Rangers Are Statistically a "Bad" Team

Fataldogg

Registered User
Mar 22, 2007
12,380
3,660
After watching the Rangers face the Islanders are the Garden, once again coming out flat, and giving up routine Grade A chances, I wanted to do a little more digging into how poor this team is.

46.46 CF% (30th in NHL)
46.92 FF% (28th in NHL)
47.25 SF% (29th in NHL)
422 High Danger Chances Allowed (4th in NHL)

It's clear that the team struggled in October, December and now January. They're currently in a wild card spot mostly because of the efforts of Lundqvist/Pavelec. Pavelec, to his credit, has also played outstanding games only to lose (the one where he stopped 44 of 45 immediately comes to mind).

Every Ranger fan will tell you that it is a problem with the coach. And I agree. His line choices aren't the best. In regards to his defensive core, however, I don't know what fans expect him to do. Kampfer, Staal, Holden and Shattenkirk are all awful defensively. Skjei isn't very good either. Therefore, it really does not matter who they are playing McDonagh with.

Did Gorton, in a way, handcuff his line choices? Is the roster actually that bad?

The team has no elite talent in their forward core. For example, the Rangers best forward would be Zuccarello who would be the Islanders 4th or 5th best forward. He is a complimentary piece, he can't be "the guy."

Can a roster with Hayes, Zuccarello, Zibenejad, Kreider, Miller, etc, effectively compete?

Also, what specifically are the Rangers doing wrong? Washington Capitals have a solid playoff position and have similar statistics to the Rangers in analytics. Holtby has done well, but statistically not as well as Lundqvist. Yet, their record is much better.

The Rangers were viewed as a "deep" team, but does being "deep" not matter in today's NHL if you do not have elite talent? When you remove the similar analytics from the picture, remove the fact they both have elite goaltenders, both have weak defensive cores, etc, the main difference I see is the high end elite talent the Capitals have (Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Backstrom) that the Rangers simply can't match. Would the Rangers be one elite center / winger away from being up there with the Capitals?
 

GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
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Brampton, ON
They have more talent than they get credit for. They were a high-scoring team the last few seasons. They were solid in the 2014 playoffs and were strong in 2015. But now it seems like they struggle a few months into every season.

I think they can make the playoffs, but there are certainly better teams. It's one thing to have poor/middling advanced stats when you're scoring. Their offense is only mediocre this season.
 
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Filthy Dangles

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Fataldogg

Registered User
Mar 22, 2007
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You don't even want to look at the Capitals advanced numbers then.

Spoiler alert, they are ugly.

That's my point. Capitals are 25-30 in most of those statistical categories, worse than the Rangers in some and better in other areas.

But, they're a top team in the Eastern Conference. It just emphasizes how important elite talent is. Not depth talent.
 
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Fataldogg

Registered User
Mar 22, 2007
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Well, look at Vegas.

And this is true. That said, not quite sure the Rangers have a sniper the caliber of Neal, or a goal scorer like Karlsson. That said, Vegas is a well coached team. So, a good coach with the Rangers roster can make them a contender?

I don't know if that's all they're missing. Replace coach/problem solved. It will help, but they still won't be a good team.
 

bambamcam4ever

107 and counting
Feb 16, 2012
14,301
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There's a difference between "isn't that strong" and "gets murdered every night".
They don't get murdered though, the point of the game is still to score more goals and the Rangers play a counter-attacking style that may lead to lower possession but higher-quality opportunities.
 

rent free

Registered User
Apr 6, 2015
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That's my point. Capitals are 25-30 in most of those statistical categories, worse than the Rangers in some and better in other areas.

But, they're a top team in the Eastern Conference. It just emphasizes how important elite talent is. Not depth talent.
no it emphasizes how statistical categories aren't as important as the eye-test
 

Sam Spade

Registered User
May 4, 2009
27,484
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Maryland
That's my point. Capitals are 25-30 in most of those statistical categories, worse than the Rangers in some and better in other areas.

But, they're a top team in the Eastern Conference. It just emphasizes how important elite talent is. Not depth talent.

Ah, understood.

I want so bad to believe in advanced stats but the last few seasons they have been defied by quite a few teams come playoff time.
 

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