NY RANGERS MIDSEASON REPORT CARD

Its just about that time. 42 games have been played and recorded on the standings. The Rangers currently stand at 20-17-5. They are 7th in the East, and are only 4 points out of first place, trailing the NJ Devils. Now its time to evaluate the performance of the team, which so far has not been overly stellar.

OFFENSE: ( C-) This is by far a huge disappointment this season for the Blueshirts. They have only scored 102 goals in 42 games. The Rangers have not been very consistent putting the puck in the net. Since scoring 5 goals on opening night, they didn't score more than 4 goals for 15 straight games. Since then, they have been a bit more consistent and have put the puck in the net more often. Jaromir Jagr has been a disappointment to this point, but has been the Jaromir of old lately, since being paired with Scott Gomez. Chris Drury, has not been deadly putting up points, but the intangibles are there each and every night. The biggest problem with the team is the lack of scoring depth. After the 1st and 2nd line, there really is not any more scoring. Out of the 6 offensive players on the 3rd and 4th lines, only 1 player has more than 10 points. That is Brandon Dubinsky. He has been on the first line most of the season until recently. Petr Prucha is at 10 points. In order for the Rangers to be serious contenders, they HAVE to expand the depth of the scoring.

DEFENSE: ( B+) The army that stands in front of King Henrik has done pretty decent this season. Don't let the sub-par plus minuses fool you. Outside of Marek Malik, the Rangers defense has done well. Dan Girardi, and Fedor Tyutin are emerging to becoming a great tandem for years to come for this franchise. The communication and skill are there. They aren't afraid to hit either. Marc Staal, and Michal Rozsival are getting better as time goes on. Staal had it rough early, with rookie mistakes. Remember he is only 20. Just by his decisions, and puck handling alone, you can see he will be a top line defenseman in the future. Give him time. Onto the 3rd pairing, this line gets shuffled a lot more than staying together. For the beginning of the season, we saw a lot of Marek Malik and Paul Mara. Malik didn't work so he did not wear a uniform for a while. Jason Strudwick came along, and his average skill was decent enough to last 20 games. Now we are back with the Marek Malik experiment. He has not worked this season, and you can tell that the crowd at MSG has gotten in his head, and his play at home is just awful. His play on the road is better, but not by much. He still has value along with Paul Mara. Please trade them.

GOALTENDING: (A-) King Henrik for MVP. That's all this really should say but with a review, I have to write something. His performance this year is downright phenomenal. Hes in the top 6-10 in every goaltending category in the league. He was top 3 or 4 for a while but a slump as of late had dropped him off a little bit. He currently stands at 18-14-4 with a 2.26 GAA. With those numbers and 36 goaltending decisions so far, he should be 24-12 with this kind of offense. Only black cloud looming with Lundqvist, is trying to get a long term deal worked out. But as of right now, a deal should be in line by Mid-February the latest.

POWER-PLAY: (D) Yes I think this is the appropriate grade for this part of their game. They should not be hovering around 20th in the league on the PP. The team has just not gotten it done with the man advantage. The biggest problem this season, is the lack of presence in front of the net. The only guys that are usually in front of the net are Sean Avery and Petr Prucha. In order for this part (a very important part) of their game to improve, they have to have a guy in front of the net at all times. That creates screens and a hassle in front of the goalie. That also, leads to something kind of important. Goals.

PENALTY KILL: (B-) The penalty kill for the Rangers this season has been top 8 ALL season. This has been a saving grace along with the goaltending. The penalty kill is lead by Blair Betts and Chris Drury. They are constantly breaking up passes, and blocking shots. These 2 along with the other guys (Straka, Shanahn, D-Men, Hossa) have done very well, and this is why they're penalty killing should remain strong all season. This is one part of their game that they don't need to fix.

COACHING: (C-) Tom Renney is a good coach. I won't say much more about him. His decisions sometimes make me want to cringe. Like last year, letting Jagr to opt to NOT shoot and keeping guys that don't need to be on this team, make me want to strangle Glen Sather for not firing him. Why is Ryan Callahan, and Petr Prucha still on the team? These guys have to be sent down to get their scoring touch back. In 25 games this season Ryan Callahan has only recorded 1 POINT. Colton Orr has more points than him. Enough said. Petr Prucha went 18 games without a goal. He scored 2 against Toronto 2 weeks ago. He has not scored since. Renney has to see this and evaluate the performances of the guys in the AHL. I don't see why Alex Bourret cant get a shot. Bring back Nigel Dawes. These guys can't do any worse than Callahan and Prucha. Tom, please open your eyes.