and your faith in their ability to perform. You have to know how to get the most out of these guys, whether through the media, the room or on the bench. You have to be on the same page with hockey operations and their vision for the construction of the roster and the roles different players slot into. That is a lot of responsibility outside of the actual systems, line combinations, ice-time and other deployment decisions.
Which is to say that Alain Vigneault is a good coach. He is, however, displaying a somewhat maddeningly dogmatic approach to the tactics that have worked for him in the past. His ability to recognize personnel deficiencies and quickly adjust to minimize the damage has been severely lacking.
The value of failure comes in the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past. Even if the Rangers come out with a win on Saturday, it is highly unlikely that they will be able to come back from 3-1, yet again. Whenever this season comes to an end, it will be an opportunity for the front office to assess the strengths and weaknesses of this club, honestly. Whether they choose to do that or not is ultimately up to them. However, with the “win-now” mindset employed over the past few years, the medium to long-term outlook needs to be taken into consideration. As unfair as it may be, this off-season may set the table for Jeff Gorton’s entire legacy as the GM of this franchise.
I also wanted to take a moment to address Henrik Lundqvist. It seems as he has gotten older that more and more people have jumped on the “in decline” bandwagon and take shots at his overall legacy based on the lack of a Stanley Cup on his resume. Hank turned 34 years old this March. He has been far and away the best goaltender of this generation. No one else even comes close. Even at age 34, his advanced metrics this year have been the definition of elite, even playing behind a tire fire of a blue line. He has never played on a team that has been remotely talented enough to win a Stanley Cup. He has elevated average groups to contention level for over a decade. Even if he never wins a Cup, the guy is a greatest goaltender to ever play for this organization (coming from a guy who grew up idolizing Mike Richter) and a sure fire first ballot Hall of Famer.
We will have a massive amount of coverage on what will be a hugely important offseason whenever the Rangers’ season comes to an end. At this point, I think everyone is just hoping they can take stock of how they got here and make enough adjustments prior to Saturday to extend the season for another couple days.
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