6 thoughts on NY Rangers: Why the personnel doesn't fit the system and much more
Peter Laviolette isn't the first coach to struggle with getting this Blueshirts' core to buy into a specific style of play.
6 thoughts on NY Rangers: Why the personnel doesn't fit the systemNews Sports Rockland Westchester Food Advertise Obituaries eNewspaper Legals RANGERS6 thoughts on NY Rangers: Why the personnel doesn't fit the system and much more Vincent Z. MercoglianoRockland/Westchester Journal NewsPeter Laviolette’s momentary pause and brief stumble over his words told you everything you needed to know.In response to last week’s question about whether it’s part of the Rangers’ DNA to fall into the trap of playing an east-west, finesse game, rather than the direct style he preaches, New York’s head coach eventually landed on the inescapable truth.
“Yeah,” Laviolette relented, before going on to explain that “our work inside” of last Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames “dropped off” from where it had been in previous games.
It’s a tale as old as the Blueshirts’ late-2010s rebuild, with Laviolette now the third bench boss to grow frustrated by this core’s reluctance to embrace a straight-ahead, attacking mentality.
It exasperated his predecessor, Gerard Gallant, by the end of his second season – a marker Laviolette is approaching with only 11 regular-season games remaining and fading playoff odds.Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
“Talent doesn’t mean a thing,” Gallant said following a 4-0 loss to the Devils on May 1, 2023 that eliminated the Rangers from the first round of the playoffs and turned out to be his final game before getting fired.
“It’s great to have talent,” he added in a clip that’s been circulating social media again in recent days. “But you’ve got to play together and work hard together.”
It's made this year's struggles, including Saturday's hard-to-explain 5-3 win over the Canucks after being outshot by an alarming 39-12 margin, feel like a dose of déjà vu.
Laviolette got the team to buy into his system last season, which led to the fourth Presidents' Trophy in franchise history and a trip to the Eastern Conference Final, but the 2024-25 Blueshirts have fallen back hard on old habits.
They're being asked to simplify their approach by cutting down on high-risk plays and imposing their will with a swarming forecheck, aggressive man-to-man defense and physical presence in the high-danger areas of the ice. But instead, they're constantly attempting dangerous cross-ice passes, losing foot races and generally getting pushed around.
"It's the battles and puck decisions through the neutral zone," forward J.T. Miller said. "The thing that every single team talks about is the same thing – your will and your compete in your battles, and don't turn pucks over. I find when we don't do those things, we get outplayed. They control the play, and then we're disconnected because we haven't had the puck all period, and now we try something and the dominoes fall."
Miller was targeted in a Jan. 31 trade because he brings elements this lineup otherwise lacks − "If I'm moving my feet and physically engaged, playing that north-south hockey, then I’m at my best," he said − and while there was an initial bump following his acquisition from Vancouver, he can't do it alone.
The current personnel doesn't match the preferred play style, raising questions about why Chris Drury allowed it to get to this point.
This May will mark four years since he abruptly took over as team president and general manager, yet he had done very little to change the makeup of the roster until a series of on-the-fly moves in the last few months.
Consider that when he sent the notorious late-November memo to the NHL's other 31 GMs and opened the trade floodgates, 18 of the 23 players on the roster had been signed or acquired by Drury's predecessor, Jeff Gorton. That's a shockingly small amount of turnover in that time frame.Sam Rosen: Legendary broadcaster urges Rangers to make playoffs
Sticking with the status quo made sense for a while, especially after an unexpected run to the conference final in Gallant's first season, 2021-22. But Drury's mission statement from the time he ascended to the top chair was to make the Rangers "a harder team to play against," with a staggering lack of progress to date in that department.
It's obvious he still wants to push the team in that direction, which led to the hiring of Gallant then Laviolette. These are old-school coaches who want to chip pucks behind opponents, hammer them on the forecheck and grind them down with speed and work ethic.
It's a winning formula that's stood the test of time, with just about every team that's won in recent memory achieving that desired blend of skill and snarl. Yet, the Rangers are so clearly imbalanced with players who are prone to float around the perimeter and try to pass their way into the net − not to mention a dearth of hard-nosed defenders.
Both coaches − and you can lump David Quinn in there, as well − were asked to concoct a specific recipe, but they weren't given the proper ingredients.
Drury's memo and ensuing trades reinforced that conclusion, but his inability to act sooner ultimately doomed this year's squad. And while Laviolette shares in the blame and is much more likely to pay the price, the outcome was fairly predictable.Shocking power play struggles
The Rangers overcame their five-on-five deficiencies in years' past by leaning on a two-part formula.
Part one centered around superior goaltending, which has mostly continued this season. Igor Shesterkin's surface-level stats may lead some to conclude otherwise, with a .907 save percentage and 2.81 goals against average that both register as career worsts. But his 29.93 goals saved above expected ranked third in the league entering play Monday, according to Evolving Hockey, evidence that he's holding up quite well in spite of a heavy workload behind one of the NHL's worst defenses.
Part two is where the Rangers have suffered from serious slippage: Special teams.
Their penalty kill remains a strength, ranking fifth in the league with an 82.5% success rate, but their once-vaunted power play has fallen off a cliff.
In five previous seasons combined, dating back to the 2019 arrivals of Adam Fox and Artemi Panarin, the Rangers sat fourth overall with a PP conversion rate of 24%. They were especially potent the last three years, never finishing worse than seventh while landing at No. 3 last season (26.4%).
Despite virtually no changes in personnel entering 2024-25, they've dropped all the way down to 25th in the NHL at an underwhelming 18.3%. And the results have been especially ugly of late.
Since going 2-for-2 against Vegas on Feb. 2, New York is 4-for-44 (9.1%) across its last 19 games.
It's hard to fathom given the established PP core of Fox, Panarin, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, with Miller thought to be an upgrade over previous fifth-wheel Vincent Trocheck. He was supposed to provide the Rangers with the potent left-handed shot they previously lacked from the circle opposite either Panarin or Zibanejad, yet it's somehow made them worse.
I wish I had a good suggestion for how to fix it, but I'm not sold that reinserting Trocheck or adding a regressing Alexis Lafrenière would solve anything. The best bet and highest upside would come from the current fivesome figuring it out, but fractured confidence seems to be contagious in that locker room.J.T. Miller running on fumes
Speaking of J.T. Miller, I have a bit of theory.
To be clear: This is not based on anything he's said. In fact, I'm sure he would hate the mere suggestion, but my hunch is that he's running on fumes and that's why his play has tailed off in recent weeks.
The 32-year-old was shot out of a cannon when he arrived back on Broadway, with 14 points (seven goals and seven assists) through his first 11 games. But he's only produced six points (one empty-net goal and five assists) in his last 10.
It's not just about the numbers, either. Miller had been a ferocious participant on just about every shift, with a clear energy bump from the trade and a determination to set the tone for the hard-to-play-against mentality we've already discussed. But maintaining that full-throttle level for the remainder of the season would have been difficult considering what an emotionally and physically taxing year it's been.
Miller has hinted at how draining all the drama in Vancouver became, which was followed by a sudden move across the continent with his family of five. He had no time to catch his breath, either, with the 4 Nations Face-Off beginning roughly two weeks later and Team USA going on a run to the championship final.
It's hard to imagine all of that wouldn't take a toll, especially with every game an essential must-win for the Rangers. It doesn't register as an excuse, either, but it does serves as a reminder that New York will need more Miller types to spread the burden and keep the collective motor running high.Two points on the D pairs
I go back and forth on whether the Rangers should lock Fox and K'Andre Miller in as their top defensive pair and let them roll, but I feel fairly confident about these two things.It doesn't do either of them any favors to rotate partners on a shift-to-shift basis, which their disjointed performance in Thursday's 4-3 loss to the Maple Leafs proved.The Rangers are still at least one top-four option away from having a complete D corps. Maybe Carson Soucy or Urho Vaakanainen can succeed in a bottom-pair role next season, and it's good to finally see Zac Jones getting some consistent run. But finding a long-term partner who complements Fox and can handle the toughest matchups needs to be a priority.Buried youth
Laviolette's uncertain future isn't doing the Rangers' youth any favors.
He's understandably focused on winning at all costs because that's the best way to keep his job, but Drury's thread-the-needle trade deadline strategy suggested that the Blueshirts are wisely thinking about the big picture. It was supposed to open up ice time for the kids, but there are competing interests.
Laviolette is leaning heavily on his veterans because he believes they give him the best chance to make the playoffs, which is leading to limited usage for rookie forwards Brett Berard and Brennan Othmann. The Rangers need them ready to hit the ground running and compete for spots next season, yet they're either getting healthy scratched or playing well under 10 minutes in recent games.
Even with Othmann briefly promoted to the top six on Saturday, he still finished with a team-low 8:17 time on ice − which was actually a higher total than he received in any of his previous five games. Meanwhile, Berard didn't play at all.
Both prospects have their warts, with neither a sure thing moving forward. But it's also difficult to get a good feel for them when they aren't being put in positions to succeed.Habs emerge in wild-card race
It's hard to proclaim confidence in any of the teams in the jumbled race for the Eastern Conference's final wild-card spot, the Rangers very much included. But the squad that has the most mojo going for it right now is Montreal, which holds a one-point lead over New York that feels much firmer when you consider it has two games in hand.
The Canadiens have leaned on their dynamic young talent throughout years of growing pains, and now they're reaping the benefits. They're 8-1-4 since 4 Nations − those pesky loser points really come in handy this time of year − and can taste their first playoff appearance in four years.
That alone would be a sweet accomplishment, but knocking the Rangers out would make it that much sweeter for the powers that be in Montreal. Gorton is the poster child for that sentiment after executing a mostly successful rebuild in New York, then having the rug ripped out before he could see it all the way through. (That remains the most shocking day in my six seasons covering the team.) But the current Habs executive vice president brought several employees with him after they were unceremoniously dumped in New York, with many ill feelings lingering about the way it all went down. Now they have a chance for a measure of payback.
Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.Staff Directory Corrections Careers Accessibility Support Sitemap Legals Our Ethical Principles USA TODAY Network Style Guide Responsible Disclosure Subscription Terms & Conditions Advertiser Acceptance Policy Terms of Service Privacy Policy Your Privacy ChoicesContact Us Support Local Businesses Advertise Your Business Promote your Event Buy and Sell Licensing & Reprints Help Center lohud Store Subscriber Guide Manage Account Give FeedbackSubscribe Today Newsletters Mobile Apps Facebook X eNewspaper ArchivesJobs Cars Homes Classifieds Education Shopping 10BEST LocaliQ Digital Marketing Solutions© 2025 www.lohud.com. All rights reserved.