Multiple Rangers have taken steps back, but why?

With the Thanksgiving threshold now passed, we can take a deeper dive into the Rangers stats with a more meaningful sample. While the focus has mainly been on the defense and Mika Zibanejad, many Rangers have taken steps back, it’s multiple Rangers playing big time roles. How could so many Rangers all falter at the same time?

Problem goes beyond Zibanejad, Trouba, and Lindgren

It’s been easy to blame all three of Zibanejad, Jacob Trouba, and Ryan Lindgren. They are the faces of the poor play from the Rangers, and in the case of Zibanejad and Trouba, make too much money. Salary shouldn’t be a factor, but it certainly compounds the issues.

All charts from evolving-hockey.com.

Both Trouba and Lindgren have been a step above atrocious and have little hope of rebounding. Trouba’s issues also extend off the ice, as a lame duck captain that Chris Drury tried to trade this summer and is apparently still trying to do so. Without re-hashing the summer disaster, being a lame duck captain is tough for both Trouba and the team. But he has been objectively better this season than last, though that doesn’t give us the warm and fuzzies.

If we want to look at the bright side, Trouba’s expected defensive metrics (xGAR) are at least positive, and his actuals (GAR) are a big negative. This potentially suggests he’s been unlucky with opponent shooting success while on the ice. Also his PK numbers are trash.

Funny enough, Lindgren has been better this season as well. Like Trouba, the bar is on the floor, but it still applies. Improving on last season doesn’t matter much when still a severe net negative on the ice, but progress is progress. His defensive play has certainly turned a corner from last year’s mess, but his expected metrics (xGAR) are worse than his actuals (GAR) on defense, suggesting goaltending is keeping him somewhat afloat defensively.

Still, this isn’t new analysis. Both Trouba and Lindgren are part of the problem.

Zibanejad is in the same boat as Trouba and Lindgren, though with a much sharper decline this season, which leads us to believe there’s something else going on. His defensive play has possibly been overstated of late, which is another reason why his role likely needs to change, but this is all stuff we’ve spoken about before.

Interestingly enough for Zibanejad, his xGAR on offense is much improved from last season and also higher than his GAR, suggesting shooting rates and luck are part of the problem. This checks out, since how many Grade-A chances have we seen get shanked, whiffed, or hit a post? His defensive numbers are hot garbage though. Change his role.

Other Rangers have taken steps back, including Vincent Trocheck

The concern with the Rangers is that it’s not just these three players that look bad to start the season. If it were just one center and a defense pair, they can work around it and still avoid 5 game losing streaks. But it’s other players in big time roles that are also struggling to start the season.

Not necessarily spoken about that much, Vincent Trocheck has been a shell of himself to start the season. Trocheck has never been a defensive wizard, but to see his offensive numbers completely tank despite getting primarily offensive zone starts against weaker competition is a giant red flag. His role in relation to his play is a big, big problem.

As for Kreider, perhaps his back spasms are a contributing factor to his slow start, and we shouldn’t ignore it. But that doesn’t explain all of his offensive play driving completely going down the toilet. There’s not one redeemable aspect to his game at 5v5 right now. He’s fine on special teams, though.

K’Andre Miller has been downright terrible too, despite his strong start to the season with Adam Fox. There are a lot of factors, as he’s been playing more with Jacob Trouba lately, but to see such a steep drop off in every major statistical category is another giant red flag.

What sets Trocheck, Kreider, and Miller apart from Zibanejad, Lindgren, and Trouba is their drop offs were sharp, unexpected, and don’t have an easily explainable reason. All three were fine last year, so it’s not the system. Two of the three are healthy. None had their roles changed too much, and Miller has far more time with Fox instead of Trouba.

So what’s the deal and how does it get fixed?

If you’re looking for one specific answer to what ails the Rangers, then look elsewhere. Focusing first on Zibanejad, Lindgren, and Trouba, there’s a strong chance all three are poor fits for Peter Laviolette’s system. As Suit pointed out, the issues that plague the Rangers go far beyond the blue line personnel.

The easiest answers may lie with Zibanejad and Kreider and simply changing their role. We covered it, but if their role isn’t suited for their results, change the role. Even with the line shakeup, the Krieder-Zibanejad-Smith line has stayed intact, so the easiest answer is to stop putting them out against top competition. Shelter them more, and give the tougher minutes to a different line (Cuylle-Chytil-Kakko or Cuylle-Trocheck-Kakko).

Speaking of Trocheck, he was fine last year and fell off a cliff this year. Part of it could be age, but that steep of a drop off doesn’t come from age alone. He’s simply gotten away from strong fundamental hockey and, like many other Rangers, is simply looking to fly the zone and generate offense. It’s not going well. Getting back to basics is the fix for Trocheck.

Miller is a big Elmo shrug though. He could simply be having a bad year, which does happen from time to time. Or perhaps he was being exposed as part of the “shutdown pair” with Trouba, as that pair has, at best, barely worked. Miller-Fox was so good to start the season that perhaps sticking with them and riding out his poor play is the best bet.

What’s been so frustrating about the Rangers is that it isn’t just one area of their game that needs work. Last season we knew it was generating sustained offense. This year it’s seemingly everything going wrong. The win against Montreal was nice, and perhaps all the scuffles woke the Rangers up a bit. This is not a team that can flip a switch come playoff time. They need to wake up.