Rangers: Speed Kills

Last spring, one of the big factors of the Rangers rush for the cup was their team speed.   This year they have a chance to be even faster.    Last year, the speed primarily came from Kreider, Hags, and Pouliot on O, and McD and Moore on D.    This year, already, Nash looks like he has his pre-concussion plus speed back, and JT Miller looks faster than ever.  And of course Duclair is a blur and it looks more and more like he's be on the team.  And there's even more speed if Fast makes it.

What this does, other than allow the team to catch up with their mistakes, is it allows good passers like Stepan (when he gets back), Brassard and Boyle to chip headman passes to streaking skaters who have gotten ahead of the defense.   We've seen some of these plays ever since we get Nash, but we're going to see a lot more of them if the team is comprised as it looks like it's going to be.   And later this year, we could even see Haggerty, who has show good speed, Kristo, who is fast and Hayes, who has good speed for his size, and is a good passer who can outlet the puck so to speak.

The other night, Boyle almost hit a streaking Kreider off the opening face off.  We're going to see some goals come from that play this year.

Next year, the O and D will get even faster when Buchnevich and Brady Skjei come along.