Archive for Ondrej Pavelec
Should the Rangers sign a UFA backup?
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Codie McLachlan/Getty Images North America
Last July, the Rangers reversed course with their backup goalie plan when they signed Ondrej Pavelec to a one-year deal. Typically, Benoit Allaire has taken youngish goaltenders with upside remaining and helped them reach their potential. That upside has brought serious production to the backup goaltender position. With Pavelec, he was banking a guy who had NHL success being able to resurrect his career. A little bit of a different plan.
The results were mixed. Overall, Pavelec was fine and had some downright fantastic games in blue. However, injuries and long stretches where Alain Vigneault was not willing to play Pavelec somewhat derailed the original intention. Late in the season, a youngster named Alexandar Georgiev had a short cameo, indicating he was ready to get a longer look in the NHL.
Last “thoughts” post of the 2017-2018 season
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MSG in May (Deadspin)
Happy Friday, BSB people. With last night’s loss to the Islanders, the clock continues to tick down on a lost season. With one game to play, the Rangers currently sit in 23rd place in the league, just one point ahead of the Blackhawks and Oilers. If those teams win their remaining game(s), there is a long shot possibility that the Rangers could drop as low as 25th. With some moving parts still ahead for the Blueshirts, I have some thoughts…
1. If the Rangers do happen to fall into 25th place, they will have a 6.5% chance at the number 1 overall pick. Slim chance there, even though the 31st ranked team only has an 18.5% chance. The general consensus is that the talent drops off significantly after the top 9-10 picks, so the Rangers could use a stroke of good fortune when their lottery ball pops. Read More→
The goalie dilemma we didn’t expect to have
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No, this isn’t a post about Henrik Lundqvist. So Hank haters need not apply. When the season started, though, the Rangers were set with Hank in net as the starter and Ondrej Pavelec as the backup. It was a risk, but it paid off as Pavelec –after a rough start– started to show that he was a fairly capable backup. If not for some odd obsession with starting Hank every effing game, Pavelec would have seen more action.
Then the knee injury happened, basically shutting him down for the season. Up came Alex Georgiev on February 9, who basically sat on the bench for a while before getting his first start on February 22. He got back-to-back starts, stopping 90 of 97 shots. It was an impressive debut on a team that bleeds gives out more shots than LMFAO.
Yet another word on Henrik Lundqvist’s workload
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Photo Credit: Jim McIsaac
Quite a bit has happened since I penned this piece back at the end of December about Henrik Lundqvist’s workload. At the time, the Rangers were sitting in fourth place in the Metro division, with a semi-comfortable grasp on a playoff spot and only four points out of first place in the division. They were sitting in the first wild card position, with a healthy Kevin Shattenkirk and Chris Kreider. Lundqvist was on pace for 68 starts.
Since then, Shattenkirk has been knocked out of the lineup with a knee injury that required surgery (and basically every other defenseman, for that matter), Chris Kreider was diagnosed with a blood clot disorder that also required rib surgery. The Rangers have plummeted in the standings and now sit in last place in the Metro. Management has even come around, essentially preparing the fan base for a rebuild and writing a memo and holding a press conference signally that the team would be selling at the deadline. Lundqvist is still on pace for 68 starts. Read More→
Mid-season report card: the goalies
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Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images
The Rangers went into this season with question marks surrounding both of their goaltenders. Henrik Lundqvist was shaking off questions about an uncharacteristically poor season last year, and Ondrej Pavelec, Benoit Allaire’s latest pet project, had one foot out of the NHL. There were good reasons for fans and pundits alike to be skeptical of the stability in the Ranger crease, especially with Lundqvist turning 36 this season and the ridiculously high-quality backup goaltenders the Rangers have had the past four years.
At the halfway mark of the season, it seems that many of those fears have been unfounded (mine included), as both goaltenders have been strong through the team’s first 42 games. Let’s a dig a little deeper at each of their respective performances, shall we?
Some Friday thoughts
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www.NHL.com
The Rangers showed improved process on Wednesday night, winning a nail biter against Washington in a shootout. They look to build on that game tonight against the Red Wings in Detroit. The big news the past few days was the loss of Chris Kreider to a blood clot in his arm. With these developments and the Winter Classic coming up, as you can imagine, I have some thoughts…
1. First, the Kreider injury. This is one of those situations where the health of a human being supersedes anything hockey related. First and foremost, you hope Kreider makes a full recovery, simply because blood clots can be extremely dangerous. Complications can lead to stroke or heart attack. Get well soon, Mr. Kreider. Read More→
It’s time to get concerned about Henrik Lundqvist’s workload
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(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
Last night, the Rangers fell in a shootout to the division rival NJ Devils, a game in which they were severely outplayed. These things happen over the course of an 82-game season, chock it up to a bad performance and move on. Unfortunately, this game was just another in a string of games that begins to show a developing pattern. The macro is that the Rangers are surviving, if not thriving at the moment, in the face of all of current analytics than tend to predict success.
The micro is that Henrik Lundqvist is facing a massively heavy workload and is a huge reason why the Rangers are back in the playoff picture.
A difference in goaltending styles
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Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images
So far this season, Henrik Lundqvist has received the bulk of the playing time for the Rangers. Hank had played remarkably well considering the Rangers are currently dead last in the league in xGA/60 and 27th in the league in CF% (all stats per Corsica.hockey). Alain Vigneault has leaned on Lundqvist heavily as the Blueshirts have tried to rebound from their putrid start to try to gain solid footing in the division race. This adjustment has forced Ondrej Pavelec into a much lesser role than the organization originally intended, as they had hoped he would be a ~25 game backup. So far, he has started only five games.
When the signing was originally announced, I wasn’t crazy about it. Spoiled by four consecutive years of high-quality backup performances by Cam Talbot and Antti Raanta, I didn’t see the same level of success coming from Pavelec. After all, Talbot and Raanta were both younger goaltenders hoping to take the next step in their development and be in a position to start. With Pavelec, that ship had already sailed and he was looking to retain a roster spot in the NHL. At 30, his style was what it was and had no real reason to make meaningful adjustments.
Thoughts before the Caps game tonight
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NY Daily News
It’s been a bit of a slow week in Rangerland. Credit only having two games since I last posted, I suppose. The Blueshirts take on the Caps tonight, in the wake of Barry Trotz’ completely unnecessary criticism of Kevin Shattenkirk; the Rangers should have some motivation to make him eat his words. In any event, I have some thoughts…
1. The Rangers have gone 7-3-0 in their past ten games and they are still sixth (!) in the Metro. It just goes to show what a meat grinder this division is. The five teams ahead of them are separated by a single point. A single point. At least the Rangers have games in hand on everyone but the Devils, who are still inexplicably sitting atop the pile. The Rangers also have the second-best goal differential in the division, so hopefully regression will hit some of those other clubs a bit harder in the coming weeks.
Some quick Friday thoughts
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(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Happy Friday, BSB faithful! Through more or less the quarter season mark, it has been the tale of two campaigns for the Rangers thus far: the tire fire first twelve games, which saw the Blueshirts go 3-7-2 and the much improved last seven games, when they went 6-1-0. The Rangers have jumped back into the playoff picture with the win streak, so naturally, I have some thoughts…
1. As Dave has mentioned several times, the need for another center (or forward depth in general) just isn’t going away. Mika Zibanejad has been a revelation and Kevin Hayes has been a much more effective 2C than I would have imagined. However, for this team to actually contend, they need to be able to create matchup headaches lower in the lineup. Read More→