If you take a look at my playoff predictions in my last post, I predict the New York Rangers making a splash in the playoffs. I had a few comments in the section, from Rangers fans and others, who stated that the Rangers defense is “not good.”
I respectfully disagree and will try to explain why:
One reference noted that the New York Rangers are 15th in the league with 29.7 shots against which is very mediocre. I say ask any good goalie and he will tell you that he would rather see 50 shots from the outside rather than 1 shot from the slot. That statistic should have a huge asterisk next to it.
This is exactly what the Rangers system is designed to do. They let their opponent take pointless shots from outside which Henrik lundqvist easily bats away or if and when a decent shot gets through, Lundqvist is usually more than up to the task to stop it.
How about these statistics: 2.42 and 194. 2.42 is their Goals Against Average which is 5th in the league and 194 is their Goals against which is good for 7th in the league.
Or how about their league leading 87.5% on the PK. The Wild are the only other team remotely close to that. Every other team is over 3 percentage points away which is a lot when talking about PK%.
Take last night for example against the Wild. I know the Wild are not an offensive powerhouse, but they had a whopping 10 shots through two periods and 19 total. Holding any NHL team to under 20 shots is impressive.
Now I totally agree that their offense needs some work, but the fact that they are improving on their offense under John Tortorella, while still keeping their defensive game in tact is what impresses me the most and why I could see them going far in the playoffs.
So I ask everyone to look at a new New York Ranger team, and not just focus on what they did all season under Tom Renney.
Take a look at these six and tell me where the weakness is. While they are not offensive juggernauts; defensively I challenge anyone to find a better top six:
Marc Staal
Michael Roszival
Dan Girardi
Derek Morris
Wade Redden
Paul Mara
Paul Martin
Johnny Oduya
Colin White
Niclas Havelid
Bryce Salvador
Mike Mottau
Actually the Devils are the only team I would say defensively are as well rounded as the Rangers.
Other teams like the Sharks, Red Wings, and Bruins all have their 1-2 punch, but have weaknesses when you get down the 5-6 spots.
-51 +/- rating….yep, that’s quite the top 6
anaheim ducks
Scott niedemayer
Chris Pronger
Francois Beauchemin
Ryan Whitney
James Wisnieswski
Bret Hedican
Ducks LOL. Pronged and Neids are decent defensively, but besides them the Ducks are brutal defensively.
I think thats exactly what Nhl snipers meant by a 1-2 punch and not a well rounded top 6.