Hello Again...It's Been Too Long
Posted On Thursday, March 26, 2009 at at 8:09 AM by Woodside AcresProps to anyone who knows where that lyric came from.
I know the younger Pucks has been serving all of you here, but I thought I'd pop in with a few notes. Jason will be back this afternoon with the quick recap of the Rangers victory Tuesday night against Minnesota and a preview of tonight's contest against Atlanta.
Now, onto hockey talk.
The Rangers are playing with more pace, but with increasingly more defensive gaffs. While this is to be expected under this system, it begs the question of whether it is the right choice for championship contention.
If you look at the past couple Stanley Cup Champions, the Detroit Red Wings, Anaheim Ducks, and Carolina Hurricanes, their victories were built around defense and goaltending.
Not to say that they weren't offensive teams, but their success started from the back and worked it's way out. Players like Nik Lidstrom, Chris Pronger, etc. were relied on to keep the opposing forwards at bay while J.S. Giguere and Chris Osgood took care of the easy saves and the occasional tough ones.
This is how former Rangers Head Coach Tom Renney approached his philosophy: defense wins championships.
In the modern era, this is a proven recipe for success.
Now, I am not proclaiming that the current system can't work. Current Head Coach John Tortorella showed that it can be successful when he took the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup in 2004 and won.
The Edmonton Oilers were notorious for this style.
Yet, this group of Rangers forwards are not Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky, Vinny Lecavalier, or Martin St. Louis.
That's where the disconnect comes in. No fault of Tortorella's, but this team isn't necessarily built for this system. Yes, as professional athletes they are doing it and having some success, but can that be sustained?
I am still skeptical.
Bottom line, it's a fun system to watch that keeps you on the edge of your seat. However, that edge is also used for the 2-on-1 breaks and breakaways the other way as well.
In other exciting news, I am a featured Contributing Writer this month in the March issue of Blueshirt Bulletin. For those of you who don't subscribe or haven't seen it, check it out.
Also, tonight at BlueshirtBulletin.com, I will be hosting a LIVE GAME BLOG. Stop by and drop a line or two as the Rangers take on the suddenly resurgent Atlanta Thrashers.
As always, more to come...
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Errant Pucks: (A new feature with musings, rumblings and tidbits)
The Three Horsemen: Last night I attended a Steiner Sports event featuring Mike Richter, Mark Messier, and Brian Leetch. The trio looked good and in their retirement have grown incredibly funny and witty (especially when jostling each other)Orr Not: Was anybody else bothered by Colton Orr's fight against Owen Nolan. Obviously Nolan gave Orr an unfair shot, but his crazy reaction was a bit much. I love a good fight as much as the next guy, but it was a bit too much given Nolan's age.Speaking of Fighting: Nobody asked me, but fighting has a place in the game and should not be tampered with. Both Messier and Leetch agree...
Lemaire left his team without an enforcer by not dressing six-foot-eight Scott when Boogaard was injured. Nolan is old-school like Shanahan. If you are a leader you do it all. Shanahan was in the same box when he took on Brashear. Right after that the word came down to dress Orr on a regular basis. Scott was in the lineup for the Islanders and he made mincemeat of their new gunslinger Rechlicz, pronounced Wreckless. He would have given Orr big trouble as well.
No question about it, no one wins the Stanley Cup without amazing consistent goaltending. If Osgood doesn't replace Hasek, Detroit might not have gotten out of Nashville. If Ward doesn't replace Gerber, Carolina could have been swept by Montreal. Giguere came through for Anaheim as he did before but with a better team. It's also true except in the case of Carolina most cup winners have that superb offensive defenceman who can change the complexion of the game and makes the PP go.
Having said that,the role of the coach is to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. In the old days before the hard cap and free agency, teams kept their core for years and that's why you had dynasties. If the Islanders had lost Bossy and then Potvin and then Gillies one after the other, they would not have won four in a row. On the other hand when Tampa Bay loses Khabibulin, the plug is pulled in the bathtub. It's much harder today to achieve the cohesion needed for a smooth-running machine because you start fresh every year. Cohesion is more important than any specific aspect of the game except goaltending.
With all due respect to Renney, he was not able to smelt the team into a true contender and everything was falling apart in his hands. Tortorella knows exactly what it takes, he has done it, he's going for it. The lineup has a lot of holes in it, but then so do all teams because of the cap realities with the possible exception of Detroit. They too can only go so far as their goaltending will carry them and the absence of key injuries.
Dov,
An outstanding response. Very well thought out (which is always encouraging on blogs nowadays). I agree that Nolan is old-school like Shanahan. It's a nice quality to have as many players in the league seem to lack that natural "give all" instinct.
You are certainly correct as well about the role of the defenseman for the power play. The Rangers hoped Redden could fill that role. Perhaps he will, but hasn't to this point.
On Renney, you make a good point about coaches needing to make the group better than just the players. While I think that is certainly true, other than the system, I don't see Tortorella doing a tremendous amount different in terms of lineup than what Renney did. Yes he changed a couple pairings, but they were not changes that Renney hadn't previously tried. It would be interesting in a parallel universe to see how Renney would have fared with Morris and Antropov. But we shall never know. Nonetheless, you have to admire Tortorella's attitude and honesty.
Hope to see you tonight for the live blog!