Rangers stumbling through first 10 games of season

Having a spot in the Eastern Conference basement so far with the NJ Devils and the Atlanta Thrashers, isn't something to be too proud of. High expectations have made the Rangers look like the "old" NY Rangers this season. With a 3-6-1 record and last in the league in goals scored, we have to look at a few things that have attributed to this, and not put the blame on anyone quite yet.

-Departure of Michael Nylander: He anchored the first line for the Rangers in the 05-06 and 06-07 seasons, lining up with Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka. Those 3 had a great chemistry together and knew where each other were on the ice at all times. Now that Nylander's gone, Scotty Gomez is now centering the first line. Two different players, result in a different style of play. Gomez always does elect to pass first, but hes a slasher to the net, while Nylander was a great puck handler who can make a great pass traveling at the speed of a snail. I think that Chris Drury would be a much better fit with Jagr and Straka, when he comes back, and Gomez should be on the line with Shanahan, and Dawes, because the season opener displayed the teammwork that Jagr and Drury and Gomez and Shanahan had.

-Lack of puck handling defenseman: We would all think that this wouldn't be a problem this season, having Rozsival, Tyutin, and Mara on each of the 3 D lines. They have not been getting it done this season, and thats why we aren't seeing the odd man rushes and breaks into the offensive zone. Thus, inhibiting the Rangers to score goals. Other teams like Toronto, and Carolina, and San Jose have the D-Men to handle and skate with the puck, and thus they have scored ALOT more goals than the Rangers this season.

-Tom Renney's shuffling of lines: In order to instill confidence in your players, you have to keep them with their linemates. It seems as if we only see Orr, Betts, and Hollweg as the only definite line staying together. Coach Renney is always shuffling lines around, every game thus diminishing chemistry, and time playing together, and it shows with bad passes, and offsides and icing calls. There has to be set lines soon or this team will continue to struggle scoring goals.

Through 10 games last year and 10 games this year, lets do a little comparing:

Jaromir Jagr:
2006-2007 - 10 GP - 3G - 15A - 18PTS
2007-2008 - 10 GP - 2G - 7A - 9PTS

Brendan Shanahan:
2006-2007: - 10 GP - 9G - 3A - 12PTS
2007-2008: - 10 GP - 1G - 2A - 3PTS

Martin Straka:
2006-2007: - 10 GP - 6G - 7A - 13PTS
2007-2008: - 7 GP - 2G - 1A - 3PTS (missed 3 games so far due to injury)

You can see significant drop-offs in all 3 players so far, thus making us see that the lack of Nylander, a puck handling defenseman, and shuffling of lines have attributed to this, and something has to be done to bolster everything and make a set scheme here or else it will only get worse.