Intellectually and economically, there wasn’t any doubt then and there isn’t any doubt now the Rangers took the prudent course of action on July 1, 2012, when they did not try to match the Canadiens’ four-year, $10 million offer to free agent Brandon Prust.
Just as there is no doubt the Yankees chose the prudent course by not trying to match the Mariners’ 10-year, $240 million offer to free agent Robinson Cano.
The baseball team in the Bronx can only hope the hole in the middle of the order produced by Cano’s defection isn’t as significant as the hole in the heart of the hockey team in Manhattan left behind by Prust.
For while a star has shed his pinstripes, the Yankees must only find another big bat to replace him. The Rangers, well, they haven’t come close to replacing the energy, the just-try-and-knock-the-chip-off-my shoulder and just-try-to-bully-my teammate mentality the grunt wore on the sleeve of his Black-and-Blueshirt.
The Rangers are deficient in top-end talent and the players at the top of the food chain have been largely deficient through much of this unsatisfying 15-15-1 season that slogs on Tuesday night when no-name Nashville (OK, the one-name Predators: Seth Jones) comes to the Garden, that much is true.
But the absence of A-listers on the Broadway marquee is not an excuse for an absence of work ethic or energy. Quite the contrary. The problem is, the Rangers have no one to supply energy the way Prust did; no one to jump-start the team and infuse his teammates with hockey courage the way No. 8 did during his tour on Broadway that ran for less than 2 ¹/₂ seasons.
Never has a fourth-line Ranger had the impact Prust did. Never has a grunt been missed so much by a team that thrived on grunt work in 2011-12 and hasn’t been more than a pale facsimile of that since losing the conference finals to the Devils (if not sometime in the previous series against the Capitals).
This year’s team isn’t so much different from last year’s team that squeezed into the playoffs with a late rush. It’s not that the Rangers were rocky-road playing for John Tortorella and now vanilla with Alain Vigneault behind the bench.
The difference from last year to this year is that one coach doesn’t say, “We [stunk] from head to toe,” after a match such as Sunday’s 4-1 defeat to the Caps in which the Rangers, well, stunk from head to toe.
The difference from last year to this year is Henrik Lundqvist’s even-strength save percentage of .918 is the worst of his career and ranks 23rd among 30 goaltenders with at least 14 starts following a season in which the goaltender posted a career best .937 even-strength save percentage that ranked fourth in the league among netminders who started at least half their team’s games.
The top guys must produce and set the standard, but the fourth line, especially playing for a self-avowed four-line true believer such as Vigneault, has to be able to establish a tone; has to be disruptive and hard-edged and a pain against which to play.
In other words, everything the Rangers’ fourth line hasn’t been all year, even if the sidelined Derek Dorsett has tried to personify all of that with every fiber of his being. Arron Asham will attempt to add some weight after being recalled from the AHL on Monday as J.T. Miller was returned to the Wolf Pack after only two games back in New York.
Brian Boyle’s game has deteriorated to an extent that is difficult to watch. Benoit Pouliot has been a mistake machine. Taylor Pyatt has issues keeping up with the play. Dominic Moore has tried, but hasn’t been able to ignite a spark anywhere along the line.
And the Rangers as a team get outworked and pushed around, and not only by Boston. Seriously, when Michael Ryder and Reid Boucher both take shots at Marc Staal without fear of reprisal, there is something amiss and what’s amissing is in a Canadiens sweater.
What’s amissing is the swagger Prust’s presence and persona brought to the Rangers. What’s amissing even at this late date is a replacement for Prust.
The Yankees better hope they don’t have to cast their lonely eyes to Seattle the way the Rangers are to Montreal.