As the Rangers close out the season and prepare for the playoffs, we’ve seen a rotation of players getting some much needed rest. The rest and rotation will continue over the last four games of the season. While that garners most of the lineup attention. a subtle change was made at 4C, with a Brodzinski/Goodrow swap on the fourth line.
The swap flew under the radar last week, as news about Matt Rempe’s reinsertion into the lineup was the main story. Jack Roslovic’s time as a scratch took some attention away from the Brodzinski/Goodrow swap as well, but it was a short lived distraction, as he’s back in the lineup today at practice.
1. The Brodzinski/Goodrow swap was long overdue. For the last two seasons, we’ve been preaching that Goodrow is a fine enough center in a pinch, but his long term home should be on the wing. The defensive responsibilities at center are far more difficult than at wing, and given Goodrow’s speed and skating is showing its age, the wing was the safest spot for him.
2. This is not about faceoffs. In fact, it has nothing to do with faceoffs. We’ve seen time and time again where someone else can take the draw and then shift back to their spot within the system. In Peter Laviolette’s hybrid man/zone coverage, the center plays a critical role in taking away the high slot and adjusting to cover for defensemen caught up high or in the corner.
What the Brodzinski/Goodrow swap accomplished was giving the Rangers an extra half step in those coverages, which often means the difference between an open look and a contested look. We’ve also seen this trio generate a bit more offensively with Brodzinski at center. This is not a coincidence.
Aside: Goodrow is winning 54% of his draws, Brodzinski 50% of his draws.
3. The Brodzinski/Goodrow swap was probably overlooked initially since Will Cuylle returned to the third line after he was rumored to be a healthy scratch last week. Cuylle has been one of the Rangers top play driving forwards and has found a solid home with Alex Wennberg and Kaapo Kakko on the Rangers shutdown line.
Jonny Brodzinski was in Cuylle’s spot for a while, with Barclay Goodrow continuing his long stay at 4C. Peter Laviolette righted two wrongs over the weekend, and the bottom six has looked far better because of it.
4. I do think the current iteration of the lines will be what we see in Game 1 of the first round.
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Jack Roslovic
Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle-Alex Wennberg-Kaapo Kakko
Barclay Goodrow-Jonny Brodzinski-Jimmy Vesey
Many will point to Matt Rempe’s absence as a big negative. Rempe is certainly a high energy kid, but he’s too risky to have a steady spot in a playoff lineup. The Brodzinski/Goodrow swap has no impact on Rempe whatsoever. Considering Goodrow was never coming out of the lineup, perhaps this Brodzinski/Goodrow swap is a way of getting that last drop of hockey out of Goodrow this Spring.
5. Food for thought: Before the Brodzinski/Goodrow swap, the fourth line’s role was a bit of a question mark. They weren’t defensively sound enough to be a shutdown line and had little offensive flow to counter. Initially, they could have been an energy line.
Now with far more favorable defensive metrics–through two games at least–there’s a strong case to make them the secondary shutdown line. The Wennberg line should continue to get the opposition’s 1L, and perhaps the Brodzinski line gets the opposition’s 2L. They’d flip the matchup as needed based on last shift and faceoff location, of course.
This frees up the Zibanejad line to feast on depth lines, setting the Rangers up for far more offensive success.
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