PuckUpdate :: The Hockey Blog » Rangers

Will Less Starts Be Good for Henrik Lundqvist?

Steven Ovadia — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:51:10 +0000

It seems that most goalies never want to surrender starts, no matter how ridiculous their numbers start to get.

New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist started 72 games last season and now even he’s admitting that was way too many.

The funny thing is, Lundqvist wasn’t even an exclusive member of the 70+ start club. There are actually five other goalies who started 70 or more games last season.

The season before, Lundqvist started 70 games, along with three other goalies.

There have always been certain goalies that are NHL work horses. New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur for one. Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff for another.

Sometimes a goalie starting over 70 games speaks to goalie depth (or lack thereof) within the organization.

Sometimes that many starts speaks to a hot goalie.

A lot of the time it speaks to a coach who’s too scared to change goalies.

Lundqvist has played in a perfect storm of all three factors. He’s never had a true backup before this upcoming season, assuming Martin Biron works out for the Rangers.

Plus, Lundqvist, has had some breathtaking goaltending moments over the years, including some very hot streaks. When Lundqvist is on, it has to be difficult to entertain the thought of sitting him – even for just a few games a month.

And finally, Rangers coach John Tortorella is a creature of habit. He likes giving a lot of work to his best players, even if it means risking running that player down and perhaps even exposing him to injury.

Lundqvist is obviously a quality NHL goalie, but he’s often been susceptible to yielding soft goals. One theory says mental fatigue from so many starts is what causes Lundqvist to lose his focus at inopportune times. But another theory says Lundqvist needs a lot of work to maintain his focus and less work would result in more mental lapses.

It’s probably a good thing that Lundqvist and the Rangers are going into the upcoming season with ideas of a more conventional goalie workload. But it’ll be interesting to see if the reduced starts results in stronger goaltending from Lundqvist.

Starting over 70 games a season isn’t sustainable but Lundqvist has done a pretty nice job of making it work.

Rangers Should Pay Erik Christensen Because There’s No Plan B

Steven Ovadia — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:37:53 +0000

The Rangers are a funny team.

Last year, one of the few bright spots was the play of Erik Christensen, the waiver pickup who wound up centering Marian Gaborik. His eight goals and 18 assists in 49 games was hardly earth-shattering, but he gave the Rangers a down-low presence that often attracted enough attention to give Gaborik some nice looks.

The Rangers low-balled Christensen on a new contract, so Christensen turned them down.

There’s already some Christensen backlash. Apparently he should be grateful for whatever the Rangers offer him, despite his talent or contributions.

The thing about Christensen is he knows he’s not a huge talent and he knows he’s not a young guy. He knew his time in New York was all about keeping an NHL job. If he failed in New York, he was probably done in the league. But he didn’t fail. He had a nice season and showed some versatility.

So why shouldn’t he pursue the best contract he can find? Why shouldn’t he make sure he doesn’t leave any money on the table?

And conversely, why are the Rangers low-balling a guy who can help their team? Would GM Glen Sather really rather start the season without any kind of top center instead of giving Christensen a decent contract?

Aaron Voros and Donald Brashear both have contracts worth at least $1 million per year. Both will probably never leave the AHL next season to keep their contracts off the Rangers’ cap.

The Rangers are a rich team. They can afford to stash contracts in the minors.

If you have an effective player, you should try and keep him. Especially if you don’t have a plan B.

And you could make the same case for restricted free agent defensemen Dan Girardi and Marc Staal. I’m not convinced either is a top four defenseman anywhere else but New York, but they’re the Rangers’ top pair. So unless Sather knows he’s going to be able to sign a new shutdown pair, it’s in the best interest of his team to get those two signed.

When free agency starts, I have no doubt Sather will overpay for at least one player. Overpaying is a regular part of the NHL free agency process. There’s too much competition for too few players. So why won’t Sather overpay to hold onto the few bright spots on his team? Why overpay for strangers when you can overpay for known quantities?

Wild and Flyers Blame Olympics for Injuries

Steven Ovadia — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:57:07 +0000

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Some people really don’t like the NHL’s participation in the Olympics during its regular season.

Apparently, Tim Panaccio and I are two of those guys.

His Sunday column hypothesizes the Flyers recent struggles are at least partially linked to the amount of Olympians they had playing in Vancouver.

I’m no fan of the Olympics, but I think you have to also give some credit for Philadelphia’s slide to their Spinal-Tap-esque loss of goalies.

Also, in that same Sunday column, Panaccio mentions Vancouver’s Kyle Wellwood’s resurgence since the Olympic break, crediting the time off for the improvement.

So I wonder if some owners like the idea of the Olympics because it’s a free break for their team.

The Flyers are still trying to figure out their goaltending situation. Brian Boucher looked OK in last night’s big win over New Jersey. Boucher was backed up by college senior Carter Hutton, who was sent back to the AHL after last night’s game.

Regular backup Johan Backlund has a tweaked groin, but might be ready to return. Otherwise, it seems like Jeremy Duchesne will backup Boucher.

It’s crazy to see how much juggling and thinking the Flyers have to do, just to play a game. And if Boucher hadn’t settled down, who knows what they would be doing. Maybe going six-on-five.

But again, that wasn’t really an Olympic issue. Or was it?

The Wild are also dealing with some injuries and are also blaming the Olympic-induced compressed NHL schedule.

Wild GM Chuck Fletcher actually has people looking into why certain Wild injuries happened and if they were somehow preventable, which seems like a great, and ambitious, plan of attack.

Of course, not everyone hates injuries. I just posited the New York Rangers would have been better off with more injuries over the past two seasons. The health of the team prevented coach John Tortorella from having to get creative and re-imagine his line-up. And that’s a club that needed to have its lineup re-imagined.

Rangers and Flames Trade Broken Pieces

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:01:44 +0000

The Rangers completed their trade for Olli Jokinen this morning, giving up the underperforming Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik for Calgary’s Jokinen and Brandon Prust.

Kotalik was strange for the Rangers. Brought in as a powerplay specialist, he became such a defensive liability, he found himself a consistent scratch, despite a booming shot. Also, presumably brought in because of his success on a line with Chris Drury in Buffalo, the two didn’t spend much time playing together.

So the Rangers unload a healthy scratch who takes up $3 million over three years.

Higgins also underperformed. Rangers coach John Tortorella went above and beyond in trying to get him going, giving him plenty of ice time and chances, but Higgins has seemed snake-bitten, hitting posts and missing open nets. The Long Island native might have been under too much pressure playing for the Rangers. A change of scenery to Calgary will do him wonders.

The Flames unload Jokinen, whose reputation as a horrible teammate proceeds him. The Flames knew they weren’t going to re-sign him, so they figured they’d get something now. It’s just weird that the something they wanted would be two players not living up to their potential.

Prust is an enforcer who might let the Rangers buyout the struggling Donald Brashear, who lately only seems to be enforcing the Rangers contractual obligation to pay him more than he’s worth. Also, Rangers GM Glen Sather likes to have as many third/fourth liners as he can.

It’ll be interesting to see where the Rangers place Jokinen. My guess is he won’t play with Marian Gaborik most of the time, in an attempt to give the Rangers the illusion of depth and scoring.

So the Rangers dump some dead weight and get back a difficult personality they won’t have to deal with for long. The Flames dump that same personality and get back some players the seem to think they can get going.

It’s a lot of bad pieces moving around, but at least the bad pieces are evenly spread.

Christensen Shows Rangers the Power of Desperation

Steven Ovadia — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:51:08 +0000

Over the break I read BALL FOUR, Jim Bouton’s famous tale of his 1969 season pitching for the Seattle Pilots and the Houston Astros.

The book is famous because it was the first one to destroy the mystique of the professional athlete. We learned guys like to drink and curse and look at women.

The book is also interesting because it takes place before baseball players won a lot of their contractual victories, so a good portion of the players in the book are constantly playing for their next contract every year. It provides a tremendous incentive for them to perform well each year, too.

I say that because last night in Raleigh, New York Rangers coach John Tortorella took Erik Christensen, picked off of waivers from Anaheim, played sparingly in New York, and without a point on the season, and put him on the Rangers top line between Marian Gaborik and Brandon Dubinsky.

Christensen played 20 minutes, pretty much what he had played the previous two games combined, and finished with a goal and an assist.

Between periods, he told MSG his agent had told him guys like him are always playing for their next contract, so he knew he had to take advantage of this opportunity.

Now we don’t know how Christensen will finish the season. And for some reason, I doubt he’s the second coming of Joe Sakic. But it did make me think about the value of short-term contracts and how they keep players sharp and desperate. The Rangers recent struggles can pretty much be tied to a distinct lack of players who are neither sharp nor desperate.

There’s value to longer-term contracts, and if you look at the NHL point leaders you’ll definitely notice quite a few of those players are locked down for a while, but Christensen is showing a one-year contract can be a powerful motivator. Especially for a player who might be out of options if his current NHL team doesn’t re-sign him.

More NHL teams should leverage this desperation to get a better performance out of marginal players. When teams are out of options, why not throw a career fourth-liner onto the top line for a few games and see what happens? Even if it just works for a few games at a time, it’s cheaper than keeping an average player for five or six seasons. Plus, marginal players are much easier to send down when their value has expired. And, they’re easy to trade for another marginal player.

Also, how is Buffalo also playing Atlanta today? The NHL couldn’t schedule them off so the Winter Classic would have the day to itself? Or, as long as the Thrashers are in Buffalo, couldn’t they have also played that one outside? They could probably get a great sheet of ice going in about 40 minutes.

Tocchet and Hitchcock Try to Turn Things Around

Steven Ovadia — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:54:03 +0000

When a GM supports a coach, that’s usually the surest sign the coach is about to be fired.

Down in Tampa, GM Brian Lawton is supporting coach Rick Tocchet, even as the team struggles to find consistency.

One thing that’s forgotten about Tocchet is that he’s a new coach with an inexperienced coching staff. Rookie coaches and rookie players aren’t always the best combination.

Tocchet still might figure things out. And the main thing keeping him in his job is he’s not Barry Melrose. I suspect Tampa ownership loves Tocchet for that alone.

Speaking of struggling teams, things are rough in Columbus. In fact, things are so bad, coach Ken Hitchcock opened up to the team:

According to players, who didn’t want to discuss the meeting publicly, Hitchcock opened up in a way they have not seen, letting down his “coaching” guard and showing them a side that rarely finds its way through all the film study and the harping on playing more competitively.

If I’m a Blue Jacket and Ken Hitchcock is spilling his guts to me, I’m even more freaked out now. I was under the impression Hitchcock wasn’t programmed with feelings.

Obviously, Hitchcock is totally out of coaching bullets. Flipping through his coaching playbook, he probably realized the only things he hadn’t tried were “emotional sharing” and “shooting a player in the leg.”

Of course, the season isn’t over yet.

Also, 30 years ago today, Mike Milbury beat a Ranger fan with a shoe.

I love that story because when you look at what Milbury did as a GM, the shoe thing seems like one of his sanest moments.

Tortorella Fixes Rangers for One Night

Steven Ovadia — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:55:34 +0000

Just to follow-up on yesterday’s Rangers post:

Last night against the Isles, coach John Tortorella decided to actually coach and scratched Ales Kotalik, a presence on the powerplay, but not really a top-six forward, and defensemen Wade Redden, who apparently freaked out about the scratch. Chris Drury was demoted to the fourth-line, although by the end of the game, he seemed to have been back in Tortorella’s good graces (but it can be hard to tell with Tortorella’s impressionistic line changes).

Rick Carpiniello said the move wasn’t enough of the statement, but at least leaves Tortorella room to scratch more people down the line.

The Rangers wound up beating the Isles 5-2, but that says way more about the problems of the Islanders than the success of the Rangers.

The Rangers came out with a lot energy, which seems to indicate Tortorella hasn’t entirely lost his team. But Larry Brooks says there’s work that needs to be done:

There is repair work to be done here, repair work between Tortorella and his players. The Rangers have not quit on the coach. But there appears to be a disconnect between the team and the coach who seems to have divided his athletes — or at least his forwards — in a caste system where the top six are more worthy than the grinders and role players who are essential to any big-time club.

Tortorella knows he needs to move quickly. He can’t let this malaise fester as the Rangers pile up losses. Last night wasn’t a big win over a tough team. It was a big win over a tired Islanders team that missed a wide-open net once and couldn’t get the puck up enough on goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who played an incredible game. The Rangers could have lost 6-5 just about as easily as they won 5-2.

The Rangers played better, but not well. Tortorella can keep scratching his big-name players, and that might help short-term, but eventually he needs to figure out a sustainable way to win with his personnel. Scratching Redden doesn’t make the Rangers a playoff-ready team the same way changing a flat tire on a 1987 Fiat doesn’t suddenly make it ready for NASCAR.

Tortorella Must Find His Inner D’Antoni

Steven Ovadia — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:57:59 +0000

Watching last night’s Rangers loss to the Islanders, I think most people were thinking the same thing: Coach John Tortorella seems to have lost the team.

Larry Brooks won’t rule it out, but doesn’t think it’s very likely.

I’m pretty patient with coaches. I don’t think it’s fair to fire someone after just a season or so, since it can take years to truly change a team. But whatever Tortorella’s doing in New York isn’t working. They’ve lost their attacking style that brought them early season success, while somehow not transitioning into a defensive system. So the Rangers have managed to lose the offense while not picking up any defense. It’s pretty impressive, if you think about it.

Tortorella needs to look at his fellow Madison Square Garden coach, Mike D’Antoni of the Knicks. D’Antoni’s offensive system is legendary. His whole coaching style is based on getting up a lot of shots and knocking them down early in the shot clock. He valiantly tried to implement that system for the Knicks for over a season before surrendering to a more defensive system that was better suited to the Knicks talent (or “talent”). And the Knicks have started to win. D’Antoni put aside his signature coaching style and crafted a system that worked for his personnel.

But really, more than anything Tortorella needs to do something. Other than mess around with the lines, he really hasn’t done anything significant to his team during the most recent slide. He demoted Matt Gilroy, a rookie defenseman, but that hasn’t accomplished anything. It might have even made things worse. No one has been benched. No one significant has been scratched. Tortorella has just complained and cursed a lot.

If he wants to change the Rangers fortunes, he’ll now need to actually coach a bit.

If he doesn’t start coaching for the players he has, rather than the players he wants to have, if he hasn’t actually already lost the Rangers, he certainly will lose them.

Pepsi Center: ‘Why Am I So Empty?’

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:09:37 +0000

Adrian Dater points out Monday’s Avs-Flames game drew just 11,448 fans.

The comments on Dater’s post are interesting. Some say attendance is low because the Avs play the same teams over and over.

Other people said it’s a marketing issue.

One poster said Avs fans are still put off by last season’s debacles.

I’m going to throw out another theory: fan fatigue over the course of a long season.

Right now, Colorado is leading the Northwest Division. Calgary is right behind them, but considering there are around 50 games left in the season, Calgary and Colorado will probably swap places a few times. But basically, as long as Colorado doesn’t have some kind of epic collapse, fans know Colorado is heading to the post-season. So why would a casual fan spend money on tickets if the game is going to be relatively meaningless? Casual fans need to be told why a game is important or exciting. Casual fans aren’t opposed to buying tickets, but they need some kind of reason to do so. The reason can be an opposing star, a significant game, or an important storyline, but you have to give them some kind of motivation to leave the house. Hardcore fans know why a given game matters, but the casual fan doesn’t.

This isn’t just a Colorado problem, either. Scotty Hockey said Madison Square Garden was pretty empty last night, although in that case, the Rangers had a sell-out. Fans just didn’t show up to claim their paid seats. But that probably has to do with the Rangers being horrible right now.

Hockey is a two-season sport: The regular season and the post-season. As more and more things compete for our time, my theory is that a decent number of hockey fans are focusing their time and money on the post-season. I have no doubt that come the playoffs, the Pepsi Center will be jam-packed with rabid fans.

And one final possible factor: Are hockey fans changing? Hemisphere Magazine, an in-flight magazine, sent me a link to an article on the NHL’s embrace of the Internet as a marketing tool. I was going to dash off some airline jokes and ask you to imagine I’m reciting them in front of a spotlit brick wall, but instead the article got me wondering if the NHL’s use of the Internet might be hurting regular season attendance a bit. Are these Avs fans home because they’d rather watch the game while posting on Twitter, with GameCenter Live on in the background, in case the Colorado game isn’t great? As amazing as a live game is, do these fans prefer the online experience in some way?

Also, as we close in on Christmas and pass Hanukkah’s halfway mark, please be aware you can buy a putter shaped like a hockey stick. I’m not being compensated for this plug. I just thought it was a funny product.

Thibault Phones-A-Friend; Redden Reclamation Project Continues

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:54:43 +0000

I know this is hardly the most important story of the day, but I have to point out Jocelyn Thibault’s goaltending consultancy gig in Colorado:

Rather than being with the team full time, as goaltending coach Jeff Hackett was the past few seasons, Thibault still lives in Montreal and is spending occasional stretches with the team in Denver and on the road. He is empowered to pick up the phone and speak with either Anderson or backup Peter Budaj.

So is it me, or is Thibault getting paid to hang out with the team? And is he also getting paid to call his goaltending friends on the phone?

I guess this is my roundabout way of announcing my own goaltending consultancy. Email me if you’re an NHL GM or coach who’d like me to occasionally hang out with your team or call your goalies.

Although, the way Anderson is playing for the Avs, something must be right with this arrangement.

Speaking of odd arrangements, the Rangers are apparently considering allowing Wade Redden back on the powerplay.

Coach John Tortorella had kept Redden off of the powerplay to let him focus on his even-strength play. And, because with Redden on the point last season, the team gave up 14 short-handed goals, second only to the Flames eye-popping 15.

Now, the Rangers are ready to give Redden another shot, perhaps because defenseman Marc Staal has a shot that seems to take a good 45 seconds to get off.

Redden has responded very well to Tortorella’s coaching. His play has settled down a lot since last season and while Redden is still overpaid, most nights he’s no longer a liability. It’ll be interesting to see if more powerplay times leads to more confidence, of if it crushes the house of cards Tortorella built.