Wade Redden Needs to Go, and Other Complaints About the Rangers

Yes, the Rangers beat the Devils last night in exciting fashion, tying the game with 17 seconds left and winning in a shootoout, keeping their playoff hopes alive. But even if they make the playoffs there is little evidence they can beat anybody but the Devils. When the season is over the Rangers are going to have to look long and hard at their personnel and make some moves to improve the team. It's not too late this season, however, to set some changes in motion.

Defense

The real issue on this team is not the lack of scoring by forwards, but the overall play of the defenseman. Stahl and Girardi have been solid all season. They don't score a lot of points (24 for Stahl, 21 for Girardi) but they know how to move the puck in the offensive zone, when to pinch in, and how to get the puck to the front of the net. And they are the two best defensive stoppers the Rangers have, always out there against the opposition's top line.

Last season I seriously considered constructing an effigy of Michal Rozsival and burning it at a stake of hockey sticks right outside the Nathan's on the corner of 32nd and 7th avenue, across from the Garden. It seemed that every third game he would shit the bed and make some bonehead play that cost the Rangers a win. This season he still makes a bad play here or there, has a game where he's a moment late in recognizing plays and pucks bounce past him while manning the point, but overall his play and effort have been much more tolerable. In fact, there are games when he looks like an above average player, when you see why the front office gave him a 4-year $20 million contract. Well, maybe I shouldn't go that far.

Michael Del Zotto, despite his offensive and passing skill, has a -22 plus/minus this season, the worst on the team. Considering he gets a lot of power play time, this is particularly bad. However, the kid's a rookie, has showed enormous offensive potential, and he always plays hard, even if he has seemed to tire and become mistake-prone of late. Along with Matt Gilroy, who has had a quietly solid season (plus/minus of 0), Del Zotto can only get better.

Wade Redden, on the other hand, has no excuses. He needs to be benched to set an example. Normally I think it's counter-productive to bench a guy after he makes a bad play or takes an idiotic penalty, as Tortorella has done is this season with Avery, Del Zotto, Lisin, Voros, Kotalik, and Rozsival. But nothing else has worked with Redden, so I say sit him down for a while.

After all, a player with Redden's salary ($8 million a year, when all is said and done, 2nd highest on the team) is expected to be a top performer.

From 2001-2009, Redden averaged about sixty points a season. This season? Fourteen. He has the worst shooting percentage on the team, and is 606th in the league in that category. That's right, 606th. Rarely does he manage to get the puck to the net; invariably his shots are blocked by an opponent long before they come close to opposing goaltenders. Two goals and twelve assists out of the second highest paid player on the team is an abomination of Carl Pavano proportions.

The fact that he struggles to get pucks to the net is indicative of a larger problem with Redden: he never seems to exert any extra effort; he plays the game as if he were going through the motions, just to receive that undeservedly large paycheck. Not only does he not score, he doesn't block shots, he doesn't skate hard, and he never puts big hits on opposing players. A hockey fan seeing the Rangers for the first time would watch a game and assume that Redden was nothing but a mediocre fill-in occupying a spot because someone better was injured. He does just enough to get by, and nothing more. The Rangers should do whatever they can to drop Redden and give his money to Callahan, Anisimov, who not only play better defensively, but actually contribute to the offense. The problem, of course, is that no team is going to want to pick up Redden at his unbelievable salary. $6.5 million of cap space for 15 points a season? No, thank you.

Last night, Ilya Kovalchuk of the Devils scored the first goal of the game off a rebound that landed directly on Redden's stick. Redden first failed to cover Kovalchuk as he entered the zone (there was no one else for Redden to cover), then let him steal the puck right off his stick five feet from the net.

In the second period another Devil stole the puck off his stick right in front of the net, though Lundquist was able to stop that attempt. Then in the third period, the Devils scored their third goal because Redden was too slow to come off the bench on a line change. As Jamie Langenbrunner entered the zone along the right wing, Redden came across the ice from the bench and didn't even make an effort to slide or get in Langenbrunner's way; he simply waved his stick in Langenbrunner's general direction from ten feet away like an old man waving a cane at a passing car. I imagine Redden sounded like an elderly invalid as he feebly reached toward the Devil. It looked terrible, as if Redden had already given up.

When you consider that this man is making eight million a year, you begin to understand some of the problems Tortorella has in motivating his players to bring their A game every night. Redden is the most veteran defenseman on the team, he's making the most money, and yet he never displays heart or extra effort. The one time this season he did show some gumption, when he threw off his gloves and fought an opposing player, the Rangers subsequently went on their longest winning streak of the season. It was as if his teammates said to each other, hey, even Redden is starting to care, let's do this....but the effort was short-lived.

Offense

A major problem with the Rangers is that they only have three true right wings, and one of those, Lisin, is frequently a healthy scratch. The other two right wingers, Gaborik and Callahan, are the Rangers best overall players and goal scorers.

I frequently hear broadcast teams state that the Rangers lack centers. The New York Times makes this claim again today. However, look at their roster, and the fact is that they have too many natural centers: Jokkinen, Prospal, Dubinsky, Drury, Anisimov, Christensen, Boyle, are all every day players. That's seven out of twelve available forward spots. Prospal may also be considered a left winger, but he started out the year centering on Gaborik's line.

Maybe balancing out our wings and centerman will help John Tortorella maintain consistent forward lineups throughout the season. The Rangers have not gone three straight games with the same starting lines. They have trouble scoring in one game and the following day the lines have been changed. All this constant moving around has to be hindering the players' ability to gel as a unit.
Tortorella would better serve his players by being less reactionary and allowing his forwards to play with the same line mates for a week or two.

Here's how I would set the forward lines in the short time left this season:

1. Prospal-Dubinsky-Gaborik . Christensen is the more highly skilled puck handler but Dubinsky can protect Gaborik with his bruising play, and he's had the experience of playing with Jagr when he was the Rangers' top goal scorer. Both Dubinsky and Prospal can take face-offs. Doobs started the year on this top line but was moved when his goal total waned. They should go back to this original thought. Dubinsky and Callahan are the future of this team and they really need to have one or the other on the ice as much as possible. 73 goals on this line (Gabby has 36).

2. Christensen-Jokkinen-Callahan

Callahan is a high energy hitter and scorer. Christensen shoots left, can skate with Callahan, and has great hands. Jokkinen is a play-maker who doesn't skate or shoot as hard as he used to, but give him these two and he won't have to. Callahan, currently nursing a hip injury, will fight when he has to. 38 goals on this line.

3. Avery-Anisimov-Drury

Drury and Anisimov are both great defending centers with good hands and better shots. All three can skate and score. Avery is the bruiser here and plays the deep ball threat as Anisimov and Drury defend. There are 35 goals on this line. If anything, this is the line you would have to worry about most, since their combined plus/minus is -16. But this is primarily because both Drury and Anisimov play on the penalty kill.

4. Prust-Boyle-Shelley

Prust and Shelley are both fighters with a head on their shoulders. Prust and Boyle are excellent forecheckers who can keep the puck in the opponents end of the ice and create opportunities for Gabby or Callahan to come in off the bench and score a quick one. This line has a combined plus/minus of +4. They're not scoring goals (6), but they're not giving them up either. If you bring in Lisin for Shelley you make it 12 goals and the plus/minus barely changes (0).

If I were going to make some on the fly changes, it would be along the left wing side of the roster. You could easily move Christensen up to the top line and bring Dubinsky down to the second if you wanted better hands on the top line, or move Avery up to the top and Doobs to the third if you want more scoring on the third line.