He is the reigning two-time winner of the Steven McDonald Award and if you are a Ranger, there is no greater honor than to be recognized in the name of this brave New York police officer for going above and beyond the call of duty.
Ryan Callahan understands this. He appreciates the reputation he has earned as a relentless worker who injects his team with a dose of energy essentially every time he steps onto the ice. He is a core leader of this band of Black-and-Blueshirts that has wrung everything there is out of its talent base.
This is the team Rangers fans have been waiting for and, indeed, clamoring for over this last decade. It is a team loaded with home-grown players representing an organization with a pipeline regularly delivering resources to Broadway.
Of the 22 players on the active roster for Tuesday’s 6-3 victory over the Islanders, 12 never played for another NHL organization, and that includes the putative first line of Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and Artie Anisimov, the top four on defense of Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh and Michael Sauer, and franchise goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
The question, though, goes to top-end skill, as in, do the Rangers really have enough of it here and on the way to become a perennial contender rather than a team perennially on the playoff bubble with a month to go?
Much of that answer will be supplied by the rate of acceleration by the core. Much of that answer will be supplied by Callahan, who is eager to demonstrate that, as he did on March 6 when two of his four goals against the Flyers were positively Gaborikan, he is more than a workaholic.
“For all the great things that Cally brings to us in terms of work ethic, I know that it grates on him that so much of his identity as a player is defined by his hitting and energy,” coach John Tortorella told The Post. “You have to really be careful not to put him in a box and put a limit on his ceiling because Ryan has skill. He’s shown it before. People who want to define him purely as a grinder aren’t seeing the whole picture.”
Callahan is a coach’s dream as well as the peoples’ choice. He goes hard to the net, takes hits to make plays, throws hits to prevent plays, throws his body in front of shots. He makes sacrifices for his teammates and for his team. But even acknowledging all of this somehow obscures his talent, just as celebrating a player’s talent can often overlook his dedication.
“I know the role I have to play to contribute to my team and to stay in this league, and it starts with getting in on the forecheck, hitting and creating energy,” said Callahan, who leads the Rangers with 21 goals despite having missed 20 games to injuries. “But at the same time, I definitely see myself as being able to contribute offensively and I want to be one of those players who the team depends on in offensive situations.
“I don’t sit around and worry about what the perception is of me, to be honest, but I don’t think I’m a player who either can bring energy or can score goals. I think I can do both, it’s important that I do, and I want to establish that.”
When he does, the Rangers will have an established All-Star.