Rangers Add Hollowell For More Defensive Depth

Last season, defensive depth became a concern after Jarred Tinordi was claimed on waivers and Nils Lundkvist forced a trade, catching Chris Drury short as he entered the year. This time round he’s created a little more cushion, by adding four free agent blueliners, including today’s 11th UFA signing in Mac Hollowell.

Three Ways Hajek Starts The Season

Here’s a question for you:  What if Libor Hajek ends up as the sixth defenseman on opening night, beating out both Zac Jones and Matthew Robertson.  What if the guy who had poorer advanced stats than Patrik Nemeth and Jack Johnson, ends up being the one they go to first? I mean it kind of happened last year right?  They dressed Jarred […]

Fox Wins Norris – Miller All-Rookie D

Generally I pay little attention to the NHL awards, they are far from objective for the most part, particularly with awards such as the Norris Trophy and the “Best NHL Defenseman”, where the winner is almost always featured amongst the top offensive defensemen, and not necessarily the ones who actually defend. Perhaps they should create […]

Holden His Own

It appears as if Nick Holden, who was a healthy scratch for the first two games of the season, will play tonight alongside Ryan McDonagh.  At least to begin with that is.  As the Rangers season has progressed, the defensive pairings could be measured in minutes rather than games.   So far the Rangers have dressed eight blueliners […]

Defense Not As Deep As It Looks

Looking at the Rangers roster, you might be mistaken in thinking that they have plenty of depth on the blueline.  The team now has ten blue-liners with NHL experience on the roster, and a further three who’ll be under contract this year. The starting six – barring injuries – looks pretty much set for the […]

Rangers Claim Woywitka

The Rangers have apparently addressed their short term defensive issues, by claiming defenseman Jeff Woywitka off of waivers from the Montreal Canadiens.  The 28 year old Canadian blueliner was a former first round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers – 2001 first round, 27th overall – but has spent most of his professional career as a depth defenseman. […]

Training Camp – Defense

Going into camp this year, the Rangers blueline corps are largely unchanged from the same unit that finished out the season. Karel Rachunek (free agency) and Bryce Lampman (trade) were the only two blueliners with NHL experience who won’t return, while the addition of Andrew Hutchinson (trade) appears to be for depth rather than impact. Of the six starting spots, five […]

Behind The Line

by Timmy Corbett The Rangers announced today they signed Greg de Vries. Greg is a good skater with good passing and shooting ability. He is good on the penalty kill and likewise on 5-on-5 action. He can score goals and gets good numbers on assists. Not once did I say great, not once will anyone […]

An Offensive Defense

Ah yes, the Rangers have too many offensive defensemen…how often have you heard that line on message boards around the Internet?  Well in a way I agree with that comment, but not perhaps in the sense that the writers intended. What those posters really mean is of course that the Rangers have too many offensively […]

Getting Defensive

We all know how bad the Rangers defense has been…particularly over the last three games where they’ve let in an astonishing 15 goals.  Much of the problems have been attributed to the Ranger defensemen and in recent days Brian Leetch, Vladimir Malakhov and Peter Smrek have been attacked vigorously for contributing to another weak start […]