Hey Torts, Why again did you Rarely use McD on the PP?

[Richter Scale]

You know, this is actually an exaggeration. 4 of their 9 wins, possibly 5 or 6 depending on how the CBJ and NYI seasons shake out, have come against teams at or above their level. People make it seem as if they've won the vast, vast majority of their games against terrible teams. They've won 3 games against awful teams (CAR, BUF, FLA).

You are right in the sense that we will have to wait and see to be sure of anything. But I don't think this is an exaggeration at all. This is how I see it -

Here are the teams the Rangers have beaten:

LAK
WSH
DET
NYI
BUF
CAR
PIT
CBJ
FLA

5 of those teams are below 500 (italics). I don't agree with your analysis that NYI or CBJ are good teams. They are better than they have been in the past, but they are not good. Neither has had a particularly difficult schedule thus far, and are both still well under 500.

The four teams above 500 (bolded) they have beaten are the LAK, WSH, DET, PIT. This is obviously just my opinion - but the Rangers looked good in just two of those games: Against Pittsburgh and Washington. Washington is a fine team, but I don't consider them elite; and they certainly weren't playing like they are now when they played the Rangers. The Rangers had their moments against LAK, but in the end Quick gifted them the game, and without that it may very well have ended differently. And the Wings played one of the worst games against the Rangers that I've seen them play in a while (one half of my family has roots in Michigan, so I watch the Wings a lot -- and they played a god awful game against the Rangers).

Then what matters beyond just the wins is how they play when they lose. And overwhelmingly this year, in their losses the Rangers have looked like complete abominations.

Here are teams they have lost to:

PHX
SJS
ANA
STL
NJD
PHI
MTL
ANA

2 of these teams are sub 500 teams (italics). I get that they are rivalry games and the other teams will step up their game because of that. But that isn't a good enough excuse for losing to this season's Devils or Flyers. Those are games where good teams dominate their competition and expose their weaknesses. Instead, the Rangers made them actually look good. That is a problem. That said, to the Rangers' credit, I will say that since these two games they have done a bit of a better job of looking more dominant against weaker competition (but last night showing some concerning regression).

6 of those losses are against teams above 500 (bolded). Fine. You might say that this is to be expected against better teams. And that is true to a degree. But, if this team wants to be elite, it needs to have a better record against > .500 teams than 4-6. They need to not look like absolute trash against these teams (which they did in all of these games except maybe against STL). If that is the way they are going to play against - and the record they are going to have against - these types of teams, then they will be what they've been the past several years: A mediocre, playoff-bubble team.

--

This is a long winded way of saying that, to me, right now they are what their record says they are: a mediocre team. If they want to be a true contender they need to play consistently better against both good and bad teams. Hope they prove me wrong and do just that.

 

[NHRangerfan]

The people who ripped on Torts were the people that said this was a SC team. I hate to group people together but it is what it is. The loss to the Boston Bruins was considered unnacceptable for a team with this much talent and he was let go because of it. No one really ripped on Torts before that series. The Rangers finished the season on a roll and were scoring a lot of goals. All of a sudden something like 70% of Rangers fans wanted him gone because he lost to a team that ripped Pittsburgh. Even Sather turned on him and his style of play.

Brad Richards was brought onto this team to help the pp. Maybe the improved power play has something to do with him not sitting on his ass all offseason taking pictures? It wasn't the coach, Richards just looked slow and ****** last year.

Right now they're 14th and they're coming off a hot streak. I hope it stays there but there's no guarantee.

People were ripping Torts during the Bruins series for his unwillingness to adjust to the Bruins taking away the boards as a break out option and his unwillingness to adjust to the Bruins bombing away from uncovered points...has Torey Krug looked as good since that series.

So it's Richards fault the PP sucked last year how about the year before, same PP% rank of 23rd...that was with Richards having a good season and Gabby have a 40 goal season...

 

[ImIdaho]

I'm mainly seeing Brad Richards rip shots through traffic which is what he was brought here to do. When we signed him we didn't have a trigger on the pp.

Brad is on pace for 290 shots right now, a significant improvement compared to the last two years.

As far as putting a guy behind the net goes, he puts a guy in front of the net, too. How do you think Callahan scored all those ppgs in 2011? He started using Boyle in front of the net a lot last year, too.

As far as "fundamental" hockey goes, Gretzky like the puck behind the net so it's not as black and white as you make it out to be.

He did put someone in front, but that still doesn't negate one player being behind the net. By doing that, he took away a player who could try to fight for the rebound.

And really? Gretzky?

 

[stan the caddy]

People were ripping Torts during the Bruins series for his unwillingness to adjust to the Bruins taking away the boards as a break out option and his unwillingness to adjust to the Bruins bombing away from uncovered points...has Torey Krug looked as good since that series.

So it's Richards fault the PP sucked last year how about the year before, same PP% rank of 23rd...that was with Richards having a good season and Gabby have a 40 goal season...

Claude Julien played a 1-4 which forced the Rangers to dump a lot. He was criticized for having his players do what they had to do.

Krug looks fantastic, has 6 goals already.

Richards was disappointing his first year in NY.

 

[NHRangerfan]

Claude Julien played a 1-4 which forced the Rangers to dump a lot. He was criticized for having his players do what they had to do.

Krug looks fantastic, has 6 goals already.

Richards was disappointing his first year in NY.

I was talking break out not O zone entry...Bruins took away the whip it around the boards break out and Torts had no answer for it.

But obviously Torts has no faults as far as you're concerned

 

[stan the caddy]

I was talking break out not O zone entry...Bruins took away the whip it around the boards break out and Torts had no answer for it.

But obviously Torts has no faults as far as you're concerned

I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. The Rangers got the puck up the ice a lot, just had a lot of trouble creating odd man rushes and skating the puck over the blue line because of the way the Bruins played. The Bruins worked us on the boards with their size and it resulted in them holding the puck in our defensive zone a lot.

This current team has struggled more with the break out due to increased turnovers.

 

[JohnC]

I want a video of Pierre's epic rant about our ****** breakout and PP o zone entry from that series

 

[NHRangerfan]

I want a video of Pierre's epic rant about our ****** breakout and PP o zone entry from that series

Don't you know we didn't have problems breaking out

 

[stan the caddy]

I want a video of Pierre's epic rant about our ****** breakout and PP o zone entry from that series

There's also a video from the Rangers-Bruins game in January where Pierre criticizes the Bruins for collapsing too low. Six goalie system?

We should hire Pierre next.

 

[jay from jersey]

he is

becoming a superstar before your eyes. before the year started he was already a top 15 d man in the league. his offensive game is really coming. kid has a lot of untapped potential. toe drags, speed, that kind of offense hasn't been on the blueline since leetch was traded.