Just like last year, I think the major issue is the transition game. It doesn't matter whether we are playing against a hard forecheck or a trap- getting through the neutral zone cleanly and maintaining possession has been atrocious. Some of our forwards don't even look like they are capable of receiving a puck from the defensive zone on their backhand while skating.
Under AV the Rangers had some success using their speed to fly the zone- even though this put a ton of pressure on our defensemen and gave up a lot of odd man rushes.
The NYR defense need to do a better job of being mobile and taking space in the neutral zone for themselves when the forwards are properly covered. This is inherently risky and can lead to 2 on 1s against, but savvy forwards can identify when a defenseman is jumping into the rush to re-balance the numbers and withdraw- it isn't adding a fourth player to the rush that necessarily makes the difference so much as it is applying pressure in a different spot and taking the space where it is available. Our forwards are by and large pretty defensively aware, so I'd like to see Miller, Jones, Fox, Trouba lug the puck a little more frequently. The offense has not been there from our defenseman at the necessary levels so far.
