New York Rangers Struggling With Similar Issues That Have Plagued Them In Recent Seasons – Hockey Writers – New York Rangers

Despite having an 8-3-1 record to start the season, the New York Rangers have not looked good for much of this season. Especially in the last five games in which they were defeated, they came out on top, they were beaten by teams that should have been worse than them. Although they were able to pick up wins thanks to Igor Shesterkin who came to the rescue again, he can't continue this kind of performance for the rest of the season and in their last game, all these problems came to the fore.

The Rangers were beaten by the Buffalo Sabers on home ice with a final score of 6-1. Shesterkin was subbed off in the second half after allowing five goals on 12 shots and the rest of the team looked confused from start to finish. This game showed that this team is not perfect and they are still facing the problems they had in the last few seasons and in this clip, we will discuss some of these problems and what they can do to fix them. , if so.

The Rangers Defensive Core is not good enough

One of the Rangers' biggest problems that was most apparent in their Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Florida Panthers was that their defense wasn't good enough to keep up with the top teams in the NHL. It seemed like big changes were going to be made with big rumors in the offseason that Jacob Trouba would be traded, but he used his trade protection to prevent a possible trade and now, the Rangers are running back the same defense. which wasn't good enough last season, with Erik Gustafsson out, and Zac Jones and Victor Mancini battling for the sixth defensive spot.

The biggest complaints last season were that the defender wasn't moving enough and couldn't move the puck up the ice well. So far this season, nothing has changed and it can be argued that it has become more widespread.

Adam Fox has not looked like his usual self this season and if he is not at the top of his game, then the defense is in serious danger. Trouba looks good but still has moments where he struggles. Braden Schneider looked good in some games and bad in others. The two defensemen who stand out and are not in good form are K'Andre Miller and Ryan Lindgren. Miller has looked bad this season and for a player looking for a raise in his next contract, if he plays like this, he loses more money.

Lindgren has been the worst defender on the team, and it's not even close. First, he is still playing on a broken jaw and is not 100%. Add that to all the struggles he's faced over the years, and you get a player who is a shell of what he used to be. He is not the defender he was a few seasons ago and is hurting this team more than he is helping. If Rangers want to be a legitimate contender, they must see how they will change their defense because they have a history of not being good enough when the games get tough.

Monitors Have No Group Ownership

One of the biggest concerns of this group is their lack of identity. If you look closely at this group, what exactly is their identity? Is it because they have one of the best goalkeepers in the world who can win any game on almost any night? Maybe, but as we saw against the Sabres, if he has one night, the whole team goes nuts so being a good goaltender is not a recipe for success. Rangers are not a team that can hit or play a very physical style because that is not their game. They are also not great defensive players who can shut down the other team. They don't play fast and rarely get in the throat and fight for it again, who is the Ranger?

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The thing they have shown the most in the last few seasons is that they do not have the heart and desire to win when the games are difficult. In three straight championships, they have had series leads and have gone on to lose series and make the other team look like juggernauts. In the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning, they took a 2-0 series lead and went on a losing streak. Did they learn anything from it? Apparently not, because the following season, they blew a 2-0 series lead over the New Jersey Devils and went on to lose the series in Game 7. Did they learn from it? Again, the answer is no because against the Panthers, they took a 2-1 series lead and went on a three-game losing streak and were kicked all over the place.

It seems that the guards have this mentality of giving up that if things don't go their way, they just lie down and take it. This is very worrying because these players are still there and it seems that nothing has changed so far this season.

Top Players Continue to Struggle

Another thing that worries them is that some of their top players were not playing at the level they used to and it cost them some of the play-offs. So far this season, there have been two players whose struggles have stood out the most. Those players are the two main centers of the Rangers, Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck. For Zibanejad, this decline started last season and continued into the playoffs. The two worst things he did last season were going 30 games without a goal at 5-on-5, then going the final 10 games of the playoffs without scoring a goal.

This season, the trend has continued and he has tried so hard that Peter Laviolette had to change lines just to try to move him. Laviolette put him in with Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere and so far, Zibanejad has made those players look awful next to him. It seems that it is Zibanejad's issue and although the fans can guess why he refused so much, something has to change because Rangers have no chance to run deep if they continue to play like this.

For Trocheck, his problems were not talked about as much maybe because he had a good season last season. He has just three goals and nine points in 12 games and while those numbers may not look too bad, he doesn't look like the player he was last season. He seems to be playing with less energy and less motivation. He looks carefree at times and doesn't play with that in your face like he usually does. Something is wrong with him and it's a big problem now because if he and Zibanejad are struggling at the same time, it puts a lot of pressure on the players around them to improve. So far, that hasn't happened. Both of these players have shown that they can be great; they need to get back to playing at a high level if the Rangers want to win the Stanley Cup.

The Rangers' impressive scoring this season has masked most of these issues, but as we saw with the Sabres, if Shesterkin has a chance to rest, the team's game plan goes out the window. These three problems must be solved as soon as possible because if they are not solved, another season will pass that will end in disappointment. Maybe that's what this team needs because if they lose again, this backbone is about to split and maybe that will end up being a warning to the players who are still standing because it seems like they haven't gotten the message after three consecutive disappointments. .