The New York Rangers defense pairs to start the season were shuffled due to the Ryan Lindgren injury. Adam Fox was paired with K’Andre Miller, Braden Schneider was with Jacob Trouba, and the third pair was a “rookie” pair with Zac Jones and Victor Mancini. The top-four were stellar, and while the bottom pair wasn’t great, they were learning on the go. It worked. The Rangers dominated opponents at 5v5. Then they got healthy.
Prior to Lindgren returning and the Rangers defense pairs being flipped, the Rangers completely dominated opponents. They were a strong 5v5 team, and even more importantly their top four defensemen were crushing opponents. Yes, that includes Schneider-Trouba pairing, which was surprisingly good. After they got healthy, Lindgren became a staple, and while correlation is not causation, that’s when the Rangers started to look like last year’s version.
Looking at the Rangers game log, Lindgren returned against Montreal, a strong performance by the Rangers in his return. After that, the Rangers have played mostly close games–save for last night–in his return, and only once have the Rangers been over 50% in shot share, xG share, and high danger shot share. That was against the Anaheim Ducks, a lottery team.
Aside: Due to score effects last night, with the Rangers down by 4 early, the Rangers are on the positive side of all three possession stats because Buffalo went into a shell to win.
Again, correlation is not causation, and this is not to say Lindgren is the cause of their poor play. It goes well beyond one player. But a team is only as strong as its weakest link, and the weakest link on the Rangers defense pairs right now is Lindgren. His game log isn’t pretty either.
Lindgren has certainly struggled against any decent team that can apply pressure. Say what you want about Ottawa and the Islanders, both teams can apply pressure and keep teams pinned. Focusing on the good teams, Lindgren was atrocious against Florida and barely serviceable against Washington. This is not a top pair defenseman. This isn’t even a bottom pair defenseman.
The Ryan Lindgren we had 5-6 years ago is no more. We’ve seen this story play out time and time again. The miles wear thin, he’s probably still hurt, and he’s been a detriment to the Rangers right now. We saw it with Dan Girardi. we saw it with Marc Staal. We saw it with Kevin Klein. We are seeing it with Ryan Lindgren.
For what it’s worth, Lindgren has better season long numbers than Victor Mancini. While it may not seem like a worthwhile point, it does mean something.
The Rangers defense pairs are not all about Lindgren
To pin the ineffectiveness of the Rangers defense pairs solely on Lindgren isn’t fair. It came off that way, but it was more to prove a point that the pairs were working until he was shoehorned back into the lineup. He’s wearing half a bubble, so clearly he’s not 100% either.
Part of the Rangers defense pairs woes are on Peter Laviolette. There was no reason to shake things up the way he did. Miller-Fox was one of the best pairs in hockey and Schneider-Trouba was surprisingly effective in a shutdown role. Jones-Mancini needed work, but mostly Mancini since he’s starting to get exposed a bit. Jones-Lindgren is a viable substitute here to at least try.
The Rangers defense pairs will continue to be their weakest link until they accept that defense is more than just keeping the puck out of your own net. In a 7 game series, the puck needs to move up the ice to put pressure on the opposition and wear them down. The puck needs to move up the ice to simply give your forwards a chance to score. The more time spent in the defensive zone, the less time spent trying to score.
Juggling the Rangers defense pairs from what was clearly working back to ole reliable is on Laviolette. It was mentioned in this week’s Patreon post (subscribe here!) as well, and it’s one of the risks with Laviolette. Until he realizes ole reliable isn’t reliable, this will continue to happen.
Or Chris Drury can force his hand. We know he was hesitant to ink Lindgren long term, and with Mancini showing he can at least provide the same impact while (hopefully) improving as he adjusts to the NHL game, Lindgren is already on the hot seat. Even if he isn’t traded, it’s time to reduce his minutes.
Tough choices need to be made. It’s better to make them now, instead of letting them linger.
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