Goal Line Report
Next entry: Things That Need To Change at New York Ranger Home Games
Previous entry: Zherdev In a New York State of Mind
What the Rangers need to Work on
by Patrick Hoffman on 10/28/08 at 09:50 PM ET
Comments (1)
In his Rangers Report Blog this afternoon, Sam Weinman gave a few reasons why the Rangers are 9-2-1.
He cited the play of netminders Henrik Lundqvist and Stephen Valiquette, reporting to training camp early and in shape, a favorable schedule and unexpected contributions from guys like Aaron Voros and Fredrik Sjostrom.
These are all obvious reasons but just because they’re 9-2-1 doesn’t mean that everything is perfect.
For example, the play of Wade Redden has been below average. He hasn’t had the big impact on the power play like the coaching staff and the team’s fan thought he would and he’s been rather easy to get around. However, because of the play of the rest of the defense and Henrik’s goaltending, Redden’s shortcomings have been masked.
The team’s power play also needs to be a lot better. The team is just 9 for 62 with the man advantage, which puts them 24th in the league with a 14.5 percent conversion rate. When you have players such as Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev and Wade Redden, more pucks should be going in the net.
The offense in general has also been quiet. The team is 21st in the league with 31 goals in 12 games, which means they score an average of 2.58 goals per game. This is well below the average as close to half the league is averaging three goals or better. The question is will the Rangers’ attention to defense (first in the league in goals-against average) cause the team’s offense to be more quiet? Let’s hope not because more often than not, they’ll be at the other end of a one-goal game.
This is not all doom and gloom folks. Overall, the team is showing that they have depth, that they know how to play team defense, that they have tremendous goaltending and that overall, their winning hockey games. With that being said though, let’s remember that there are 70 games remaining and A LOT can happen.
For now, just enjoy the ride that the team is on and hope that the points they are accumulating now mean something come April.
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Aaron+Voros, Chris+Drury, Fredrik+Sjostrom, Henrik+Lundqvist, Markus+Naslund, Nikolai+Zherdev, Scott+Gomez, Stephen+Valiquette, Wade+Redden,
Comments
Add a Comment
Please limit embedded image or media size to 575 pixels wide.
Add your own avatar by joining Kukla's Korner, or logging in and uploading one in your member control panel.
Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother.
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
Most Recent Blog Posts
Rangers’ Best Players Come Through in Win Over the Flyers
Richards Wins It for the Blueshirts
Blueshirts Looking for Offense
Rangers Do It Again Over the Flyers
Jamie Shalley of NHL Home Ice Stops By To Talk Puck
About Goal Line Report
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 RLD Hockey, Rangers Tribune, and TheGoodPoint.com.
Prior to writing for the above mentioned outlets, you could find Patrick’s musings at hockey web sites/outlets such as TheHockeyNews.com, The Fourth Period, Spector’s Hockey, Hokeja Vestnesis, Blueshirt Bulletin, SNYRangersBlog.com and many more.
For questions, comments and hip checks, feel free to e-mail Patrick at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Watch great hockey at a low price with Dish Network Specials
When learning from experts it’s best to learn personally from them, or from their blog. We can provide that with poker lessons blog, your home to learn poker personally.
Do you get shocked from the luck in the game of poker? Stop getting shocked and start being a Poker Shoker
I think we saw the answer to that last season.
Posted by K24 from NYC on 10/29/08 at 08:30 PM ET