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Play me!

The Rangers have a right-defense problem. Kevin Klein is solid and by far the best defenseman on that side. Aside from him, the Rangers aren’t really sure what they are getting on a nightly basis from Dan Boyle, Dan Girardi, and Dylan McIlrath. The cause of inconsistency varies by player, but inconsistency is still inconsistency.

Boyle is still a solid possession player and his presence opens things up on the powerplay. However he is old and he’s slowing down considerably. He got torched by a Caps player on Sunday to negate an icing, and has been slow to the puck relatively consistently all year. That’s by no fault of his own, he lost a step.

Girardi has had a terrible season, and a fractured kneecap probably isn’t helping matters. Injured or not, he’s been a liability on the ice. McIlrath’s inconsistencies are more easily explained, as he’s a rookie. He will make mistakes. But those mistakes will become fewer in number as he gets more playing time. He should be getting groomed for regular minutes next season as well.

Thus, it makes sense to have a rotation of the three to get the best out of these three. It’s clear Girardi and Boyle need some rest here and there. It’s also clear McIlrath needs more playing time. Rotate the three, playing two games on and one off, so that you can get them the rest. It was something I tweeted during the game on Sunday.

Starting with McIlrath, he gets more playing time in a rotation. He also gets the third game off to watch from the “eye in the sky” to catch some of the finer details of the system.

For Girardi, he gets that third day off to not only rest his knee, but rest his body. He’s a warrior, and prides himself on playing every game that he can, but at some point getting rest so you can perform better is more important. Same goes for Boyle, who certainly could benefit from a game off here and there.

A rotation like this does pose some potential issues on special teams, but these are easily addressed. On days when Boyle sits, replace him and Ryan McDonagh with Klein/Keith Yandle on PP1. Move McDonagh to PP2. This gives you the same trigger man on PP1, and keeps McDonagh fresher for the PK. PP1 hasn’t been good lately anyway, so a change is needed regardless.

It’s becoming clearer and clearer that the Rangers are going to ride the season out with Boyle and Girardi on the club, no matter what anyone thinks or wants. It behooves the club to get more playing time for their rookie as well, so a rotation for the trio for those two RD spots seems to be the most effective plan. Whether or not Alain Vigneault does this remains to be seen.

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