First, you have Lias Andersson chucking a silver medal into the stands at the World Juniors. How some people can see that and come away thinking his actions were immature is beyond reasonable thought to me. He’s the captain of his team, and he’s disappointed he wasn’t able to lead his team to the gold.
You’re upset with him about that? He didn’t sit for the Canadian anthem. He didn’t refuse handshakes. He didn’t decline accepting the medal. He just got rid of it as soon as he had it. Where’s the fucking harm in that?
Then, you have Alain Vigneault. Holy shit do you have Alain Vigneault.
Did he get a single decision right this week? That’s an honest question.
Strike 1 – he starts Henrik Lundqvist against the worst team in the league on the front end of a back-to-back that included playing the team with the most points in the Western Conference. There’s never a scenario where Hank should start the Arizona game and Pavelec start the Vegas game. None.
Strike 2 – he scratches Brendan Smith for reasons to get Steve Kampfer back in the line-up.
Strike 3 – he scratches Pavel Buchnevich, which should be inexcusable when there isn’t an injury present.
Strike 4 – with Buchnevich in the press box, AV puts Paul “Him?” Carey on the second line, ahead of both Rick Nash and Michael Grabner.
Strike 5 – Kampfer receives more ice-time than Brady Skjei in 5v5 situations.
Strike 6 – he justified all these things by saying “it felt like the right thing to do” and, miraculously, wasn’t fired after those words escaped his gum-chewing mouth!
He struck out twice over the course of one at bat! That deserves to be recognized.
– Greg Kaplan[/text_output][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h4″ looks_like=”h4″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]You Mean to Tell Me that Benching One of Your Best Forwards Didn’t Work?[/custom_headline][text_output]I can’t take it anymore.
Last night, when the news came across that New York Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault healthy scratched Pavel Buchnevich, I completely lost it. This quite literally was the angriest a sports-related event made me since game 5 against the Senators last year, when the Rangers lost for a THIRD TIME in the playoffs courtesy of the coach tasking the impotent duo of Marc Staal and Nick Holden to close out the game.
I want to make one thing abundantly clear. I do not think I know everything, and because of this, I do not look for the coach to make all the decisions I personally would make. All I ask however, is that the decisions the coach makes have some semblance of reasonable logic behind them. Looking at the issues the Rangers have faced all year (bleeding shot attempts and high quality scoring chances against) and the issues that have popped up recently since a number of forwards have gotten banged up (poor offensive zone possession, relative downturn in number of scoring chances, lack of finishing ability), the fact that anyone could think “hmm, I know the answer, bench Pavel Buchnevich!” is the answer is beyond comprehension.
But no, this wasn’t just your typical casual fan who came up with this solution, nope. It was the freaking head coach of the team. He then was asked after the game why he made this decision, to which he responded that he just thought “it was the right thing to do after analyzing the matchup.”[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”1438″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]Interesting, so with Chris Kreider out, the offense struggling of late and going up against a team with the 4th most 5v5 goals in the entire NHL, the coach thought that healthy scratching one of his top-5 offensive players (and I would argue top-3) on the team was “the right thing to do.” I am beyond words. I literally can’t begin to understand even the slightest modicum of logical reasoning that could go behind coming to that conclusion.
Usually I am much more level-headed when throwing out criticism, but not this time. By both the eye test and analytics, Pavel Buchnevich is EASILY a top-5 forward on this Rangers team. He is third on the team in total point production despite being 14th in time on ice per game (7th amongst forwards). Buchnevich is top-5 on the entire team in goals, assists, primary assists, points and primary points at BOTH 5v5 and all situations. Further, Buchnevich is top-2 on the team across a number of key advanced metrics, including Corsi for % and expected goals for %. I will repeat, Pavel Buchnevich is undoubtedly one of the best forwards on the Rangers.
The table below displays Buchnevich’s team ranks across a number of key standard and advanced metrics. All data referenced in the table and in the paragraph above are courtesy of Corsica. If you have any questions about any of the data or how to interpret it, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me on Twitter.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”1475″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]– Drew Way[/text_output][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h4″ looks_like=”h4″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]Musings: What’ the Future of This Team?[/custom_headline][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”1440″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]Oh. Thanks.
Have the Rangers gone “all in” with our offensive game? When I think about the moves made in the last season or so, of which includes picking up puck moving and/or skating defenseman, bringing in Lindy Ruff (who came from a very offensive-minded Dallas team), and the type of style Alain Vigneault likes (fast, speedy, more of a transition game, opportunistic), it scream “offense!!”. Are AV and Co. playing to the strengths of our players, to his own strengths as a coach, or something else? For the past few seasons now, it often feels as though they are icing five forwards a night, with the only defenseman being the goalie.
Does this team have depth issues within the types of players? Centre depth issues have been a hot topic, especially since trading away Derek Stepan to the Arizona Coyotes. And while these issues cannot be denied, maybe there are other factors to look at. Consider the many times we’ve heard the players being “pass-first” type of guys, with no one to simply take a shot or drive to the net. While there are players who can do this, or used to (eg. Kreider, Nash, Grabner to name a few), I don’t think it’s been done with the same consistency we’ve seen before and/or compared to other players around the league. I am in complete belief that this team is incredibly skilled, but maybe there are key pieces missing to complement and glue them together. Maybe issues do not only lie within the team system, but also in the lack of depth in terms of playing styles.
This team feels as though they’re becoming increasingly more and more random as the season goes on. What I mean by this is, I think when they were truly a Cup or bust team (the few years with Torts and the early years with AV), we knew exactly what type of team they were. Whereas now, I think it’s a mix of things. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, rather, it’s an indicator of the team actually re-tooling. Instead of focusing solely on Playoffs, maybe the focus should be on deciding where this team goes. We do have to consider things like how (i) Hank is getting older, (ii) the core players need to be established, and (iii) consider what depth there is prospect wise. Gorton and Co. seriously need to consider these things and it will be quite scary! It’s certainly unchartered territory for a lot of Rangers fans. Smart but difficult decisions will have to be made…and perhaps Stepan and G were just the beginning of said moves.
How this team does in the upcoming months, up until the trade deadline, will be very, very interesting. Be on the lookout!
– JK[/text_output]
Author: BSB Staff
This Article is presented to you in High Definition Surround Sound by some or all of the Blueshirts Breakaway Staff. At least whoever wasn’t lazy enough to contribute.