Goal Line Report
Kotalik Needs to Produce
by Patrick Hoffman on 12/03/09 at 09:46 PM ET
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In a recent blog entry, Andrew Gross of Ranger Rants points out that New York Rangers winger Ales Kotalik needs to produce more and play better if he wants to get significant ice time.
In 26 games this season, Kotalik has 6 goals and 12 assists for 18 points, which isn’t terrible. However, on a team that does not have much when it comes to secondary scoring, that is not going to cut it.
At today’s practice, he was with newcomer Erik Christensen (center) and Christoper Higgins. These guys like to shoot the puck so Kotalik needs to be able to crash the net for rebounds. He needs to go into the dirty areas to make plays and if he can do that, his fortunes might turn around.
With that said, head coach John Tortorella believes the time is now for Kotalik to pick up his play:
“To me, it’s part of the process,” Tortorella said limiting Kotalik’s ice time. “There’s no question we’ve been upset with his play, especially five on five. Still,l as I said earlier, you can kick a player, and kick a player. But we want to try to help rebuild him, too. I wanted to get some attention along the way with players. I feel Kots needs to be a big part of this club. He’ll certainly get his opportunity. It’s time for him to jam it to me. That’s what I’m hoping for. I know he’s not happy with me. But don’t tell me and don’t give me faces. Show me, or show us. That’s why we go through this process.”
Click here for more on Kotalik and waiver pickup Christensen.
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Ales+Kotalik, Erik+Christensen, John+Tortorella, New+York+Rangers,
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Patrick has a tremendous passion for hockey. Besides covering the Rangers and the NHL for Kukla’s Korner, you can also find Patrick’s work over at Sportsnet.ca, The Red Light District Hockey Blog, NHL Home Ice, and Liam Maguire’s Ultimate Hockey web site.
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