Archive for Dominic Moore
The Rangers bottom line needs fixing
Posted by: | Comments
Dominic Moore is being misused.
A shutout victory against a very good team can mask a lot of deficiencies but the Rangers won’t win the Stanley Cup the way they’re currently playing – I think all Rangers fans know this. The top line can dominate all they want but they can’t play sixty minutes every game and Henrik Lundqvist can win the Vezina by a landslide but even he needs support. There is no way Lundqvist can continue this stretch of excellence unless the team start to play better in front of him.
The Rangers are winning games but they aren’t playing consistently well at either end of the rink – a handful of players aside. If it wasn’t for a potentially career year from Mats Zuccarello and Lundqvist’s sustained brilliance, what would this team’s record be? A lot closer to .500 hockey for sure.
Of course, there are a lot of reasons for optimism. The vast majority of the roster can play better, the defense certainly has the ability and collective track record to suggest they can (and will?) offer Lundqvist more protection and if team-wide discipline improves (it must) then the Rangers would spend less time in the penalty box surely resulting in more offense by default.
Putting together the ideal fourth line
Posted by: | Comments
Will sitting Fast work?
In case you missed it, and I’m pretty sure you haven’t, the Rangers have inserted Tanner Glass back to the fourth line. In the process, Jesper Fast has been scratched from the lineup. It’s October, so it’s not worth panicking yet (as I mentioned this morning), but this is a bit of an alarming move.
The Rangers need a solid fourth line to compete for a Stanley Cup this year. Scoring and skating depth throughout the lineup is critical, as is a fourth line that can eat up defensive zone starts. The Rangers had this in 2013-2014, and rode that roster construction all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Rangers did not have that last year. The scoring suffered. The defense suffered. And while injuries certainly played a role in their seven game loss to the Lightning, the roster was not constructed to give the Rangers their best chance at winning.
Rangers final grades: bottom-six forwards
Posted by: | Comments
Last season, the Rangers deployed Benoit Pouliot, Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello on their third line and Derek Dorsett, Dominic Moore and Brian Boyle on the fourth for much of the season. Needless to say, depth up front was a team strength.
Thanks to the cap crunch and some head-scratching offseason moves, the bottom-six just wasn’t quite the same this year. The team spent much of the season attempting to identify a third-line scoring winger and failed to support Dominic Moore on the checking unit. But though the sum of its parts wasn’t good enough, many members of the bottom-six did have terrific seasons.
What more could you ask for from the prized former Blackhawks first-round pick after he chose to join the Rangers last summer? Hayes really turned it on in the second-half, when it seemed like he improved every single game. Hayes has an impressive combination of size, hands and wheels, and the sky appears to be the limit for the 23-year-old. Hayes was a little quieter in the playoffs, but it’s hard to fault him for that.
Grade: A Read More→
The Dominic Moore effect
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s easy to write positively about an individual when that player has just scored an enormous, game winning goal in the biggest game of the season to date. However, since returning to the Rangers Dominic Moore has been absolutely everything the Rangers could have hoped for and more. He has been an example to the younger players, he’s been a defensive rock, a rare shining light at face-offs for a team so inept at them and he has been unexpectedly productive, particularly when games have mattered most. All this for the comparatively bargain $1.5m per year. In many ways Dominic Moore is the ideal bottom six role player.
We can break down Moore’s production (27 points, in a primarily defensive role) and discuss the penalty kill influence and face-off efficiencies he has but perhaps the biggest advantage of having Moore in the line-up has yet to be felt. While Moore is a veteran at 34 he is not long in the tooth and the Rangers have at least one more year of Moore as it currently stands. Moore’s presence in the line-up, his unquestioned work ethic and his ability to lead by example may be keenly felt for the remainder of this playoff run but also beyond this season.
Which Rangers could turn into overnight heroes?
Posted by: | CommentsTo go on a playoff run, a team needs solid goaltending first and foremost. It needs to stay healthy, and a good bit of luck. And it needs contributions from up and down the lineup.When the game inevitably tightens up in crunch time, the snipers and playmaking artists are often mitigated in favor of greasy goals with traffic in front of the net. They tend to come from unlikely sources – cement-handed Brian Boyle was among New York’s most dependable postseason scorers in recent years.
So who are the candidates to become overnight heroes this spring? Ignoring the top offensive guys – and that now most certainly includes J.T. Miller and Kevin Hayes – here are the cases for the grinders:
James Sheppard – GM Glen Sather made a point of noting Sheppard’s performance in last year’s playoffs when he scored six points in seven games against the eventual champion Kings. Sheppard has a nose for the net, which works to his advantage this time of year. The biggest thing working against Becky’s latest crush is his spot on the depth chart – there’s no guarantee he’ll even dress for many games.
Rick Nash – just kidding (kind of).
Dominic Moore providing the Rangers with championship calibre depth
Posted by: | CommentsDespite being lumbered with Tanner Glass as a linemate, Dominic Moore has once again provided the Rangers with a quality depth player, the kind of player who makes a difference in the playoffs. In the playoffs, games are traditionally much tighter affairs and it is often the role players that need to step up (think Mike Rupp for the Devils or Alec Martinez for the Kings last summer) and Moore is a player that always works hard and contributes in so many ways. Indeed, Moore has given the Rangers a little bit of everything this season.
On a team that struggles in the faceoff circle, Moore has been the Rangers best faceoff specialist with a 54.3% success rate (at time of writing), a number that’s also good for a top twenty ranking league wide (players with at least 500 faceoffs taken) and that skill has played a big part in helping Moore be a key part of the Rangers penalty kill which had risen to 7th in the league. Moore leads all Rangers forwards in shorthanded ice time and also has two SH goals to his name.
Are the Rangers stable of centers among the league’s best?
Posted by: | CommentsWhat was meant to be an organisational weakness has become a strength for the New York Rangers. Understandably, there is instant angst when Derek Stepan misses any game time because of injury and his absence certainly creates a hole in the line-up but the Rangers have to be delighted with the way the center position has developed this season.
A quick glance around the league and in terms of depth, the centers that make up the Rangers’ top two lines (so, Stepan and Derick Brassard) measure up against the best in the league. Only the all world double acts in Pittsburgh (Crosby, Malkin), Detroit (Zetterberg and Datsyuk), San Jose’s trio of centers (Thornton, Pavelski and Couture) and Stamkos and Johnson in Tampa are currently projecting to have at least two centers average higher points totals than Brassard and Stepan.
NYR bottom six forwards mid-season report card
Posted by: | CommentsContinuing on with the mid-season report card, this is my take on the Rangers bottom six forwards. Dave covered the goaltending and coaches and Chris wrote about the top-six forwards previously, so be sure to check them out.
(ALL STATS ARE 5v5 UNLESS NOTED OTHERWISE)
- GP: 43
- TOI/Gm: 12.7
- CF/60: 51.3 (8 fwd)
- CA/60: 49.2 (2 fwd)
- RelCF%: 2.0 (4 fwd)
- P/60: 1.4 (10 fwd)
- SHCF%: 11.0 (TOI/Gm – 2.1)
Hagelin’s speed keeps opposing teams honest. He’s been very reliable defensively, a dangerous part of the penalty kill and has big playmaking potential 5v5 on the offensive side of things. Keep your eye on his name in trade rumors. He’s a free agent at the end of the year and with cap space tight after Marc Staal’s extension he could be a cap casualty. Hagelin has been a big part of the bottom six and will continue to be moving into the 2nd half of the season.
GRADE: B
Why Dominic Moore deserves your NHL All Star Game votes
Posted by: | CommentsMoore.
If you missed it yesterday on Twitter, a good number of Rangers bloggers, ourselves included, are beginning a campaign to have Dominic Moore get enough votes to make the 2015 NHL All Star Game. Moore is probably the single most unsung hero on the New York Rangers at the moment, and it’s guys like Moore that rarely garner NHL All Star Game votes because they don’t rack up points. Martin broke down his fantastic start to the season, but the appreciation for Moore goes deeper.
Moore, who rejoined the Rangers last year after taking a season off to cope with the death of his wife, has been the one steadying force on the bottom six this season. Originally slated to be the 4C, he played up a role as the 3C when the Rangers dealt with the Derek Stepan injury. Players like Chris Mueller and Kevin Hayes played the 4C role, although Hayes and Moore flipped occasionally. But Moore’s true spot is the 4C, and he’s one of the best in the game.
Dominic Moore’s tremendous start to the 2014/15 season
Posted by: | Comments
Andrew Theodorakis/NY Daily News
Dominic Moore became a fan favorite last year and continues to impress now in the 14/15 NHL season. On a team severely lacking depth down the middle of the ice, the Rangers have been able to tread water with Derek Stepan out thanks to the play of Moore. Averaging 12.08 TOI, Moore needed to step up and help out in a 3rd line role and he has done just that. Despite heavy defensive zone starts (-26.83 Off ZS% Rel) Moore has posted outstanding possession numbers at even strength (6.40 Fenwick Rel%). His impact has not gone unnoticed. Moore has received plenty of praise for his early season play but it’s worth looking at a little closer.
Moore is 20th in the NHL of forwards at 5v5 in FA/60 at 30.54 (Fenwick Against is a measure of defense, which looks at shot suppression. For more details click here.). The leader in this category is Colin Wilson of Nashville at 27.22. He ranks 25th in DZFO% in that category as well. So not only is Moore starting the majority of his shifts in the defensive end, but he’s able to suppress shots while generating shots for the Rangers (40.11 FF/60). Not bad at all for your 3rd line center. Moore’s faceoff% of 53.85 certainly has helped in the defensive end.