Despite trading their former captain Jacob Trouba and signing their franchise goaltender Igor Shesterkin to an 8-year, $92 million contract extension, the sloppy play on the ice by the New York Rangers has not changed.
This has especially been the case when it comes to their defensive play. Last Sunday afternoon, December 8, they gave up seven goals to the Seattle Kraken, who are not known as an offensive hockey club.
They lost 2-1 to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks a day later. After beating the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 3-2 on Wednesday night, December 11, the team got blasted by the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 5-1.
There are many reasons why the Rangers, who are currently (As of Saturday, December 14) 15-13-1 for 31 points, are struggling on the defensive side of the puck. For starters, the team continues to give up a lot of shots on a nightly basis.
As of this writing (December 14), the Rangers are 29th in the league in shots allowed. The team gives up about 32 shots (31.9) a game, and while it is great that they have Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick playing behind them, that is certainly asking them to do a lot on a nightly basis.
Whether it is Shesterkin or Quick between the pipes, each goaltender has seen a lot of pucks thrown at them this season. Shesterkin has faced 685 shots this season, while Quick has faced shots this season.
How do the Rangers turn it around?
The New York Rangers were not like this last season. The team was 22nd in the league last year as they gave up an average of 30 shots (30.1) per game.
Speaking of giving up a lot of shots, the Blueshirts also give opposing clubs a lot of high-quality scoring chances. Whether it is from the slot, on odd-man rushes, deflections, broken players, etc., teams are finding ways to put themselves in prime scoring position against the Rangers.
This means that the Rangers are missing coverages, not getting their sticks on pucks, not getting the puck out of the zone quickly enough, and not paying attention to the little details of the game. When you put all of these things together, you have a team that struggles defensively and puts their goaltenders behind the eight-ball.
What is also remarkable is that the team has seemed to be lazy on the defensive side of the puck this season. Even guys who are usually hard on the forecheck and backcheck, like Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere, struggle to play well and responsibly when they do not have the puck on their sticks.
Last season, the team’s forwards were all over the opposition. Zibanejad, Lafreniere, Vincent Trocheck, Chris Kreider, Kaapo Kakko, and others were all in when it came to being hard on pucks and the opposition. That does not seem to be the case this season.
What also does not help is that Shesterkin is not doing as well as he usually does when masking the team’s defensive flaws. In years past, Shesterkin would stop puck after puck, steal games, and win nightly despite the team not playing well in front of him.
This season has been a bit of a different story. Shesterkin’s save percentage is still solid despite facing an average of 31 shots (31.3) per game, but a lot more pucks have gotten by Shesterkin, which is why his goals-against average is inflated this season.
The Rangers used to pride themselves as a team that sacrificed their bodies, played responsibly in their own end, and did everything they could to keep the puck out of their own net. For whatever reason, the Rangers have not done these things consistently enough this season.
Something needs to change systemically for the New York Rangers. The question is, when is that going to happen?
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