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Pre-Game Talk: 2013-2014 Rangers pre-season discussion

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The Rangers worked on out manning the opponent in the defensive zone and turning the puck around for quick transition last week during one of training camp streams. The Rangers won't be so aggressive on the forecheck. They will settle back in a 1-2-2 or 2-1-2. Bieksa talked about Vancouver playing that style under AV. More aggressive in their zone to recover the puck instead of playing a zone and shot blocking system. AV wants more aggressive play in the defensive zone. Tortorella wants to play zone instead of man to man pressure. Tortorella wants more aggressiveness on the forecheck while AV will sit back some more. Total opposites.

With Tortorella commanding all his players to block shots, Jordan Schroeder did just that when he stepped in front of a heavy second-period slapper by Nail Yakupov. The centre crumpled to the ice after absorbing the shot in his first game since shoulder surgery in May. He didn't place any weight on his left leg while being helped to the locker-room and the nature of the injury was inconclusive.

"He had x-rays but I'm not so sure about the machine," said Tortorella. "We'll wait until we get home and right now it's a bruised foot. We had a pretty young lineup and they had a lot of their NHL team and it certainly gave us a read on where our kids are with the quickness. That's what this is about. Do we want to win? Yeah. Are we going to lose our minds? No. We're going to go about our business and get ready.
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http://www.theprovince.com/sports/h...ome+moxy+still+lose+Oilers/8943794/story.html

How many times did a Ranger player block a shot and end up with a broken bone in his foot or hand? Ryan Callahan. The Rangers were without Callahan for the 2011 playoffs after he blocked a Chara shot. Brandon Dubinsky. Chris Drury. Dan Girardi looked like he broke his ankle last season in a game against Montreal. It was only a bruise.

Chris Drury will see a hand specialist today after breaking his left index finger while blocking a shot during yesterday morning’s scrimmage at Rangers training camp in Greenburgh.

The Blueshirts’ captain, who is expected to miss the first three or four games of the regular season, said that the break was on the lower part of the finger, and that even though he was wearing reinforced gloves, the puck that struck him must have hit a seam.

In 2009, Drury broke his right wrist blocking a shot, and was severely limited in the Rangers’ playoff series against the Washington Capitals, although he did play through the injury. This time around, the injury is to Drury’s top hand gripping the stick, which requires less pressure while playing, and the timing is much better.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/rangers/2010/09/chris-drury-to-see-specialist.html

Drury barely played in 10-11. He broke the finger again in a different spot later.
 
RangerBoy said:
Another change. AV wants the D to pinch more in the offensive zone.
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Pleased to hear these changes. Theres some mobile defensemen on this team, they should get involved more.

Even more pleased about the philosophy in the defensive zone. If this team succeeds, it will be on the rush -- don't see them being too successful at all on the forecheck.
 
RangerBoy said:
How many times did a Ranger player block a shot and end up with a broken bone in his foot or hand? Ryan Callahan. The Rangers were without Callahan for the 2011 playoffs after he blocked a Chara shot. Brandon Dubinsky. Chris Drury. Dan Girardi looked like he broke his ankle last season in a game against Montreal. It was only a bruise.
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The one I felt worst for was Mats Zucarrello.
 
I never understood why a team with such great young, mobile defensemen and the best goalie in the league would not allow the defensemen to pinch and sit back in a shell in the defensive zone.
 
While I don't necessarily disagree with Torts being a good coach, it seems to me that the best coaches have a style that is conducive to more than one type of player.
 
there are like 5 things wrong with that article. What evidence does THN have in favor of Hank's SV% going below .920? And why does our bottom pairing need shoring up?
 
Raspewtin said:
there are like 5 things wrong with that article. What evidence does THN have in favor of Hank's SV% going below .920? And why does our bottom pairing need shoring up?
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Because they think Stralman is the same player he was with CBJ and that Moore hasn't played enough games.

Basically what it boils down to is the guys that write these things don't watch enough hockey.
 
Hockey News, like most canadian centric media, despise the Rangers. Take everything they say with about 10 tons of salt.
 
Inferno said:
I disagree with keeping Mcd & Girardi together to be the shutdown pair and making Staal and MDZ the offensive pair. To me that screams "balance" rather than defined roles.

If you want shut down defense Id go with Staal and Girardi, who played together a few years ago and were, imho, the top shut down pair in the NHL, or at least top 3. Then I'd put McD and MDZ together. Both are skilled offensively, McD with obvious untapped potential and MDZ with some great instincts. McD is a damn good 2-way guy with, IMHO, way more offensive ability than Staal.

To me, if I want to shut down a line, I don't want my best defensive defenseman (Staal) sitting on the bench.
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Makes a lot of sense but the McD-Girardi pair has proven its worth lately, tough to break it. But when Staal gets back to his old form it's certainly a possibility.

Trxjw said:
Clearly Torts doesn't have enough skill in Vancouver. :sarcasm:
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Clearly, the Sedins have gotten old quick.
 
Dave Maloney on the Hockey Night Live on MSG. He said Rangers upper management felt the team was "unwatchable" by the end of last season.
 
I like Moore, he has a lot of potential. but he needs to be gaining weight, not losing it. He lost 8 lbs over the summer. He is down to 206 lb that's too light, he needs to be around 220 lbs.
 
RangerBoy said:
Dave Maloney on the Hockey Night Live on MSG. He said Rangers upper management felt the team was "unwatchable" by the end of last season.
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Hahah holy **** no wonder Torts got fired.

To be fair I almost felt the same way. It was just painful and winning a playoff round was pretty generous
 
RangerBoy said:
Dave Maloney on the Hockey Night Live on MSG. He said Rangers upper management felt the team was "unwatchable" by the end of last season.
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They were.

This is not to say I told you so (to these boards), but no media around this team in NY reported that.

Mattias Norstrom is an expert for Swedish TV, he is a very humble down to earth guy. When he saw us play, he said that he -- NEVER -- has seen a team so afraid to pass the puck as us. Norstrom played in this league for all of the dead puck era. I can only speak for my self, and I am no sure if I ever have seen a team passing the puck as poorly as we did.

That is something that must be remembered when it comes to NY media. We can ice a team that is the worst in the game in one area, and they might not even notice it. Nobody in NY media called for Torts head, while he iced a team that just was unwatchable.
 
Ola said:
They were.

This is not to say I told you so (to these boards), but no media around this team in NY reported that.

Mattias Norstrom is an expert for Swedish TV, he is a very humble down to earth guy. When he saw us play, he said that he -- NEVER -- has seen a team so afraid to pass the puck as us. Norstrom played in this league for all of the dead puck era. I can only speak for my self, and I am no sure if I ever have seen a team passing the puck as poorly as we did.

That is something that must be remembered when it comes to NY media. We can ice a team that is the worst in the game in one area, and they might not even notice it. Nobody in NY media called for Torts head, while he iced a team that just was unwatchable.
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Afraid to pass? I thought we were afraid to shoot. :sarcasm:
 
Ola said:
They were.

This is not to say I told you so (to these boards), but no media around this team in NY reported that.

Mattias Norstrom is an expert for Swedish TV, he is a very humble down to earth guy. When he saw us play, he said that he -- NEVER -- has seen a team so afraid to pass the puck as us. Norstrom played in this league for all of the dead puck era. I can only speak for my self, and I am no sure if I ever have seen a team passing the puck as poorly as we did.

That is something that must be remembered when it comes to NY media. We can ice a team that is the worst in the game in one area, and they might not even notice it. Nobody in NY media called for Torts head, while he iced a team that just was unwatchable.
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No one could ever accuse Norström of being a PMD, yet he couldn't believe how bad the Rangers' breakout was. Always up the boards, and even with time and space only looking to shoot it at the winger for a tip-in into the zone.

It is kind of funny that zone entries have recently been identified as big drivers of success and that similar work is done studying zone exits with similar results expected, and Tortorella's system is probably by far the worst in the league in both aspects.
 
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