There
is no good time to ever lose a player like Ryan Callahan from your lineup. With Callahan down the team loses an
excellent penalty killer, one of your best forecheckers, a key power play guy,
one of their leading point getters, their second leading goal scorer, an
unquestioned leadership figure and a lead by example/leave it all out there
every night player. There is no one
player that can fill the void that him being out creates both on and off the
ice. What there is instead is a group of
players that all season have found a way to persevere in the face of injury
after injury and use that adversity to bring them together as a unit to get to
the brink of making the playoffs. What
there is left behind without Callahan is a unit that makes no excuses and has
an identity of how they must play in order to be successful.
While
losing Callahan is a huge blow to all of those things the team has to take
comfort in the fact that they succeeded without him before and that the way he
went down was in the mold of the identity they have created for themselves this
season. The beauty of this team has been
about their willingness to sacrifice for one another whether it be
statistically or purely with their bodies to do whatever it takes to win games
and it was in that spirit that they lost their leader Monday night to a broken
ankle. It will also be in that spirit
that they rally through it the best they can to replace the guy who most
epitomizes the mentality that the team is trying instill as the organizational
philosophy for how players will play.
“There’s nothing good about this,” head coach John Tortorella told reporters when confirming the news Tuesday. “But I think you need to try and turn it into something that will help your team even more during this crunch time. That’s the way we are going to approach it. This could galvanize our team even more.”
It
is up to all the other guys in the locker room to embrace the challenge of
losing the most consistent forward on the team and for all to do their part to
be a little more like Ryan Callahan with each shift they step on the ice. They did that to the tune of a 10-7-2 record
when he was injured in December, but this is playoff time and the games are
only going to be tougher and the loss felt even more. There is no reason to write off this team
even with the loss of Ryan Callahan because the basis for the Rangers success
this season has been found in their resilience, fight and determination and
they will continue to exert those now.
It
will take a collective effort to rise to this challenge and there is nothing
the Rangers have done better this season than play collectively. They will need more from the Boyle, Prust,
Fedotenko, Stepan, Anisimov for sure, but the four guys who really need to rise
to the offensive challenge are Gaborik, Dubinsky, Prospal and Wolski. Wolski might be the most surprising player in
that group, but he is also one of the most offensively talented forwards on the
team and his skill level was critical to the comeback win against Boston. Dubinsky and Prospal are crucial both for
their production but also for their ability to lead the team in their own
ways. Each has a very good feel for the
emotional pulse of this team and have the ability to lift this team with that
energy and fire when they play at the top of their game.
Finally
there is Marian Gaborik. In reacting to
the loss of Callahan Gaborik had the following to say…
“Obviously he’s one of the best players on the team, and it’s a huge loss. We just have to play for him and try to go as far as we can so that he can hopefully come back.”
There is no forward on this team that has the ability to put the team
on his back offensively in the way that Marian Gaborik can because at his best
he is top scorer in this league and just as importantly a threat that must be
accounted for. He will not fill all the
roles of Callahan, but others will chip in where the energy and leadership
aspects go and the Gaborik must elevate his offense to alleviate the burden
from others in pressing to find goals.
If he can do that, then the Rangers will be fine.
This team has been tested repeatedly this season through the adversity
of injury and this is yet another test. This test does come at the worst possible point in the season, but that only makes the challenge larger and the sweetness of the accomplishment better when they succeed in the face of it.
They are now without their leader, their most consistent forward and an
irreplaceable piece to this club, but they will find a way to fight through it;
they always do.
