Rangers Stuff

When John Davidson came back to preside over the Rangers, one of the key concepts, perhaps the most key of those concepts was "player development." That idea seemed to echo what the Rangers had been doing since "the letter" and the hiring of a college coach, David Quinn. They almost immediately hired Knoblauch and Gord Murphy to run Hartford. They also hired Glass and Ruutu to track and counsel the North American and European prospects. It really looked like the Rangers understood that their futures would be largely predicated on how they developed a ton of kids.

It seemed like all they would have to do plug in the players and let them grow.

And right now, it's just not happening at the NHL level. Yesterday - as the NYR contribution to a truly brutal weekend - the Rangers lost their fourth game in a row. That's neither here nor there as they have had a bizarre schedule that has seen two long layoffs among their first 6 games. That said, one of the most impressive Rangers, starting in camp, has been Lias Andersson, and while the Rangers have found no one to man 2 C, Andersson hasn't even gotten a chance. How is that player development.

Also, they have kept Kappo Kaako on the second line all year, though they've had no center for him.  And rather than promoting Kaako to first line when Buch was unproductive, they bounced Kreider over to the rignt side and moved him up.  Kaako has massively better hands that Kreider and this was just ponderous.

Oh, and, by the way, Filip Chytil is averaging more than a point a game centering the first line for the undefeated Wolf Pack. How long will it be till they promote him.  By the same token, why are they playing Kravstov on the third line in the AHL?  Could they bury him any deeper? How is this development? If the idea was to send Kravstov down to become more of a two way guy, I sort of understand it, but at least give him the ice time he'll need to improve.

On the other hand, Igor Shesterkin is developing and had a 36 save shutout the other night,  Seems like he's figured out the new rink size just fine. He's buddies with Kravstov and hopefully will help him keep his head on straight.

So, so far, though player development is one of the key missions, it's not happening with the top prospects on the NHL level.

They have another game tomorrow, and we'll have to see what they do with Kaapo and Lias.