What's Wrong with the Star-Studded NY Rangers Lineup?

From top to bottom, this team is a mess.

The offense is among the worst in the league, the defense isn't nearly as stingy as it was last year, the power play is doing more harm than good and the coach doesn't seem to know how to fix any of it.

After a dismal start, it seemed that near the 10-game mark the Rangers had finally found the mojo they had last year that carried them to the Eastern Conference Final. A string of five games with a point had Rangers fans feeling good.

But inconsistency reared its ugly head while several key players went down with injury. The result: a perfect storm that resulted in the Rangers dropping four straight before Thursday's victory over Tampa Bay.

But in all honesty, this team has been playing subpar hockey all season, and the injuries are not to blame at all. Even in those five consecutive games in which they registered a point, there was much concern, especially in the games against the Islanders and Boston.

We’re going to take a closer look and break down this season’s woes by position after the jump.

Offense

Simply put, the Rangers are not scoring enough goals right now.

They and Florida are tied for last in goals scored in the Eastern Conference. When you consider the money general manager Glen Sather has spent on forwards in the past four years, there’s a legitimate cause for concern.

Brad Richards hasn't scored a goal in 14 games, while Marian Gaborik only has two during the same stretch. Rick Nash, despite missing four games due to injury, has appeared in 15 games this season and only has scored four times, though it must be noted that he has had a much larger hand in creating offense than the other two.

Nevertheless, the Rangers have nearly $30 million in cap space tied up in these three players, and together they have combined for only 13 goals.

Steven Stamkos of Tampa Bay has 14.

Why can’t these three score consistently? They all have their reasons.

Gaborik is back to playing like he did in 2010-11, and by that I mean he’s playing too much to the outside. That’s not how he scores goals. He’s got to get to the net and use his natural goalscoring ability to sniff out goals. But right now he’s trying to do too much with the puck on the boards.

Richards is just shot. He doesn't have his legs, he holds onto the puck way too long and he’s obviously battling some confidence issues. He has to keep it simple and get back some of his swagger, because right now he has just about zero impact on the ice. If the Rangers offense is to succeed, the team will need its first-line center to play well, at the very least.

Nash has looked good for the most part; he just can’t find the back of the net. He has been the team’s only offensive facilitator and has had a big part in Carl Hagelin turning around his game. He’s just going to have to stick with it and keep shooting the puck. The goals will come soon enough.

Though these three are most responsible for the team’s lack of goals this season, this problem also falls on the shoulders of the depth forwards.

Hagelin, Derek Stepan and Ryan Callahan have been contributing as of late, but guys like Brian Boyle, Chris Kreider, Taylor Pyatt and Jeff Halpern are going to have start pitching in too. Balanced scoring is a must, and these four, along with J.T. Miller, Darroll Powe and Arron Asham, are going to have to score at a much higher rate than they currently are.

Those seven players have a combined eight goals thus far.

Lastly, and I won’t go into this too much because it's already well documented, the power play has been pitiful.

All this talent and they’re ranked near last in the league? It’s unacceptable, and the players need to take it upon themselves to keep it simple and shoot the puck.

Defense

Last season, the Rangers defense was their hallmark.

The defense was known for giving opponents only a couple of scoring chances per game thanks to its work ethic, willingness to block shots and excellent skating ability.

The defense even contributed nicely on the offensive side of things. Michael Del Zotto had 41 points, Ryan McDonagh had 32 and Dan Girardi had 29. Most of these points were assists, which is a testament to the trio’s ability to move the puck out of the zone.

This year, though, the team has not been able to rely on the defense as much as it did last year. There has been an abundance of giveaways on a nightly basis. Even McDonagh, whose claim to fame thus far in his career has been his ability to make little to no mistakes, has struggled in the turnover department.

The group has also made a habit of standing around too much in its own zone. It’s like the defensemen are beginning to rely too heavily on their ability to collapse and block shots. Most nights, they don’t look interested in getting into passing lanes to break up plays in their own end, electing instead to position themselves in front of the net and prepare to block an incoming shot.

This has allowed their opponents to gather even more momentum and push the Rangers further back on their heels.

It also seems that guys are getting beat one-on-one more this year than they did last year.

Guys like McDonagh, Dan Girardi and Marc Staal have been so good at taking guys out in such a situation during their time in New York. They’re all good skaters and have what coach John Tortorella likes to call a “good stick” to break up plays, but this year they haven’t been as proficient, though that could be due to a lack of game action due to the lockout.

Offensively, they haven’t been too bad. Staal’s rather quiet 11 points have been a nice surprise, and Del Zotto and McDonagh’s ability to jump into plays has paid dividends too.

But on the power play it’s been a mess. Del Zotto and Girardi have not emerged as the power-play quarterbacks their coaches were hoping they’d be.

The best defenseman they've had on the man advantage has been Anton Stralman, and that’s because of his ability to carry the puck into the zone and his willingness to shoot the puck. The other guys could learn a thing or two from Stralman’s keep-it-simple approach.

Goaltending

It’s really just been that kind of year for the Rangers. You know things are going bad when goaltending has become an adventure on a nightly basis.

Henrik Lundqvist came off what was the best season of his career in 2011-12. He even was awarded the Vezina Trophy for league’s best goaltender in the process.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, thought Hank would stumble off the block like he has so far in 2013.

Going into Thursday night’s game against the Lightning, Lundqvist was 7-7-1 on the season with a 2.41 goals-against average (GAA) and .915 save percentage (SV%).

Very un-King like.

Some nights he looks like Lundqvist of old, but then out of nowhere he lets one in that needs to be stopped and the team deflates. A perfect example of this was the fourth goal he allowed in the loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. 

He’s usually the league’s best at stopping a shooter’s initial shot, but this year that’s been his biggest issue.

For me, this has just been an issue of Lundqvist not seeing game action since last May. He opted not to play during the lockout because if he signed for his hometown club, Frolunda HC, he would have had to sign a deal for the entire season. Lundqvist was not prepared to do that. 

Instead, he worked out with the club, but as any goaltender will tell you, practice is good but game action is what gets timing down and confidence up. 

Rangers backup goalie Martin Biron has also struggled. Aside from his win in Tampa Bay earlier in the season, Biron has looked shaky.

He’s 1-1-1 with a 2.50 GAA and .911 SV%. Decent numbers for a backup, but poor performances against the Islanders and Canadiens will have Tortorella wondering just how many games he’s comfortable giving the 35-year-old in this abbreviated season.

Let's hope this is just an early-season thing. As the year progresses, we’ll look for both of these veteran netminders to get back into form.