Rangers Are Statistically a "Bad" Team

[Fataldogg]

After watching the Rangers face the Islanders are the Garden, once again coming out flat, and giving up routine Grade A chances, I wanted to do a little more digging into how poor this team is.

46.46 CF% (30th in NHL)
46.92 FF% (28th in NHL)
47.25 SF% (29th in NHL)
422 High Danger Chances Allowed (4th in NHL)

It's clear that the team struggled in October, December and now January. They're currently in a wild card spot mostly because of the efforts of Lundqvist/Pavelec. Pavelec, to his credit, has also played outstanding games only to lose (the one where he stopped 44 of 45 immediately comes to mind).

Every Ranger fan will tell you that it is a problem with the coach. And I agree. His line choices aren't the best. In regards to his defensive core, however, I don't know what fans expect him to do. Kampfer, Staal, Holden and Shattenkirk are all awful defensively. Skjei isn't very good either. Therefore, it really does not matter who they are playing McDonagh with.

Did Gorton, in a way, handcuff his line choices? Is the roster actually that bad?

The team has no elite talent in their forward core. For example, the Rangers best forward would be Zuccarello who would be the Islanders 4th or 5th best forward. He is a complimentary piece, he can't be "the guy."

Can a roster with Hayes, Zuccarello, Zibenejad, Kreider, Miller, etc, effectively compete?

Also, what specifically are the Rangers doing wrong? Washington Capitals have a solid playoff position and have similar statistics to the Rangers in analytics. Holtby has done well, but statistically not as well as Lundqvist. Yet, their record is much better.

The Rangers were viewed as a "deep" team, but does being "deep" not matter in today's NHL if you do not have elite talent? When you remove the similar analytics from the picture, remove the fact they both have elite goaltenders, both have weak defensive cores, etc, the main difference I see is the high end elite talent the Capitals have (Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Backstrom) that the Rangers simply can't match. Would the Rangers be one elite center / winger away from being up there with the Capitals?

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[SI90]

Lundqvist has carried them year after year. He doesn’t get enough credit. I’m an islanders fan by the way.

 

[rent free]

you know they're a bad team when they were constantly get out played by the leafs that one game in msg...

all jokes aside the have mediocre everything, and exceptional goaltending. they lack good center depth and defense depth.

 

[JT Kreider]

We're pretty much the only team in the division without our own top 5, let alone top 10 pick on the roster.

This is what you get when you actually try to be competitive every year.

 

[Crease]

A bunch of middle six forwards, middle pair defensemen (aside from McD), and an all-star goalie.

 

[Sam Spade]

You don't even want to look at the Capitals advanced numbers then.

Spoiler alert, they are ugly.

 

[BHD]

Correction: they’re a bad team.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

hot take: I think their roster isn't very strong and removing AV isn't going to magically fix them

 

[aufheben]

hot take: I think their roster isn't very strong and removing AV isn't going to magically fix them

There's a difference between "isn't that strong" and "gets murdered every night".

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

There's a difference between "isn't that strong" and "gets murdered every night".

true. AV is a fine coach but I don't think he's being received well by the team at the moment. he should be fired either way

 

[aufheben]

true. AV is a fine coach but I don't think he's being received well by the team at the moment. he should be fired either way

I'm pretty confident a different coach could improve the defense, it's the offense I'm concerned would be affected.

 

[Goodbahd]

Weak offence, has always been the case with the Rags, similar to Habs.

 

[DitchMarner]

They have more talent than they get credit for. They were a high-scoring team the last few seasons. They were solid in the 2014 playoffs and were strong in 2015. But now it seems like they struggle a few months into every season.

I think they can make the playoffs, but there are certainly better teams. It's one thing to have poor/middling advanced stats when you're scoring. Their offense is only mediocre this season.

 

[aufheben]

Weak offence, has always been the case with the Rags, similar to Habs.

Sarcasm?

 

[DitchMarner]

Weak offence, has always been the case with the Rags, similar to Habs.

Nope. They were a top ten team in GF in each of the last three seasons.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

 

[aufheben]

Why do people always compare us to the Habs?

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Why do people always compare us to the Habs?

no 1C, goalie best/most important player. meh/bad dcorps outide of weber/mcd

 

[DitchMarner]

The Rangers were viewed as a "deep" team, but does being "deep" not matter in today's NHL if you do not have elite talent?

Well, look at Vegas.

 

[Fataldogg]

You don't even want to look at the Capitals advanced numbers then.

Spoiler alert, they are ugly.

That's my point. Capitals are 25-30 in most of those statistical categories, worse than the Rangers in some and better in other areas.

But, they're a top team in the Eastern Conference. It just emphasizes how important elite talent is. Not depth talent.

 

[Fataldogg]

Well, look at Vegas.

And this is true. That said, not quite sure the Rangers have a sniper the caliber of Neal, or a goal scorer like Karlsson. That said, Vegas is a well coached team. So, a good coach with the Rangers roster can make them a contender?

I don't know if that's all they're missing. Replace coach/problem solved. It will help, but they still won't be a good team.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

There's a difference between "isn't that strong" and "gets murdered every night".

They don't get murdered though, the point of the game is still to score more goals and the Rangers play a counter-attacking style that may lead to lower possession but higher-quality opportunities.

 

[These Are The Days]

I'm gonna wait for @Machinehead to chime in on this one. Always like hearing his input on advanced stats and analytics

 

[rent free]

That's my point. Capitals are 25-30 in most of those statistical categories, worse than the Rangers in some and better in other areas.

But, they're a top team in the Eastern Conference. It just emphasizes how important elite talent is. Not depth talent.

no it emphasizes how statistical categories aren't as important as the eye-test

 

[Sam Spade]

That's my point. Capitals are 25-30 in most of those statistical categories, worse than the Rangers in some and better in other areas.

But, they're a top team in the Eastern Conference. It just emphasizes how important elite talent is. Not depth talent.

Ah, understood.

I want so bad to believe in advanced stats but the last few seasons they have been defied by quite a few teams come playoff time.