Forget the U.S. dollar, the Canadian loonie, the Russian ruble or the Swedish krona. The currency of the NHL is ice time.
As such, when a midseason change is made behind the bench, the best way to judge the difference in the way the coaches evaluate their players is to check the athletes’ ice time.
In the case of the Rangers, comparing players’ ice time in early February to the time they are receiving now isn’t apples and oranges, it’s Tom Renneys and John Tortorellas.
Tortorella’s reputation for riding his top players and for being a top-heavy coach preceded him when on Feb. 23 he took over for Renney, a self-proclaimed believer in rolling four lines.
Interestingly enough, however, Tortorella has reduced the ice time allotted to the team’s leaders in that department. The new coach has redistributed the minutes among a larger group of players.
There is this, however, to remember: Tortorella has Sean Avery, Nik Antropov and Derek Morris while Renney had Nigel Dawes, Peter Prucha and Dimitri Kalinin.
That might have something to do with it. That might have a lot to do with of the Rangers’ turnaround.