The team's possession woes really aren't hard to figure out.
Marc Staal - -4.1 CF% rel, 1st on the team in ES/TOI GP
Dan Girardi - -5.2 CF% rel, 2nd on the team in ES/TOI GP
Derek Stepan - -5.8 CF% rel, 4th on the team in ES/TOI GP for forwards
It's just that, people see the players struggling the most are among our most important players, yet the team still wins; therefore, the stats are wrong. Not really, they catch up to everybody.
HUR DUR the Rangers are top in GA/G therefore the defense is blameless.
I don't know about some people, but when I see the defense constantly getting hemmed into their zone, unable to break up a forecheck, unable to transition the puck, letting the other team put on a shooting clinic, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in me.
You aren't alone.
By the way, preventing goals isn't the defensemen's only job. They have to be able to help transition the puck up ice, something that most of our defensemen have no clue how to do.
Bingo.
If it was, Staal would be a superstar. Too bad there's a lot more to hockey than playing in your own zone.
Yeah, not to be bleak, because it's not something that can be fixed, but this defense is pretty much set. McDonagh has really needed to step it up this year after losing Stralman, and the opposite has happened.
It's attached to the archaic and outdated view point that a defenseman's only job is to defend and be good in their own zone, something this front office has bought into in the extreme.
I'm still amazed at keeping Girtardi and letting Stralman go, utterly befuddled.
It worries me because this front office probably like what they see re: these players, because that's the only expectation they have of them.
Add to that, any regression in McDonagh's play, and Girardi's flaws are exposed.
And I'm amazed that this is such a non-issue to so many posters here.
"As McDonagh goes, Girardi goes" isn't and was never a good thing......
And I don't know about some people, but there are more than just defenders on the ice .... you know forwards who are supposed to put some pressure on the opposing D and occasionally score goals.
The Rangers forwards are among the best backchecking units in the NHL.
The problem is they play in a system where the defensemen are supposed to spring them with quick outlets, which this defense just can't do. They leave the zone so quickly and leave their d-men because that's exactly what the system is, not because of some bull **** like "they don't care about defense". The problem here, is that any hint of pressure forces a turnover against 3/4 of this top 4. You can't leave them realistically because they can't be trusted to make good outlet passes, but their whole game is predicated on rushing the puck. It's jamming a round peg into a square hole.
This defense can't move the puck quickly to alleviate forecheck pressure because they ****ing suck at it, it has nothing to do with irresponsible forwards.
Why do you think the Kings and Isles kill us with their forechecking? This defense is trash at puck moving. It's really that simple.
