#new-york-rangers

#new-york-rangers

The New York Rangers have come plenty close to winning a Stanley Cup over the last decade. They made the Cup Final in 2014 and three Eastern Conference Final in 2012, 2022, and 2024. In each series, the Rangers were overpowered by a combination of skill, speed, heavy play, and star power. Emphasis on star power is critical, as the 2012 and 2014 runs were done in by lack of consistent offense, and the 2022 and 2024 runs by underwhelming 5v5 play.

NEW YORK The New York Rangers and the St. Louis Blues entered the third period tied at one. This was a similar position to what New York had found itself in during the final two games of its Western road trip in Denver and Salt Lake City. Both those games, of course, the Rangers lost. On Monday night at Madison Square Garden, they held off the Blue just enough to secure their second home win of the season.

Gavrikov might honestly be underrated and is easily the best defensive defenseman the Rangers have had in a long, long time. He is a human eraser most nights, taking out tough competition on a nightly basis with smart stick work and great reads. Last night he also added offense with two assists, one of which was an absolutely gorgeous pass to Adam Edstrom for the eventual game winning goal.

The Rangers are not very good. Unlike last year, the issue isn't effort. It's roster construction. We knew heading into the season that the Rangers would be relying, perhaps a bit too much, on veterans while hoping some kids would make the roster. That backfired as the only kid to make the team wasn't even many projected opening night lineups. With the roster in shambles and no cap space, is Chris Drury on the hot seat?

Well, it just might be time to start panicking if you're a Rangers fan. Another low scoring loss in regulation where the goaltender was far and above the best player on the ice. Results haven't been there, the process has been inconsistent of late, and all of this has led to the Rangers losing four straight while being outplayed in all of them.

The Rangers won three in a row, with wins over Nashville, Tampa, and Columbus, before a rough loss at home to Detroit. In this week's Patreon post (subscribe here!), Dave talked the Rangers season so far: The good, the bad, and where there needs to be improvement. Live From the Blue Seats talked the Rangers recent win streak and what's leading to their wins of late. Vincent Trocheck returned to the Rangers to start the week, arriving with the newly recalled Gabe Perreault.

The recall is likely due to Will Borgen's injury, as he did not play last night and it looks like he won't play tonight against Detroit. With the Rangers at 23 players already and without placing Borgen on IR, there had to be a player sent to Hartford to make room for Morrow. The only player that could be sent down without waivers was Gabe Perreault, so let's not all lose our minds over this.

I look at it as my job is to identify when the risk becomes too great, when it turns into reckless hockey. We don't want to play reckless hockey because we can't win that way. Can't win consistently. You can win the odd night, but you're not going to win consistently playing a reckless game. That's what I try to do, is give them the latitude to act on their instincts.

They have two very winnable games this weekend, though with a scheduling glitch, as they are in Columbus tonight and then face Detroit at home. Columbus is better than their record, having been done in by subpar goaltending from both Elvis Merzlinkins and Jet Greaves, tonight's starter. But this is a team that can score, so if the Rangers are sloppy again it may bite them.

This kind of scoring ineptitude hasn't occurred in almost 100 years. Fitting, I suppose, that this would happen to the Rangers during their centennial season. At some point no results needs to bring about change. Chris Drury made the decision to move on from certain players, and build this team to play Mike Sullivan hockey. With every player is currently in the worst shooting percentage slump of their careers, it's looking like a bad choice.

Live From the Blue Seats is recording tonight as the crew discusses the last week of Rangers hockey, from the good to the bad to the ugly and everything in between. There's a lot to discuss, as the process has been good, but the results have been bad. How long do you wait out good process if results don't come? How much of it is personnel related and how much of it just requires patience?

It might be fair to say at this point that when the Rangers step on home ice, they might be in their own heads. Not having a home win and it being early November is an absurd stat that doesn't seem to be getting any better. The Rangers got shutout on home ice again, despite a solid three game stretch out west.

Chmelar, the Rangers 5th round pick in 2021, has very quietly become a steady prospect for the Rangers. His 2-3-5 in 9 games this year doesn't light the world on fire, but he's been great for the Pack and has a nice edge to his game. The 6'5″, 220 lb winger will probably slide into a third line role, assuming he plays, to help give that line a little more scoring bite to it.

When the New York Rangers traded Ryan Lindgren to the Colorado Avalanche at last year's trade deadline, most analytically-minded fans like myself felt more relief than anything else. The Rangers organization is best known for handing long-term contracts to aging, declining defensemen. Think back to the contracts of Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, two players who went from beloved Rangers to despised for their on-ice play by Rangers fans.

The New York Rangers Will Cuylle had last looked up at the shot totals in the third period. At the time, he recalled, he saw only eight or nine on the Seattle Kraken's side. Seattle would finish Saturday night's contest with 13, less than half of what the New York Rangers generated in a 3-2 overtime win to cap off their annual Pacific Northwest road trip.

Live From the Blue Seats is back-recorded on Wednesday night (Dave forgot to post to ask for questions), before last night's loss to San Jose-as Rob and Dave discuss the Rangers biggest needs amid their inconsistent start to the season. The Vincent Trocheck injury hurts, but the Rangers scoring depth was absolutely gutted last season and in the offseason and simply hasn't been replaced. The top-six isn't scoring consistently and both Will Cuylle and Alexis Lafreniere look lost.

The Rangers played their second clunker on Monday night, losing to Minnesota and again struggling for consistency on offense. They now hit a soft spot in the schedule with San Jose tonight before traveling to Calgary, two very winnable games before a mini gauntlet next month. No game in October is a must win, and this is no different in the grand scheme of things. I'm calling it a must win because, to be direct, I don't want to deal with the negativity if they lose.