The Rangers no longer have a bad first power-play unit. They no longer have a bad second unit. The fact is that more than halfway through the season, they have no power-play units at all.
Over the past three games, coach Tom Renney has pretty much rolled his top three even-strength combinations on the power play. It hasn’t helped much, though Nigel Dawes did score Tuesday’s 2-1 winner against the Islanders on a freakish three-on-one power play.
Before last night’s slate of games, the Rangers were 27th in power-play efficiency – and last in the East – at 14.3 percent. They and the Blue Jackets are the only two teams in the NHL not to have a 10-point power-play scorer. Michal Rozsival, who leads the Blueshirts with nine power play points (3-6), was tied with many players for 120th in the league.
Scott Gomez, who leads the team with 3:54 of power-play ice per game, has not scored a power play goal. He scored nine for the Devils in 2005-06, his 33-goal season. Wade Redden, who leads Rangers’ point men with 3:44 of ice per game, has one goal and four assists with the man advantage.
The power play operation has been dysfunctional from the start. It lacks the booming shot. It lacks decisive puck movement. It lacks strength in front and at the half-wall. It lacks the ability to pound pucks on net. In short, it lacks a weapon.
When asked if the Blueshirts might simply lack the quarterback to run the power play – Rozsival and Paul Mara alternate as a pair on the points with Redden and Dan Girardi – Renney said that could be the case.
“You could certainly argue that point,” Renney said. “I believe it’s there within the group that we’ve designated, but you have to be able to know when to shoot, when to set up, how to get the shot through.
“It’s certainly a fair question.”
It’s also a fair question to ask what general manager Glen Sather was thinking when he passed on either signing or trading for game-changing point men Sheldon Souray, Dan Boyle and Bryan McCabe because of their contracts. Souray was signed for five years at $5.4 million per with Edmonton, Boyle for six years at $6.667 million before being traded by Tampa Bay to San Jose, and McCabe with three seasons remaining at $5.75 million per when traded this summer by Toronto to Florida, while the Rangers gave Redden six years at $6.5 million.
“I’m disappointed in the power play, the way it’s been playing pretty much all year,” said Renney, whose coaching staff beginning with himself certainly bears a significant measure of responsibility. “When we went to the three lines, I thought that would make it a bit of a competition.
“Not that there’d been a sense of entitlement, but I wanted to present the opportunity to compete for that chance, regardless.”
Hasn’t been much of a competition, that’s for sure.
Blueshirts, 26-15-4 overall and 7-4-2 in their past 13 games, are in Chicago tomorrow night and Pittsburgh Sunday for a 12:30 NBC game that is being promoted as “Sidney Crosby and the Penguins against the Rangers.” Wonder what the NHL and network would ever do if Evegni Malkin, who leads Crosby 66-57 for the league scoring lead, played for Pittsburgh. Oh, wait. He does.