Regarding the Rangers, victimized on Monday by Ryan Ellis, Juusi Saros, Jean Hebert and Kelly Sutherland and on Tuesday by George Parros and the ironically named department of player safety:
1. Let’s just hope the Blueshirts do not respond to the flying elbow Ellis landed against Pavel Buchnevich’s head during the second period of Monday’s 5-2 double-empty-net-abetted loss to the Predators by inserting Micheal Haley into the lineup.
Because, as was proven time and again when David Quinn (and Alain Vigneault before him) dressed Cody McLeod the previous two seasons, a fourth-line sluggo is hardly a deterrent when the opposition decides to target the vulnerable.
The NHL justice system, in shattered pieces under the direction of the overmatched Parros (who may be getting direction from above), is no deterrent either. The NHL has largely adopted a hands-off approach to blows to the head and concussion-inducing hits, such as the Nikita Zadorov slewfoot on Jesperi Kotkaniemi on Dec. 5 that has sidelined the 19-year-old Finn since he incurred his brain injury.
Ellis, who was hunting prey throughout the match, received the league’s stamp of approval to play in his team’s match on the Island on Tuesday without so much as a hearing. Two minutes is what the amateurish officiating team of Hebert and Sutherland declared the blow that sent Buchnevich to concussion protocol and kept him sidelined for 7:26 between shifts, and who was this Parros to object?
Should the Rangers have responded, beyond throwing 41 shots at Saros? Scoring on the power play, which came up empty in 8:00, would have been optimal.
Beyond that, what, Brendan Smith should have just run at Ellis and should have challenged him to drop his gloves? Come on. The Blueshirts actually lead the league in fighting majors — don’t ask me how — and has that made them seem any tougher?
This isn’t a soft team, but it is a finesse team. These Rangers are not built to win battles. This, as much as the wackiness in the defensive and neutral zones, explains why they so rarely have the puck. By the way: Do you know who are two of the best at winning one-on-one’s on the boards? Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, that’s who.
But the Rangers don’t have a forward who, when in on the forecheck, makes opposing defensemen hesitant to go in the corner or be first to the puck. Chris Kreider, who intermittently played that role in the past, doesn’t often play that game. Brendan Lemieux is tough to handle, but the officials are on the lookout for him every step of the way.
The way the Blueshirts should respond is by adding some gristle to their bones and acquiring personnel who will make opponents think twice when they’re around the puck.
This has been obvious since the offseason, but the coach wants north-south, shoot-on-sight skill sets and most of his forwards are east-west guys who prefer to hold their fire. Something is going to give at some point.
If you’re a Rangers person, you shouldn’t necessarily be concerned with reacting to intimidation tactics as much as initiating them. I am a peaceful man, but hockey is not a peaceful game. Every single time Tom Wilson steps on the ice for the Capitals, that represents an intimidation tactic.
The Rangers need a Wilson equivalent (or two), but without the head-hunting feature and glitch. That is exactly the kind of player the Rangers need to advance this program that is still in the gestation stage regardless of how much everyone wants to accelerate it. At this stage, 16-13-4 is not half bad.
General manager Jeff Gorton has work to do. The Rangers need to add some fiber. And if the plan is to go north, they want might to think about players who go in that same direction.
2. We all know about reputation penalties, but Lemieux is the first guy to get generational reputation penalties, serving at least partially the sins of his dad, Claude.
Not since Sean Avery’s return to the Rangers in March 2009 have I seen such blatant bias in on-ice adjudication of plays involving Lemieux.
Monday’s fiasco, in which Hebert and Sutherland sent off No. 48 for a combined 12:00 for invented infractions represented a nadir in professionalism.
3. Panarin’s brilliance has elevated the Rangers exponentially. They are a threat to score a goal every single time No. 10 hops onto the ice. It was this way with Jaromir Jagr in 2005-06 and it was that way for Pavel Bure’s 12 games at the end of 2001-02 following his deadline acquisition.
The Russian Rocket recorded 12 goals and eight assists for 20 points while playing on a line with Eric Lindros, who went 9-7-16 over those dozen contests.
So upon taking over as coach the following season, what did Bryan Trottier do?
Why, split up Bure and Lindros, of course.
For more on the Rangers, listen to the latest episode of the “Up In The Blue Seats” podcast: