N.Y. Rangers: Center of Attention

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

SUNDAY

Montreal Canadiens

vs.

New York Rangers

FROM

8th Avenue Ice Hut

Manhattan

New York Rangers: On The Cost Of Success Off Broadway.

Hello.

Welcome back to RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS; the Rangers department of this blog.

Let me just put it out there ...

If you think fighting for the sixth through eighth spot in the Eastern Conference is fun, then you're in for a great regular season.

I'll take it a step further.

I'm sick and tired of hearing about speed and finesse, and finesse and speed.

But why stop there?

I've also had it up to ( ( (( HERE )) ) ) with Alain Vigneault.

My opinion of the Rangers has not changed much since last season.  The Rangers aren't big enough, or nearly tough enough for my liking.  I still think they are too small on defense.  And because of Henrik Lundqvist's contract, this team will forever remain one forward short (namely a center) of getting over the hump.

Some of that can be attributed to the New York Rangers always being good enough.  That's precisely why the Rangers do not garner better results from their amateur drafting.  Just making the playoffs means middle of the pack selections.

In the micro sense, you could argue in favor of one or two players.  In the macro, they simply can not draft and develop upper echelon talent.  It's a vicious cycle of competitive mediocrity breeding competitive mediocrity.  That's why they've been, and will remain inconsequential and weak up the middle for the foreseeable future, or until this cycle is broken.

Look at the Rangers history over the last ten years alone.  The organization's attempts at developing a center started and ended with Brandon Dubinsky.  This forces the front office to rely heavily on free agency to fill key needs.  Look where that has gotten them.  Their track record of going off campus dating back to Chris Drury reveals one failed attempt to upgrade center after another, and so on.

I'm sure there were some Rangers fans who relished that 10-1 can of whoop-ass the Chicago  Blackhawks opened all over the Penguins the other night.  But here's what I feel Rangers fans need to know.  The Pens are reigning back-to-back champions for a reason, none of which really have much to do with goalies Marc-Andre Fleury or Matt Murray.

In fact, Marc-Andre Fleury is now a member of the expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights, and Pittsburgh signed Antti Niemi in his place.  On his worst day, Henrik Lundqvist is a superior goal-tender to all three.  I think any NHL fan would agree.

This much is also certain: the Rangers were weak up the middle with Derek Stepan and Oscar Lindberg, and they can remain weak up the middle without them.  Derek Stepan posted 17 goals and 38 assists last season, and was only somewhat useful on the power play.  Oscar Lindberg scored eight goals with 12 assists in 60 games last season, and was useless on the power play.

Mika Zebanejad at least is 23-years young (and well...?).  He scored 14 goals with 23 assists in 56 games, but, like Stepan, was only somewhat useful on the power play.  Can he be that 50-point scorer from Ottawa again?  That remains to be seen.  Even then, so what?

I'll throw J.T. Miller into this, who frequently plays out of position.  He was second on the team behind Matts Zuccarello with 56 points (22 goals, 33 assists).  However, he, like some of the other centers, was rather useless on the power play.  Now take away Miller's stats, and the three aforementioned Rangers centers totaled 39 goals, and 73 assists, for 112 points.

Last year, Sidney Crosby led the NHL with 44 goals.  Evgeni Malkin added another 33 goals.  Together, they joined forces last season to score 161 total points.  Meanwhile, both just happen to be major assets on the power play.

Once upon a time, Pittsburgh was able to draft Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby because the Penguins were really, really bad.  At the time of their respective selections (2002-2003 through 2004-2005) the Penguins were only winning .368 percent of their games.  Malkin was the second overall selection of the 2004 draft.  A year later, Crosby was the first overall selection of the 2005 draft.

In 2004, Alex Ovechkin was the first overall selection ahead of Malkin.  The Rangers selected goalie Al Montoya with the sixth overall pick that year, and then selected Marc Staal with the 12th overall pick in the 2005 entry draft.

Now for the ponderous matter of Penguins rookie center Jake Guentzel.

In the first round of the 2013 entry draft, the New York Rangers selec.....

Oh, wait.  The Rangers didn't have a first round pick that year.

Oh, wait!  They didn't have a second round pick either.

Finally, in the third round of the 2013 entry draft, the Rangers drafted center Adam Tambellini with the 56th overall selection.  Then, with the 75th overall selection, the Rangers drafter winger, Pavel Buchnevic.

Two picks later, Pittsburgh drafted center Jake Guentzel with the 77th overall selection of the 2013 entry draft.

So, if you were to ask me how close are the Rangers to winning a Stanley Cup championship, I would answer look no further than their centers.

Why?  Because!

2016-17 Stanley Cup Playoffs:

• Goals Scored - Guentzel (13) #1
• Assists - Crosby (19) #1
• Points - Malkin (28) #1
• Goals Created - Malkin (10.2) #1
• Even Strength Goals - Guentzel (11) #1
• Game Winning Goals - Guentzel (5) #1

The Rangers opened the 2017-2018 regular season at home in disappointing fashion.  They had their chances against Colorado, but just came up short.

Saturday's 8-4 loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs was far more disturbing to me.  With Lou Lamoriello and Mike Babcock in charge, the Leafs are already light years ahead of the Rangers.

But I digress ...

The Rangers starting four centermen against the Maple Leafs were J.T. Miller, Mika Zebanejad, Paul Carey, and David Desharnais.

Paul Carey, 29-years old, a 2007 fifth round draft pick (Avalanche), entered the season having played just 20 NHL games over the last four seasons.  He played 14:43 against Toronto.

What can I say about David Desharnais?  He's older than Stepan, and comes far more cheaply.  David shoots left, Stepan shoots right.  And he's a nice guy, I'm sure.  Now 31-years old, Desharnais split time between Montreal and Edmonton last season.  His best season was 2013-24 with Montreal, when he netted 16 goals with 36 assists.  He'll perhaps be no more or less effective on the power play than Stepan was.  Yet, he played 13:11 against Toronto.

The Rangers scored 253 goals last season which sort of throws everything back in my face.  They ranked third in the Eastern Conference, and fourth in all the NHL.  They outscored Montreal/Ottawa by an aggregate 34-30 margin in last season's playoffs.  Yet, were eliminated in the second round by the Senators, four games against two.

Why?  Because I feel the Rangers have no spine, or said a more delicate way, an inconsequential group of centers.

Even the Washington Capitals, who last year skated three superior centers compared to those of the Rangers, and despite all the changes Washington's made over the last two seasons, they still failed to get through Pittsburgh's strength up the middle.

Just remember the heavy price initially paid by the Penguins organization:

• (2002-2003)  27-44-6-5 (.396)
• (2003-2004)  23-47-8-4 (.354)
• *
• (2005-2006)  22-46-14 (.354)

The Rangers generally have never been willing to sink that low, or pay that stiff a price at the gate.  Don't forget, those down years in Pittsburgh almost cost the city that franchise.  The only time the Rangers finished below .400 in my lifetime came when they posted a 26-44-10 (.388) record during the 1984-1985 season.  As an older teenager, I actually remember that season very well.  Before that, however, you would have to go back to 1965-1966 when the Rangers went 18-41-11 (.336) in the regular season.


SLAP SHOTS:

• Henrik Lundqvist will turn 36-years old in March.
• Did I mention I like Mike Sullivan better than Alain Vigneault?  After all, he's no stranger to Rangers fans.

Just saying...