A fourth-round draft pick by the Rangers in 2022, Laba, is in his junior year with Colorado College, who were in town to play Providence College.

BTW- Drury is in Providence tonight to scout #NYR prospect Noah Laba, a 2022 fourth-round pick who has 10 points (1G and 9A) in 8 games for Colorado College.

— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) December 7, 2024

Though we don’t know what Drury’s scouting report was, Forever Blueshirts was also at Schneider Arena on Saturday to focus on Laba. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, Laba has good size, and uses his large frame well to play a physical, pro-style game, often battling in front of the net for screens and rebounds. He’s also more of a playmaker than shooter, which is backed up by the stats. Laba has one goal and nine assists in nine games this season, and leads Colorado College in assists.

Laba is the No. 1 center for Colorado College, and he seemed to be the top choice for coach Kris Mayotte to send over the boards for important draws Saturday, especially in the offensive zone. Laba won nine of 18 face-offs, and sits at a solid 55.3 percent this season.

Coach Mayotte also deployed the junior center in all situations. Laba spent time on both special teams, and the Tigers successfully killed off four penalties. He also received power-play time in the second period, and was on the ice when CC scored a power-play goal in the 5-1 loss. Laba was one of the forwards called upon during 4v4 action as well.

The official game statistics credited Laba with one shot on goal, which doesn’t reflect how many total shot attempts he took, including a tip that rang off the post in the third period. He was called for an interference minor, his first penalty of the season.

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Noah Laba looks to ‘earn contract’ with Rangers at end of junior season at Colorado College

Laba missed five games with an ankle injury earlier this season, which is one of the factors for his decline in offensive production from his sophomore campaign, when he led Colorado College with career-highs of 20 goals and 37 points in 36 games. At the end of the 2023-24 season, Laba earned Second-Team All-America honors and was named NCHC Defensive Player of the Year and winner of the Three Stars Award.

Following his breakout sophomore season, the Rangers made a push to sign Laba to an entry-level contract, but he chose to return to college for further development.

When speaking with Michael Ostrower of The Hockey Writers, Laba revealed, “Last season, the Rangers pushed hard to sign me. It was definitely a tough decision but I decided to come back to college. But now I hope to earn a contract at the end of this season and start my pro career.”

Over his two years in the organization, Laba said he has stayed in regular contact with the development coaches, who see a lot of promise in his game.

“[The Rangers] have a really great development staff. Tanner Glass has been my primary point of contact,” Laba said. “He is such a great resource. He cares so much and is so knowledgeable. He really understands my game and is helping me translate into an NHL style of player.”

With his current focus on helping Colorado College earn an NCAA Tournament berth after narrowly missing out on an at-large selection last season, Laba knows there is room for individual improvement and work left to be done to achieve his dream of playing in the NHL.

“Obviously, there are a ton of areas [in my game] I need to improve,” he said. “The work never ends, especially if you want to play pro hockey. But I think my game should translate well to the pro level. I am fast and physical; both are important in the NHL. My game now feels pretty translatable, but I am going to keep putting in the work and getting better in all aspects of the game.”

The New York Rangers have never been reluctant to spend big money on free agents. But being willing to open your wallet is one thing; opening it for the right player at the right time is a whole different issue. While they’ve had some big hits over the years, the Rangers have also inked a sprinkling of albatross contracts that have set the organization back — sometimes immensely, especially in the salary cap era. Here’s a look at the 10 worst free-agent signings in Rangers history:

Related: New York Rangers worst trades in past 50 years, including Luc Robitaille twice

10. Richards Got Rich

The Signing: Rangers signed center Brad Richards to a nine-year contract
Date: July 1, 2011

Why it mattered: The Rangers have never been reluctant to open their wallet for free agents. Richards, the biggest fish in the 2011 free agent pool, had won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2004, when John Tortorella led the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup. With Tortorella now in charge of the Rangers, it was no surprise that the 31-year-old center wound up signing a front-loaded mega-deal that brought him to New York.

Richards was one of the NHL’s top playmakers and was coming off seasons of 91 and 77 points with the Dallas Stars. He had lost a step and didn’t come close to those numbers in New York, but his 66 points in 2011-12 helped the Rangers finish first in the Eastern Conference, and he was a 20-goal scorer two years later when the Rangers got to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since winning it in 1994. 

However, the collective bargaining agreement that ended the 2012 lockout turned Richards’ contract into a liability. The deal had been structured so that he wouldn’t play the last three seasons (but would earn $1 million per season). However, such contracts were considered cap circumvention under the new CBA, meaning that if he retired early, the Rangers would be on the hook for more than $5 million for each of those three seasons — for a player no longer on the roster. They wound up buying out the final six seasons of the contract, meaning that Richards ended up getting paid about $53 million for his three seasons in New York. 

He signed with the Chicago Blackhawks and almost wound up facing his old team in the 2015 Final, but the Tampa Bay Lightning knocked off the Rangers in Game 7 to win the Eastern Conference Final before losing to the Hawks in six games. 

Related: New York Rangers best trades in past 50 years, including Mark Messier

9. Cracked Glass

The Signing: Rangers sign forward Tanner Glass to a three-year contract
Date: July 1, 2014

Why it mattered: Every new coach wants to put his own stamp on his new team. Alain Vigneault was no exception.

Vigneault liked Glass, a forward who contributed grit but little else, from his days coaching the Vancouver Canucks. He reportedly pushed to sign Glass after being named coach of the Rangers in April 2014, and GM Glen Sather inked him to a three-year contract on the first day of free agency.

Glass would stand up for his teammates and was among the most popular players in the locker room. But he contributed almost nothing offensively, was a black hole when it came to puck possession and never came close to being worth the average of $1.45 million the Rangers were paying him. 

He contributed one goal, six points and 98 penalty minutes in 66 regular-season games in 2014-15, and one assist while playing all 19 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs — including the Game 7 loss to the Lightning that prevented them from returning to the Final.

But as the game became faster, Glass was increasingly a player out of his era. He was waived early in 2015-16 and spent most of the final two seasons of his contract in the NHL.

Glass gave it all he had on every shift. But with the NHL in a state of flux, that wasn’t enough.

Related: Where do New York Rangers rank regarding team statistics in salary cap era?

8. Not Keen on Keane

The Signing: Rangers sign forward Mike Keane to a four-year contract
Date: July 7, 1997

Why it mattered: The Rangers spent much of the late 1990s chasing another Stanley Cup to go along with the one they won in 1994. They got to the conference finals in 1996-97 before being eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers, and management was confident there was still a championship nucleus on hand.

GM Neil Smith wanted some additional veteran presence as an insurance policy against the potential loss of captain Mark Messier (who ultimately left for the Vancouver Canucks as a free agent), so he brought in Keane, a free agent who had won championships with the Montreal Canadiens (where he’d been captain) and Colorado Avalanche. The 30-year-old didn’t come cheaply — the four-year contract carried an average annual value of $2 million, a huge outlay for someone who didn’t play top-six minutes and had never scored more than 16 goals in a season. 

But as was often the case in the 1990s and 2000s, the signing turned into a disaster. Keane and another veteran forward, Brian Skrudland (who signed the same day), formed two-thirds of an incredibly expensive third line that contributed little, offensively or defensively. For many Rangers fans, the most memorable happening involving Keane came when he inadvertently crashed into linemate Pat LaFontaine during a late-season game; the resulting concussion ended LaFontaine’s career.

With his team’s playoff hopes dimming as the trade deadline neared, Smith sent both players to the Dallas Stars as part of a late March housecleaning that brought in veteran forward Bob Errey and youngster Todd Harvey. Keane became a three-time champion with the Stars in 1999, played in the NHL until 2003-04 and spent five more seasons in the AHL. His time with the Rangers turned out to be a blip in one of hockey’s longest careers.

Related: 10 most underrated New York Rangers since 2000

7. Local Boy Doesn’t Make Good

The Signing: Rangers signed defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk to a four-year contract
Date: July 1, 2017

Why it mattered: The Rangers didn’t have to look far when seeking an offensive defenseman in the summer of 2017. Shattenkirk was a Rangers fan who grew up in New Rochelle, New York, about a half-hour from Madison Square Garden, and reportedly passed up bigger offers to sign a four-year deal worth an average of $6.65 million.

The contract didn’t seem to be out of line — in fact, he said he might have left money on the table but that this was his chance “to fulfill a lifetime dream.” Shattenkirk was the highest scorer of any free agent available in 2017 (56 points, a career-high) and had finished with at least 42 points in each of the five previous non-lockout seasons. 

But things quickly went south. Shattenkirk’s offensive numbers tanked during an injury-filled first season, and the Rangers’ objectives changed as they fell out of the playoff race; they dealt away veterans like Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller while opting to rebuild. Management decided in the summer of 2019 that Shattenkirk didn’t fit into their future plans and opted to buy out the final two seasons.

The Tampa Bay Lightning quickly snapped up Shattenkirk, who helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2020. He then played three seasons with the Anaheim Ducks before joining the Boston Bruins in 2023-24.

Shattenkirk’s time with his hometown team can be filed under the heading of “be careful what you ask for.” In this case, neither side got what it was hoping for. 

Related: Top 10 all-time best United States-born players in New York Rangers history

6. Kaspar the Unfriendly Ghost

The Signing: Rangers sign defenseman Darius Kasparaitis to a six-year contract
Date: July 2, 2002

Why it mattered: The Rangers, who had missed the playoffs for five consecutive seasons, wanted a more physical presence on the blue line and outbid the Toronto Maple Leafs for Kasparaitis, who got a six-year deal worth an average of $4.25 million despite having never scoring more than four goals or 21 points in a season and having been hampered by a couple of major injuries.

Ironically, one of the callers in the recruiting drive for “Kaspar” was Rangers center Eric Lindros, who had missed a month after being knocked unconscious by a Kasparaitis check four years earlier while playing for the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Rangers paid Kasparaitis to be what he was at his best — a human wrecking ball who had no compunctions about leveling the NHL’s top players (he was famous for flattening both Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux) with the kind of hip check that was rarely seen anymore. And he did just that in his first season with a rebuilding team, banging bodies and forcing opponents to keep an eye out for them.

But his hitting ability was often negated by his lack of speed and offensive skills. His playing style also led to more injuries, which slowed him even more. The Rangers waived Kasparaitis prior to 2006-07, making him a very expensive AHL defenseman for the final two seasons of his contract after he went unclaimed. 

Related: 5 alternate jerseys the New York Rangers should bring back

5. Drury Disappoints

The Signing: Rangers signed center Chris Drury to a five-year contract
Date: July 1, 2007

Why it mattered: Drury won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie in 1998-99, helped the Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup two years later and was coming off back-to-back 30-goal seasons with the Buffalo Sabres in the summer of 2007 when Sather lured the 31-year-old center to the team he grew up watching as a boy in Connecticut with a five-year contract worth more than $7 million a year.

No. 1 center Michael Nylander had left for Washington, so coach Tom Renney installed Drury on the first line with Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka on his wings. But while Drury was getting paid top-line money, he’d never been a first-line talent. That didn’t change with his new team: Drury’s offensive totals dropped off — and so did Jagr’s, who had put up 123 and 96 points in the previous two seasons but managed just 71 while largely playing with Drury and left for the KHL the following season.

Drury’s offensive numbers continued to drop. By 2010-11, injuries limited him to 24 games and one goal; the Rangers bought out the remaining year of his contract in July  2011. He was among the host of free-agent disappointments that riddled the Rangers in the first few years after the lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season.

But unlike the others on this list, Drury’s time with the Rangers had a second act. He rejoined the team as director of player development in 2015 and was named president and general manager in 2021. He’s now trying to do as an executive what he couldn’t as a player — lead the Rangers to a championship.

Related: 6 Unanswered Rangers questions before 2024-25 season, including Matt Rempe’s long-term role

4. One Devil Disaster

The Signing: Rangers signed center Scott Gomez to a seven-year contract
Date: July 1, 2007

Why it mattered: The Rangers thought they had accomplished two things when they landed Gomez, a 28-year-old two-time Stanley Cup winner with the New Jersey Devils, center in the summer of 2007. Not only did they feel they were getting one of the NHL’s best centers, but they were weakening a division rival at the same time.

That was the theory. The reality was a lot different.

Part of the problem was the expectations that went along with a contract worth $7.5 million per season — one that was signed the same day they inked Drury. Gomez had broken the 20-goal mark just once in eight seasons with the Devils, but he was expected to put the puck in the net more in his new home. But it didn’t happen. He matched his career high with 70 points in his first season at the Garden but scored just 16 goals. He equaled that goal total in 2008-09 but saw his assists (42) and points (58) fall off despite seeing his ice time bumped up to more than 21 minutes a game.

By now, Garden fans were bemoaning spending top dollar on a playmaking center who was over 30 and likely entering the back nine of his career — with a commitment of $35 million still on the books.

The only thing that saved Sather was that he was able to foist Gomez off on another team. The Canadiens needed a middle-six center and took Gomez off his hands in what looked like a salary dump. But part of the return was a college defenseman named Ryan McDonagh – who turned into a stud.

Related: Rarest Rangers sweaters in franchise history, including Wayne Gretzky

3. Another Devil Disaster

The Signing: Rangers signed center Bobby Holik to a five-year contract
Date: July 1, 2002

Why it mattered: The center on the “Crash Line” that helped the Devils win the Stanley Cup in 1995 and 2000 crashed and burned when he took his game across the Hudson River.

Holik was a big, physical center who put up very good offensive numbers for someone who spent most of his time on a checking line. He had averaged 23 goals and 57 points from 1996-97 through 2001-02 and was a plus player in all six of those seasons. With the Rangers’ non-playoff streak at five seasons and counting, Sather threw money at Holik, signing him to a five-year deal worth $45 million. That’s $9 million per season for a 31-year-old who wasn’t a first-line player.

But with a big contract came big expectations — ones that Holik couldn’t meet. His offensive numbers dropped off sharply in 2002-03; though they rebounded in his second season, 25 goals and 56 points weren’t nearly enough to prevent the Rangers from missing the playoffs for a seventh straight season.

When play resumed after the lockout that wiped out 2004-05, the Rangers wasted little time buying out the final two seasons of his contract. Holik spent the next three seasons with the Atlanta Thrashers before a final season with New Jersey. He finished his career with 326 goals and 747 points in 1,314 games as well as two Stanley Cup rings — and a ton of money from a contract that still generates grumbles from Rangers fans of that era.

Related: Rangers’ Artemi Panarin named one of best wings in hockey by NHL Network analyst

2. Fleury Flames Out

The Signing: Rangers signed forward Theo Fleury to a three-year contract (plus team option for a fourth season)
Date: July 8, 1999

Why it mattered: Fleury and the Rangers were a match made in hockey hell.

With the Rangers having missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time in two decades, ownership gave Smith access to the checkbook and told him to go shopping. 

Fleury, all 5-foot-6 of him, had helped the Calgary Flames win the Stanley Cup as a rookie in 1989, then spent the next 10 seasons piling up goals and points. He was coming off his fourth 40-goal season in the summer of 1999; the last 10 tallies came with the Avalanche after a late-season trade. That was more than enough for Smith and Garden president Dave Checketts to pursue Fleury and get his signature on the dotted line of a contract worth $7 million annually.

But the personal issues that Fleury, who described himself as “a prairie kid from a town of 1,500,” had handled successfully in Calgary weren’t as easily dealt with under the bright lights of the Big Apple. He struggled on the ice in his first season but found his game in year two and was among the league leaders in goals and points until his season ended when he checked into a substance abuse program.

His third season saw him produce 24 goals and 63 points but pile up 216 penalty minutes amid incidents that included a fight with the San Jose Sharks mascot and leaving the arena instead of going to the penalty box. The Rangers didn’t exercise their option and gave him away that summer to San Jose; he wound up signing with the Chicago Blackhawks but another substance abuse suspension ended his NHL career.

Fleury’s autobiography, released in 2009, explained a lot. He recounted how he grew up poor in Manitoba, was sexually abused by junior hockey coach Graham James, drank and gambled excessively, and used cocaine during his career, including his time with the Rangers (he got sober in 2005). 

Related: Sam Rosen dishes on Rangers broadcast partners in reflective Rink Rap podcast interview

1. Creating the AHL’s Richest Player

The Signing: Rangers signed defenseman Wade Redden to a six-year contract
Date: July 1, 2008

Why it mattered: Sather wasted no time signing Redden, a solid top-four defenseman with the Ottawa Senators for more than a decade, when he became a free agent in the summer of 2008. The No. 2 pick in the 1995 NHL Draft had never been spectacular, but he’d reached double figures in goals five times and was a plus player in each of his last seven seasons with the Sens, who had opted to keep him instead of Zdeno Chara in 2006. 

Many thought the six years and $6.5 million average annual were a bit on the high side, though not necessarily outrageous, for a 31-year-old. Given the way things turned out, “outrageous” would have been a major improvement.

Redden had a poor season in 2008-09 and was even worse the following season, managing just two goals and 14 points in 75 games. The skills that had attracted the Rangers were nowhere to be found; instead, he looked washed up.

With cap space tight and Redden not producing, the decision was made to bite the bullet and demote Redden and his huge contract to the AHL. For the next two seasons, he was (by far) the AHL’s highest-paid player. He might have stayed there for the remainder of his contract, but the collective bargaining agreement that ended the 2012-13 lockout eliminated most of the benefits of burying a contract in the minors. Instead, the Rangers bought out the final two seasons of his deal.

The St. Louis Blues quickly signed Redden, though they ended up flipping him to the Bruins at the trade deadline. He retired after playing five games during Boston’s run to the 2013 Stanley Cup Final.

Redden’s signing might not be the worst deal in NHL history, but it’s right up there. 

Related: 5 iconic Rangers play-by-play calls by legendary Sam Rosen

The Rangers announced the following changes to their hockey operations department and additions to the Hartford Wolf Pack staff.

• Tuomo Ruutu and Former Rangers forward Tanner Glass have been hired as Assistant Directors of Player Development. This had been reported a few weeks ago and was covered on the site, but now the organization has made it official.
• Chris Morehouse has been named Director of North American Scouting. Morehouse was the Director of Amateur Scouting for the Blue Jackets in each of the last three seasons under John Davidson’s leadership.
• Marshall Davidson and Derek Ginnell have been named amateur scouts. Like Morehouse, Davidson and Ginnell were part of the Blue Jackets scouting department under Davidson.
• Amateur scout Steve Konowalchuk has been made a pro scout. Prior to joining the Rangers front office for the 2018-19 season, Konowalchuk was an assistant coach in Anaheim and Colorado and was the head coach of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds.
• In Hartford, David Cunniff has been hired as an assistant coach and Chris Hoeler is the Wolf Pack’s Video Coach. Cunniff was an associate/assistant coach with the Iowa Wild for the last four seasons. Before joining the Blueshirts, Hoeler was the Director of Hockey Ops for the USHL’s Chicago Steel last season after being the video coach for the Harvard Women’s team.

For years the New York Rangers were a team focusing on the now, trying to sign big free agents and be a contender every year. It didn’t always work out that way and it has frustrated some fans, me included, that they never tried a different approach. Well, we see signs every week that this is no longer the case.

When Jeff Gorton took over in July of 2015, his goal was to “retool” the Rangers as he said and that started with the Brassard-Zibanejad trade a year later. A year later, Derek Stepan was traded together with backup goalie Antti Raanta for a top-10 pick and Anthony DeAngelo. The last 16 months however, the Rangers are in full rebuild mode and the latest moves suggest they are focusing on more than just drafting. 2 weeks ago, Tanner Glass was added to the organization in a role where he will serve as a “prospect chaperone” so to speak where he will help prospects off the ice. As a Dartmouth graduate, Tanner Glass has the paperwork to land a job like this and fans need to see this separate from Tanner Glass as a player. Glass will work closely with another former Ranger Jed Ortmeyer who is the Director of Player Development for the Blueshirts.

Today, Larry Brooks (New York Post) reported the Rangers have added Tuomo Ruutu to do the same job in Europe. The 36-year old Finn who played for the Blackhawks, Hurricanes and Devils in the NHL, and represented Jokerit and HIFK in his home-country Finland, retired in 2017 and served as Jukka Jalonen’s assistant coach on the u20 Finland national team. Ruutu worked closely with Kaapo Kakko in that capacity.

2 weeks ago, I had a former New York Rangers employee on as guest on my own podcast Under Review and we had a lengthy discussion about this transition. How the Rangers have changed their attitude towards prospect development by having coaches fly over to individually assist these prospects.

Another change in management was the way they want to make sure the prospects feel that they are part of the franchise. “Whether you play in Finland, Russia, Sweden, Hartford, Maine. YOU are a Ranger” is what he said. When Lias Andersson was sent to Frölunda on loan after the 2017 draft, the Rangers were closely involved in his development and they sent a skating coach to Göteborg to work with Lias Andersson individually. All those little nuances help in players feeling they are part of the organization.

The appointment of Tanner Glass and Tuomo Ruutu points to the Rangers organization fully embracing the development of prospects. One aspect that cannot be understated is that Jeff Gorton brought in Nickolai Bobrov in 2016 to serve as the head of European scouting. Gorton and Bobrov worked together in Boston and the current Rangers GM felt he was the right man for the job.

It is no surprise to me that since then, we have seen the addition of highly touted European prospects like Filip Chytil, Vitali Kravtsov, Yegor Rykov and Nils Lundkvist. With the focus shifting to European based prospects in recent years, Gorton acknowledged that the organization needs to be involved in the development of those prospects. With the addition of Tuomo Ruutu we have another piece to the puzzle.

The New York Rangers currently have 9 prospects in Europe, with Tarmo Reunanen potentially returning to Finland if he doesn’t make the team. Ruutu will spend his time in Sweden and Finland helping Olof Lindbom, Calle Själin, Jakob Ragnarsson, Nils Lundkvist, Adam Edström and Karl Henriksson in Sweden, and Leevi Aaltonen, Lauri Pajuniemi and potentially Tarmo Reunanen in Finland.

A report out of France states that Tanner Glass is retiring from hockey playing for the Bordeaux Boxers and joining the Rangers organization in a player development role. The article states that Glass will help prospects develop and even support them overseas.

I reached out to the Rangers for some additional clarification and was informed that an official press release was coming along with some additional moves that have yet to be finalized. Now that the Stanley Cup has been awarded, the organization can get to work on what is expected to be a very busy and exciting offseason.

So the bottom line, there are more moves than just Glass to be announced. I also expect that most of the moves will be Hartford centric. As soon as more information is available, I will share it with you loyal readers.

Let’s get it out of the way: I liked Tanner Glass. Every fan’s evisceration of that always smiling, always grinding, semi-enforcer who rarely took off a shift in terms of energy always made me chuckle as if there was a better game-ready suit in the rafters waiting to take his place that did what he did. I say ‘semi’ because I actually liked his deceptive quickness to-the-man and he every so often scored something important.

Everyone though just saw him as a roadblock to letting the kids play and getting their experience time in. Meanwhile, never mind the fact that AV handled youth development like a NIMBY old man yelling at a cloud, with a lot of gum chewing.

Despite the double entendre, Cody McLeod is the modern day Rangers’ Tanner Glass. He’s a hard-working, mostly slogging but rough-and-tumble winger that is out there to create havoc and protect the children. Let’s face it, it’s him and sometimes Zuccarello, which is crazy considering there’s big Chris Kreider and a huge Kevin Hayes and…ok that’s it really; no one else really gets in anyone’s face anymore, or even much go out of their way to finish a check, really. At least not the way McLeod does.

He plays anywhere from 6-8 minutes per game, and when going well, he should get in one good ‘hit’ per minute. No points; never any points. Almost exclusively minuses or zeroes on the stat sheet. It’s an inglorious package that is hard to appreciate unless you are there and paying attention when he makes a hit that stuns/pins in a player against the boards in their own zone; so that someone with skill can grab the puck and do something positive with it.

Cody’s been solid of late, complimenting David Quinn’s no-nonsense style and level of accountability quite well. Under Alain Vigneault, the fit was not good for Cody, but I’d more attribute that to AV having *so* lost the room/clubhouse/arena/zip code that he could have put Dancing Larry on the fourth line and it wouldn’t have mattered. The Nashville game last season where Vesey got nailed with a nasty elbow and Staal got rammed into the end boards, to which Cody promptly did – nothing. Was that on him? AV?  Who knows, but my money’s on the guy that didn’t do this and this.

DQ’s night & day different coaching style in almost every way speaks so well to a bruiser/cruncher like Mr. McLeod. Truth be told, at age 34, it’s really all he has left to give a hockey club; try and create space with his body, get the fancy talents like Laine/Matthews/Barzal looking over their shoulders just a little. Everyone is playing harder too, and it’s why they’re second in the division. Have we ever seen Vesey play with this much energy; dare I say a little snarl? Even Zibanejad. Life, feeds on life, feeds on life.

In what is most likely one of his last hurrahs, this is a good fit for Cody McLeod under David Quinn. The style is simple, straightforward, and so far, effective. Fans are often confounded why coach after coach still call on guys like Cody, Ryan Reaves, Matt Martin, et. al. when they turn on NHL Tonight and watch clips of Connor McDavid look like he’s on an electric bicycle coming down the middle of the ice…but there’s only one of him; the rest of us need people to help open up that middle.

Also, Edmonton is terrible.

The Rangers re-upped with Cody McLeod last week. The signing was met, and rightfully so with the appropriate moans and groans. This morning, Rangers fans are waking up to a scathing article by Larry Brooks in the NY POST questioning the move.

McLeod’s Mistake

In one key point in the article, Brooks recalls how after 2 head shots to Marc Staal and Jimmy Vesey, McLeod failed to answer the bell. It was thought by many that head coach, Alain Vigneault’s reluctance for fisticuffs was to blame.

The only acceptable explanation would have been if Vigneault had instructed his players to stand down, but we’ve done some checking and have learned that was not the case. Indeed, we’re told the coach was upset over the team’s pacifism and raised the issue with the players the following day while reviewing the game video. Problem is that when the coach says “whistle-to-whistle” often enough, players tend to believe it. – Larry Brooks

So why sign him? To be fair, his contract is only for one year at $750,000 and can be buried entirely in the AHL with no impact to the cap. The logical conclusion is that McLeod is a backup plan, just in case the Rangers can’t score a legit tough guy that can actually contribute to the lineup at a good price.

Who’s Out There?

Jeff Gorton has remained out of the free agent feeding frenzy thus far and he hasn’t overpaid for a guy like Leo Kamorov in the process. So now that the waters aren’t churning, Gorton should try and obtain a legit enforcer.

Chris Stewart

The hulking forward is only 30 years old and has struggled to find a home playing just 54 games last season. In those games between Minnesota and Calgary he scored 10 goals and 16 points with 3 fighting majors.

Stewart’s 6’2″ and 228 lbs frame is intimidating. He is coming off a $1.15M contract and could likely be signed at a bargain. If the Rangers want a heavyweight in the lineup this is the direction to go.

Scott Hartnell

Hartnell has been one of the most agitating players in the NHL for well over a decade. The 36 year old does not fit the “rebuild” concept but could play a key role on the 4th line with the ability to fill in on the 3rd.

The rugged winger is not an enforcer, but still throws the fists a few times a year. He is averaging about 3 fights a year now, which is a far cry from the 30 fights he accumulated from 2007-2012.

“Hartsy”, as his teammates call him is coming off a contract of $4.75M but isn’t garnering a lot of interest. He would cost more than Stewart but offers more than just toughness to a very young lineup. Hartnell scored 13 goals in each of his last 2 seasons while only averaging 12 minutes of ice time. Perfect for a 4th line role in NY.

Tanner Glass

Glass was one of the most polarizing figures during Alain Vigneault’s tenure between old school vs new age hockey fans. For the most part, Tanner Glass deserved none of the criticism he received for unjustly being a lightning rod for the two factions.

While he was here, Glass put in an honest effort every game and answered the bell every time (unlike McLeod last year). He was beloved and praised by his teammates and it wouldn’t hurt the Rangers to consider bringing him back on an NHL/AHL friendly contract.

Pavel Buchnevich has always been this enigmatic icon among Rangers fans. Even before he ever took the ice for prospect camp, fans all over were drooling over his YouTube highlights; instantaneously warranting the viewpoint that Buchnevich had to be a talent the likes of Vladimir Tarasenko. His first season with the New York Rangers organization was a roller coaster, one marked by highs and lows alike.

The Good

Buchnevich began the 2016-17 season on the opening day roster and through his first six games only managed two assists, despite getting ample playing time of roughly 15 minutes per game. He then turned on the jets in his next four games, scoring four goals and 2 assists. Putting his ten-game total at eight points. Not a bad start to a rookie campaign, eh?

The Bad

However, that’s when the New York Rangers made the decision to shut him down for an extended period in order to strengthen his core, as he was having some back pains. A lot of that has to do with the NHL way of training versus the International. It’s why you see more growing pains with international players coming over to the NHL.

For comparison’s sake, the KHL season lasts 56 games, but unlike the NHL who plays 82 games beginning in October and ending in April, the KHL season plays those 56 games beginning in late August. That’s an eight-month season with roughly seven games per month, as opposed to the NHL average of twelve games per month. Breaking it down a little bit more, a KHL team will usually play 1-2 games per week, whereas NHL teams play 3-4 game per week. It’s very similar to training for a marathon versus a sprint.

The Ugly

Buchnevich then returned to the Rangers lineup in January and over the course of the final 31 games only managed to record another four goals and eight assists. He finished his rookie season with a stat line to 41 GP, 8G, 12A and 20 points. Many fans were disappointed by this, blaming his lack of production on what they perceived to be poor coaching decisions by Alain Vigneault planting him on the fourth line.

Even when given an opportunity in the playoffs, Buchnevich was held to a measly one point over the course of six games and was infamously taken off the roster during the Montreal series in favor of Tanner Glass.

Note: It didn’t help fans’ narrative of blaming lineup decisions for Buchnevich’s perceived shortcomings when Tanner Glass sparked the team’s turnaround vs. Montreal and famously snarked “If you mess with the bull, you get the horns.” Glass also had this comment for fans to pour a little salt on the wounds of those opposed to the move. Despite most initial reactions to this reference, it does hold relevance in this evaluation.

The Current

Pavel Buchnevich has returned with a vengeance. Many will credit this resurgence to Buchnevich finally getting what they have been pleading for, a top line assignment alongside Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad. Buchnevich has four goals and three assists for seven points since the promotion. So far this season, Buchnevich has 8 goals and 7 assists for 15 points.

The contrarian view might say that despite his 15 points, eight of them have come on the man-advantage and the issue remains that he’s a -2 on the season. (a stat which I personally don’t love, as it doesn’t tell the whole story usually).

Success Breeds Questions

All signs now point to Pavel Buchnevich becoming the player so many fans hoped he would be when the team first drafted him and brought him over from Russia. His performance forces us now to have two conversations though. The first is, can Buchnevich be a building block piece for the Rangers going forward and in the future? Doug MacLean recently agreed with this point on Sportsnet Hockey Central, mentioning Buchnevich alongside Mika Zibanejad and Brady Skjei as possible core building pieces for this team going forward.

First things first though, and the other conversation we need to have is to take a step back and take an alternate look at the narrative that’s surrounded Buchnevich. Fans for so long have been pleading with beat writers and pleading with Alain Vigneault that Vigneault was hurting the team by not placing Buchnevich in a more prominent role. The perception of Alain Vigneault not trusting young players was something I recently took a look at here on Forever Blueshirts, when I posted the question, “Maybe we’re wrong about Alain Vigneault.”

I’ve seen all the Corsi stats that explain why Buchnevich needed a top line role, and many of them were absolutely compelling. The really interesting part is we will never truly know whether it was the chicken or the egg in this scenario. However, there are a few key points that need to be examined when making your conclusion on this topic.

The Truth

Alain Vigneault employs a very structured system. It’s very unique among NHL standards in that he employs a “man” defensive zone structure as opposed to a “zone.” The Rangers played a zone defense under John Tortorella. The striking difference between the two and the complexity of the “man” defensive zone structure directly correlates to the Rangers ugly start to the 2013-14 season. The “man” defensive zone structure can make even the most skilled defensemen look silly. This could also have a lot to do with the reasoning behind AV’s choice to play guys like Nick Holden and Steven Kampfer over younger players. It’s necessary for the Rangers to play a “man” defensive zone system as it compliments the transition and counter-attack game the Rangers employ much better than a “zone” structure would.

Pavel Buchnevich has always had high-end talent, but top-six players play against the opponents’ top-six players. If you aren’t buttoned up enough in the defensive zone, the holes in your defensive game are more glaring and easily exposed. It’s a big reason why the Corsi numbers don’t truly apply to that narrative. They don’t prove why a guy who has had a certain level of performance on the 4th line will automatically have that same success on a top line (See: Adam Clendening, Emerson Etem).

The Difference

There’s also the adjustment from the KHL/International rink to the NHL ice. In the NHL, the space between the goal line and the boards is 11′, whereas a KHL rink has 13′. The surface in the NHL is significantly smaller in width as well (85′ wide versus the KHL 100′). Most notably, while both rinks are 200 feet in length, the NHL defensive zone from the goal line to the blue line is 64 feet, 7 feet longer than the KHL’s 58 feet. That’s a lot more room to cover defensively north and south in a tighter space east and west.

The Reality

This all comes down to being able to not be a detriment in the defensive zone. Alain Vigneault is tasked with the responsibility of putting a team on the ice that has the best understanding of his system, both defensively and offensively. He also has the luxury of being able to find scoring throughout most of his lineup. The biggest concern really was making sure that he wasn’t putting the team in harm’s way defensively by giving Buchnevich those minutes. Not only did Buchnevich play his entire life on international ice, he never before played in any defensive zone structure until he came over to New York.

In sports like football, coaches are heralded as a genius and disciplined when they take a talented young player and give him time to learn their system in a lesser role (see Aaron Rodgers). Yet somehow, a large contingent of fans ignore the same fact and learning curve a young player goes through coming over to the NHL. At least in football, the playing surface is the same.

To further this point, in football you get the luxury to put players in where they succeed while they develop where they don’t. You’re able to use a running back who hasn’t developed his blocking game well enough yet as a 3rd down back. In hockey, even if you only start a player in the offensive zone, odds are the play will end up in your defensive zone at some point during his shift. It’s the reason why through all levels of USA Hockey and Hockey Canada, coaches emphasize the importance of being a good “200 ft player.” I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve personally witnessed a highly talented player (at times, the most talented player) get cut from a team because he didn’t play three zones and the team was better off for it.

The Future

Now that Buchnevich has begun to show signs of defensive zone reliability, as well as displaying his scoring ability for all to see, it does seem like he’s here to stay. He isn’t perfect in the defensive zone, but he has been noticeably better. It’s key to point out that during this Rangers six-game winning streak, they have come up large against three very special talents named Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and most recently Connor McDavid. Against Edmonton, where Vigneault had the last change, he consistently matched the Kevin Hayes line up against McDavid, not the KZB line. He also did the same against Tampa Bay, and you’ll most likely continue to see it against other teams.

Buchnevich has made his biggest impact though on the Power Play, as evidenced by more than half of his points coming on the man advantage. The Power Play as a whole has been a revelation for the New York Rangers and has become an area where they can punish teams.

This isn’t all to Kevin Shattenkirk’s credit though. No matter how you draw it up, a good Power Play needs three elements. A quarterback, a sniping threat, and a net-front presence. Shattenkirk has been that quarterback, and so was Yandle and many who came before them. The biggest difference I’m seeing is that teams can’t overcommit to Shattenkirk because of the threat Buchnevich’s, and by extension, Mika Zibanejad’s, shot poses. This keeps the opponent’s PK honest and ultimately gives Shattenkirk more room to move or shoot the puck.

Only time will tell what Pavel Buchnevich develops into. I see a really good talent in him, but I don’t see a Nikita Kucherov or Vladimir Tarasenko just yet. The thing is, nobody saw Nikita Kucherov coming the way he has (also another offensively gifted player who’s coach brought him along slowly over the years.)

For more on this topic, hear The Tilted Ice’s take on the matter below.

https://soundcloud.com/user-200365995/tilted-ice-north-of-penn-short-is-pavel-buchnevich-a-building-block-for-the-future

Here is the FullTilt Quick Hits recap of the Rangers 2-0 shutout victory over the Canadiens.

KZB Line – One of the most promising lines at the start of last season was the line of Mika Zibanejad centering Chris Kreider and then-rookie Pavel Buchnevich. After a year of seasoning for Buch, and an offseason to get healthier and stronger, this line looks like it could be the next great off-Broadway show. All three guys have speed, skill, strength and an awareness of where the others are on the ice. This line showed exactly these traits on Zibanejad’s insurance marker in the third period. Kreider and Buchnevich go in hard on the forecheck, Kreider taps it to Buchnevich behind the net, and he finds Zibanejad open in the slot for the goal. This line is clicking already, and if all three guys stay healthy, this will be a high producing line for the Blueshirts.

JT Miller – As I mentioned in my recap of the Rangers loss to the Maple Leafs, JT has stepped up so far this season. He didn’t have any shots against Carey Price, but he won the faceoff that led to Brady Skjei’s first-period goal. Miller was 77% on faceoffs in this one and with Filip Chytil’s NHL future in doubt, Miller is showing himself to be a more than capable pivot man for AV.

Team Defense – This game was a complete 180 of the games against the Avalanche and Maple Leafs to start the year. The Rangers maintained good gap control, got in the shooting lanes to block shots, and perhaps most importantly, didn’t back down in the third period and go to the defensive shell, aka “The Turtle.” The Rangers defense had been the talk of the summer, with the team adding Kevin Shattenkirk. But for the Rangers to be successful this season, they’ll need all six defensemen to play at a high level for all 82 games.

POWER Play – The Rangers PP did not convert against Carey Price in this one, but it wasn’t because they reverted to last season’s man-advantage unit. The Rangers this season have come in and established that their power-play is going to be shoot-first and that all passing will be for the purpose of getting the puck to the net. The Blueshirts had seven shots in three extra-man situations, a number which would’ve taken games to get to last season. And that number could’ve been higher if you include the missed connections the Rangers had during their second-period chances.

Physical Play – When Tanner Glass left the Rangers organization this summer, there was one question that needed to be asked, “would the Rangers have a physical presence?” And that question was answered in this one. The Rangers continuously threw their bodies against the Canadiens; lining up the Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge 24 times and cleared the front of the net multiple times for Henrik Lundqvist. The team is built for speed and skill, but learning to play the physical game can only help them going forward.

Henrik Lundqvist – After being pulled less than 24 hours earlier, Henrik Lundqvist played his best game of this short season. King Henrik pitched a shutout, including a few fine saves to protect the Rangers tenuous one-goal lead. In Toronto, Henrik had no support from the guys in front of him. In this one, he had the guys in front of him playing the way they are supposed to play. As we all know, if he can see it, he will save it. And this performance was a prime example.

Alain Vigneault – The Rangers head coach has come under fire for the way he configured his lineups so far this season. After gluing rookie Filip Chytil to the bench for most of the game in Toronto, AV decided to sit Brendan Smith, along with Chytil, in this one. AV opted to roll seven defense-men against the Canadiens and while the result was favorable, it isn’t how the Rangers are going to be successful this season. The Rangers management needs to make a decision on Chytil ASAP. Sending him to Juniors or to Europe would be much better for his development, rather than having him sit in the press box above the MSG ice. As for Smith, he didn’t have a good game in Toronto and sitting him now isn’t the biggest deal in the world. You’d much rather have him sit now instead of January or February as the Rangers are fighting for a playoff spot.

With all the criticism of the Rangers head coach, let’s give credit where it’s due. The Rangers head coach, and by extension video coach Jerry Dineen, challenged two first period goals by the Canadiens. Both were taken off the board and kept the game scoreless until Skjei notched his first of the year.

NEXT GAME: The Rangers will look to build on this win, when they host the Blues on Tuesday. Puck drops at 7!

LETS GO RANGERS!!

As fans, players, and coaches gear up for the start of the regular season, here are some things to look for as the journey for Lord Stanley’s Cup begins.

Sophomore Slumps?

There was much made of the play of the Rangers rookies last season, and for good reason. Brady Skjei introduced himself to the NHL by being a 200-foot defenseman with excellent skating ability and awareness in all three zones. Harvard free agent signing Jimmy Vesey put up 27 points in 80 games last year and should be able to shake off the first year “jitters” as he enters his second NHL season.

That leaves the much talked about, not so much played, Pavel Buchnevich; the young Russian was talked about a lot before last season and played solidly in his first campaign. After suffering an injury that kept him out of the lineup for a good chunk of the season, he was never able to regain his spot in the lineup, or in AV’s good graces. He was benched in favor of the lesser skilled Tanner Glass during the playoffs and was a fourth line player over the course of the year. I will concede that Glass was inserted not necessarily because of Buchnevich but as a way for Vigneault to wake up his team. But when a player in a speed and skill based system is benched for a player who fits a grind and grit system, it should force you to pause and reflect on why it happened.

And it seems that those moves from AV have jumpstarted Buchnevich for 2017-18. Buchnevich posted three points in four preseason games, and it appears as though he will be reunited with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad to start the season. This trio was productive for the Blueshirts early last year before both Zibanejad and Buchnevich went down with injuries.

Living Up To The Money

Speaking of Zibanejad, the Swedish center signed a 5-year, $26.75 million deal this summer and will be assuming the role as the team’s number one center. Zibanejad had an underwhelming debut season with the Rangers, especially when you consider he was injured for a good portion of the year. He put up 37 points in 56 games, which is not terrible, but he’ll need to improve on that pace over the full 82 games to truly be a first-line center.

The other big re-signing of the offseason was relative newcomer Brendan Smith. After being acquired from the Red Wings at the trade deadline Smith came in and provided a much-needed physical edge on the back end. He paired very well with the above-mentioned Skjei, and the two formed a dynamic duo in Smith’s short time on Broadway. Considering the moves Jeff Gorton made in the summer, Smith’s re-signing was a must. And with the rugged defenseman back in the fold, the Rangers have one of the best top-four groupings across the NHL.

AP

A Deep Defense

If there was one thing that Jeff Gorton needed to do during the long summer break, it was to improve the defense. Yes, the Rangers were a little thin down the middle coming into camp, but the emergence of their first-round pick Filip Chytil has given Rangers fans a reason to be optimistic. When it came to the defense however, you were dealing with aging veterans Dan Girardi and Marc Staal; youngster Brady Skjei; oft-scratched Kevin Klein and Steven Kampfer; the progressively deteriorating play of Nick Holden; and team captain Ryan McDonagh.

Now that Girardi is in Tampa after being bought out by the Rangers and Klein retired from the NHL to play in Switzerland, the team’s defense looks as good as it’s been in a long time. Skjei and Smith will remain together on the team’s second pair. Marc Staal will probably start the year with Nick Holden, much to the chagrin of most Rangers fans. If AV has learned anything from last season, we hope it’s that he needs to have a shorter leash when players aren’t performing, especially his defensemen, and with Anthony DeAngelo waiting in the wings, he’ll be the next man up to replace a struggling defender.

Finally, we have the top pairing of captain Ryan McDonagh and the pride of New Rochelle NY, Kevin Shattenkirk. After signing a team-friendly four-year contract with the Blueshirts Shattenkirk will look to bring his brand of offensive skill and skating to Broadway. He also allows Ryan McDonagh to not have to carry the weight of the entire team on his shoulders. McDonagh had been the go-to guy on the power play, penalty kill, and at even strength. Now with Shattenkirk on the squad, the PP duties will be off of the Minnesota native and the captain can now relax on the ice. Furthermore, McDonagh will be able to step-up in the offensive zone, if he chooses, knowing he has a capable defender playing next to him.

USA Today

Powering Up the Power Play

When it comes to the Rangers special teams, and specifically the power play, there are different facets that need to be inspected. Who will be on each five-man unit? Will AV and Scott Arniel change the breakout scheme, as we alluded to on FullTilt Radio this week? Will the players finally stop passing up opportunities to get the puck to the net instead of trying to find the perfect pass?

The Rangers PP has been a struggle for the last few years, to put it mildly. Since the 2011-12 season, the Rangers man-advantage ranks 22nd across the NHL. Needless to say, it’s not good. In my mind, the Rangers biggest problem has been the breakout. After the Red Wings had a lot of success using the “drop-pass” in the 2000s it started becoming widely used across the NHL and the Rangers were no exception.

Here’s the thing though, the Rangers don’t and have never had the personnel the Red Wings had. The Red Wings power play units consisted of guys like Pavel Datsyuk, Nicklas Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, Marian Hossa, Brian Rafalski and Chris Chelios. We are talking about a two current Hall of Famers (Lidstrom/Chelios), two or three potential future Hall of Famers, and two US Hockey Hall of Fame Members (Chelios/Rafalski). The Rangers have had good players, but never that level of talent.

The Rangers’ biggest asset is their speed and with Alain Vigneault wanting to play an up-tempo, high-energy style, it would stand to reason that he should continue that when there is more room to utilize that speed. When the puck gets dropped back, only two players of the five are in motion. The way I see it, the Rangers using the drop-back pass can be summed up in this line from the movie Dodgeball:

The Rangers have a combination of size and speed in their forward group that is being grossly misused by the coaching staff. Here are two ways that I think the PP can improve just by changing the breakout; because let’s face it, if you don’t get the puck into the zone with the extra man, it doesn’t matter who is on the ice.

One way is to have all five guys come up the ice together. Let’s take a unit of Zibanejad, Zuccarello, Kreider, Shattenkirk, Skjei. Shattenkirk is the man behind the net as the quarterback, Zibanejad and Skjei are on one wall and Zuccarello and Kreider are on the other wall. Shattenkirk can make a pass up either wall and allow the guys receive the puck with speed, to get set in the offensive zone.

And I think this is a good starting point. You can run simple variations on this as well. One way is to have the two inside skaters skating in a crossing pattern across the neutral zone, while there is still a presence along the wall. This way Shattenkirk will have four options to pass to, all occupying different areas of the ice.

A second variation would still include the drop pass, but it would happen much earlier. Here, and I know it’s messy, but you have the two inside players curling behind Shattenkirk as he skates past faceoff dots in his own zone. As he gets to the blue line, he drops it back and then a quick pass is made; either along the same wall or to the outer players cutting towards the middle of the ice. In this scenario, even a bad pass up the middle would give players the chance to at least deflect the puck into the zone and negate an icing. On a crisp pass here, you have a 2v2 at a minimum coming in with speed.

If the Rangers are going to have the kind of season that sees them playing hockey late into the spring, they will need to improve on their power play from the back end.

Will The King Get Back On His Throne?

It was talked about all last year; have we seen Henrik Lundqvist turn to the back nine of his career? In this writer’s opinion… the answer is no, but we’re getting close. That isn’t to say that Henrik is a scrub all of a sudden, but you’d have to think that his window is closing, and closing fast. The backbone of the organization’s run of success over the last 12 years and the winning-est goaltender to come from Europe, King Henrik will be turning 36 in March.

Henrik looked more than mortal last season. He posted a career-worst 2.74 GAA and a .910 SV%. Some of that can be attributed to the porous defense in front of him, but Henrik gave up four or more goals 14 times during the 2016-17 regular season.

Henrik is still going to give the Rangers a chance every night he is on the ice. He showed he can still be an all-world goaltender as we saw at the IIHF World Championships in May. And the Rangers improved defensive group will certainly help him this year, but if Henrik is going to reclaim his throne, he will need to turn back the clock just a few years.

Prediction

In a year where the experts have been saying no playoffs, I say otherwise! The Rangers, to me, are more than just a playoff team, but they are a serious contender in the East. They have a revamped defense that is as deep as any in the NHL. They have young forwards that have a lot of promise and will be looking to make the next step and they have a goaltender who is a first ballot Hall of Famer that is missing that giant jewel on his crown.

I see the Blueshirts finishing in the third division spot around 100-106 points. I think the PP will improve with a true QB in Shattenkirk and Ryan McDonagh will have one of the best offensive seasons of his career. I can see this team going to the Eastern Conference Finals and giving the Penguins a run for their money as the beast of the East.

Time will tell and we at FullTilt will be here for the ride. For all the up to the minute Rangers news and updates, make sure to follow @FullTiltNYRBlog and @ZakFTNYR on Twitter!