Mike McKenna and Frank Seravalli talked about the New York Rangers’ struggles this season and what can be done to fix it on the latest episode of Daily Faceoff Live.
Frank Seravalli: You want to talk about energy, how about some negative energy with the New York Rangers and an absolutely dreadful weekend that they had. You think back to their game against the Ottawa Senators, blowing a lead late. They’re in a spot where, especially after losing to the Blackhawks on Saturday, they’ve got just 11 wins to show for their season in 26 games, 11-10-5.
It has really been tough to figure out this Rangers team that still has not quite gotten it together and I ask you Mike, Gerard Gallant, should the seat be hot or warm? What temperature would you put it at?
Mike McKenna: Well, I think it’s warm for sure. This is a club that is under performing for what’s expected of the New York Rangers. Is it just because Gerard Gallant has been steadfast in his lines, or is it because the players simply aren’t motivated enough?
It’s really hard for coaches in today’s game to motivate players and get them to work. Now, I do think it’s a problem that Jimmy Vesey is playing on your top line. The right side has been something of a hole for the Rangers, they haven’t figured out a solution. I’d like to see Kreider take a spot on the right side and put Lafreniere further up in the lineup on the left. But when a team only gets six shots on goal in the third period against Chicago when you’ve had the lead previously in the game, what’s going on here?
I keep seeing this where, well we didn’t finish the game well, we didn’t start the game well, which is it? Is it just blowing leads, to me it’s just a team that isn’t consistent at all. You saw Jacob Trouba freak out after he got tossed out of the game last night. He gets in a fight after just levelling Andreas Athanasiou of the Chicago Blackhawks. Trouba’s coming off the ice, chucks his helmet, gives the big WTF to his entire bench like wake up here guys.
He is trying to lead but that team has to respond, Frank. There has not been enough grit, enough intensity, from that club and I think it starts with Artemi Panarin. He’s gotta be more direct and start playing the game going towards the cage.
Frank Seravalli: How much of that do you think is resting on what they accomplished last season? Getting to the final four, you bring back a lot of the same team. They’re in a spot with some young players that they’ve asked to do some big things. Instead of continuing to progress like a lot of people thought they would. You know, progression and development in this league is not a straightforward line. It’s not a straight line up and sometimes you’re going to have some of those peaks and valleys.
They’re in a spot now where you look at the standings, they’re 11th in the Eastern Conference in terms of points percentage. They’re actually below the Montreal Canadiens who many people thought would be in line for the draft lottery spot at this point in the season. So how do the Rangers get it together?
Mike McKenna: You’re right, some of the talent that you expect to take a step, whether it’s Kakko, Lafreniere, Miller, even Filip Chytil, it hasn’t quite been there. How do you get past that? You out workteams and right now you haven’t seen that and you need elite goaltending. Shesterkin has looked human this year. He’s been good, he hasn’t been absolutely outstanding like last year. I think he masked a lot of the defensive lapses that the Rangers had previously.
You can watch the rest of the episode here…
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