Tom Renney talked yesterday about the need for the Rangers to be personally accountable to themselves and their teammates, and so too did Sean Avery, who’s likely to return from his third stay on IR for tonight’s Garden match against the Sabres.
That’s all well and good, but the responsibility to both demand and then enforce accountability begins with the head coach.
And for reasons known only to himself, Renney has spent the first 46 games of this disappointing season coddling and cajoling his players rather than disciplining them for repeated mental errors.
The Rangers are 1-5-1 in their last seven games and 6-11-3 in their last 20. The fact is, other than for one singular 10-game stretch from Oct. 29-Nov. 17 in which they went 9-1, the Rangers are 12-19-5 in the 36 games wrapped around that brief streak.
They have been consistently plagued by bad penalties and undermined by their failure to shoot the puck on the power play.
And yet, not a single player has been benched for so much as a shift for taking a bad penalty, let alone for a game. Not one player has been taken off the power play for a failure to shoot the puck as directed by the coaching staff.
The Rangers have taken five penalties in the last three games while down a man – two against the Flyers, two against the Canadiens, one against the Penguins in Monday’s 4-1 defeat. Not one of the four miscreants – Michal Rozsival was a repeat offender – was punished by Renney with a loss of ice time.
Marcel Hossa committed a pair of senseless third-period penalties in Vancouver on Jan. 3 with the Rangers trailing 1-0 in a game they’d eventually lose 3-0. Somehow, he was still in the lineup for the next game in Edmonton.
Hossa put the Rangers two men down early in the second period of Sunday’s victory over the Canadiens when the Blueshirts were ahead 2-0. He played on – only to commit another penalty in the third period.
Monday in Pittsburgh with the Rangers trailing 3-1 and pressing midway through the third, Hossa took an offensive-zone slashing penalty that effectively ended the game. Regardless of the injury situation, if Hossa dresses tonight, it will be a perversion of the concept of accountability articulated yesterday by Renney.
If loyalty to his players and investment in their growth represent particular strengths, Renney’s failure to enforce accountability has been a weakness throughout his tenure.
On Renney’s Rangers, there are no consequences for breaches in discipline. There are no consequences for failure to follow the game plan. No one misses a shift. No one is benched. No one is reprimanded in team meetings.
There are no consequences for lazy play or for repeated mental errors – no consequences except on the scoreboard and in the standings, that is.
The season is slipping away. The Rangers have five games before the All-Star break, tonight against the Sabres, a home-and-home this weekend against the Bruins, and then two straight at the Garden against the Thrashers.
It is only a slight exaggeration to suggest that the team’s last stand must begin tonight. It is no exaggeration whatsoever to suggest that Renney must make his last stand – or perhaps his first stand – immediately.
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Jaromir Jagr did not practice yesterday because of two sore feet and is questionable for tonight. Brendan Shanahan expects to return after missing the last two. … Agent Don Meehan told The Post yesterday that Glen Sather did not make a contract offer to Curtis Joseph before the goaltender signed with Calgary.
SABRES at RANGERS Tonight – 7:00 MSG2 WABC (770 AM)