Better Than They Look?
Are the New York Rangers a better team than their place in the standing might suggest? Currently, they have 3 games in hand and sit 4 points behind the defending Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. When looking at this teams performance this year you have to wonder why they are in this position. There are absolutely no good reasons for the Rangers to be where they find themselves. What this season boils down is classic blueshirt underachievement. Their performance certainly doesn’t add up.
Let us start at the top. Even with all of the Garden Faithful questioning his leadership, team Captain Jaromir Jagr has put together a pretty good season on the ice. Especially considering the seriousness of the shoulder injury he suffered in last season’s playoff series against the Devils and the fact that he wasn’t able to give the injury proper recovery time and rehab. I doubt many fans would have been disappointed with his current numbers if you had told them in September that he would have 24 goals and 77 points with over a month left in the season. Which puts him on pace for 30 goals and 97 points for a season that was mostly played with him at less than 100 percent health. When taking a closer look at some of his other stats there are a few things that show the effect of last season’s injury. The first is a big decrease in shots on goals. He is currently on pace for 315 shots, which is 53 behind last year’s total. Consider the fact that his shot accuracy is down 5 percent from last year; the lowest it has ever been in his entire career. When you put that all together his production on the power play drops significantly. Thus far Jagr has only scored six power play goals. That is a drastic drop from the franchise record 24 he netted last season. I think its safe to say that his numbers have not been on par with what he has done over his career and what Rangers fans have come to expect after breaking the single season goal and point record and writing his name into the Blueshirt record books. All things considered, it was expected when the season started.