You have to learn to walk before running. This reality hits Rangers hard today.
New York looked like their rebuilding had been completed after just one season last year due to their surprising 37-28-5 appearances and their playoff record.
Their new acquisition, Artemi Panarin, had an extraordinary effect, and some players such as Mika Zipanegade, Ryan Strom and Tony Di Angelo have played their season of life.
With another loss on Tuesday against their great rivals, the New Jersey Devils, 5-2, they lost more in the standings. They are second in the Eastern Division, just a point behind Buffalo, who nevertheless have two more games to play. They only won four of their first 14 matches.
Zibanejad has 75 points in just 57 games last year, three points in 14 games. Teammate Chris Kreider has five. Controversial DeAngelo has been fired from the team, pending a deal if it comes out at all.
You cannot ask young people of 20 years of age or younger to purchase a club. Conor McDavid or Austin Matthews is not going to. Cabo Kaku, 20, second overall choice in 2019, only had three points. Alexis Lavriniere, 19, was the first choice in total in 2020, only one.
Photo by Bruce Bennett, Associated Press
Alexis Lafrenière has only one point from his record in 14 games.
The Canadian played the same trick two years ago. His 96-point season and playoff flirt raised expectations. However, the team was still young. The winter of 2019-2020 was painful, but the epidemic saved the season.
The New Jersey Devils have experienced this, too. Their participation in qualifying in 2018 was an anomaly. The team has not yet reached maturity. The next two seasons were horrible. General Manager Ray Shiro and coach John Hines lost their jobs. They are finally getting off to a good start this year.
We also underestimate the leaders. Rangers lost two big names this fall: legendary goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist and defender Mark Stahl. Lundqvist had been in # 1 for 15 years, and Stahl was an important defender for 13 years. It is doubtful how much their departure would affect the team.
The Rangers have so many good young players that they can’t come back again in the medium term, maybe even this year, who knows?
But right now, art director David Quinn is fighting for his job. What does a coach do when he fights for his job? Repeats that the voltage is present. To justify that we still have influence over our forces.
“As a coach, you always bear the blame,” he told reporters on Wednesday. This makes me sick. You can only explain this feeling if you are a coach. When things go well, it feels like we really don’t have anything to do about it, but when things go wrong, we feel like this is all our fault. ”
The score was 2-2 just over nine minutes before the end of the third game on Tuesday when the Rangers let the Demons out three in a row. They are now 4-7-3 and are ranked 28H Rank in the general classification. New York ranks 27thH The ranking has the average number of goals scored per match (2.26), but they do better in goals than 11H Row (2.71). They are 28 years oldis being In terms of numerical superiority it decreased by 11.5%.
He continued, “I am aware of our file.” I know our file. Nobody is happy with that. But effort is not a problem. Our level of competition is good. Tuesday’s match was disappointing. We must let the dust settle. We came close to winning a few games. We were one big game away from doing that. Our confidence is steadfast. ”
As if things weren’t bad enough already, Rangers lost defender Jacob Trouba for four to six weeks. Truppa is the most widely used defender of blue shirts after Adam Fox. Artemi Panarin is expected to return at least Thursday night against the Flyers. He missed the last two games.
Panarin will regain his place to the left of Strom and Kaku. Lafrenière was lowered to the third streak with Kevin Rooney and Colin Blackwell, two 27-year-olds more familiar with the US League than the National.
He will have to be patient, or find the spark to force the coach to return him to a trio of talented partners.