Following a career year in his first season with the
Rangers, Marian Gaborik declined heavily in his second year with New York. After lighting up Broadway with 42 goals in
the 76 games of his initial campaign he would only find the twine 22 times in
62 games during the 2010-11 season. What
made the struggles of Gaborik worse this year is that the secondary players on
the Rangers stepped up in ways they did not the year before and a similar
performance from him would have seen the team rise to potential contender
status. After getting a pass for much of
the first half of the season because of his shoulder injury and 2009-10 season,
the fans began to turn on Gaborik during the second half and were all over him
down the stretch and during the playoffs.
It might not be fair to claim that the injury bug came back
for Gaborik this season just because he missed 20 games, but between a
separated shoulder (12 games), concussion (6 games), flu (1 game), groin (1
game) the Rangers were without their biggest offensive threat for one-quarter
of the season. Of those injuries the
only one that could be conceivably be blamed for his drop in production would
be the shoulder. Players return from
shoulder injuries with regularity, but this injury was the first one that Gaborik
had to this portion of his body and I do believe that he rushed himself
back. In his play he was tentative to
take a hit along the wall and avoided contact at different points in front of
the net. There was also some difference
in the quality of his tremendous wrist shot.
So while the shoulder only officially had him out 12 games, the amount
of time he spent ineffectively trying to play through that and his concussion
was just as significant.
Let us take a look at the breakdown of Gaborik's numbers by month.
|
Month
|
Games Played
|
G
|
A
|
Shots
|
|
October
|
3
|
0
|
2
|
6
|
|
November
|
10
|
5
|
4
|
30
|
|
December
|
11
|
5
|
5
|
34
|
|
January
|
14
|
6
|
4
|
46
|
|
February
|
9
|
1
|
6
|
25
|
|
March
|
11
|
5
|
2
|
35
|
|
April
|
4
|
0
|
3
|
16
|
Gaborik's overall numbers were inflated by a series of huge games, but that is not unusual for the highest point producers in the league. The difference is the lack of consistency for Gaborik in putting up numbers, especially goals this season. As one of the leagues best snipers to have him go through three different stretches of at least seven games with no goals.
The most consistent thing for Gaborik this season was his
lack of consistent linemates. He had
games this year where he would click with a new set of partners and then lose
it again as there was no sustainable chemistry for Gaborik to find as he had in
year one with Prospal and Christensen.
The lack of a true number one center is certainly a valid criticism of
the organization, but that is not an excuse for the decline Gaborik had this
year because he has produced without a true top line center in the past. In addition to that fact, if you are a star
you find a way to produce for your team and Gaborik simply did not do that
enough this year.
The reality is Gaborik made himself easy to defend by not
being aggressive and using his skating enough.
When Gaborik skates he puts pressure on the opposing defense and gets
many of his “vulture” goals in the slot instead of hanging on the outside. He got back to skating more towards the end
of the season, but still was not finishing.
The fact he was skating again made him more impactful for the team
because his threat level increased even without the production going with
it. While that is somewhat comforting on
the surface and to look forward to next year, at $7.5 million dollars, Gaborik
is paid to score. Next year he will have
to get more than 22 goals or those that started to turn on him this year will
grow louder next year.
GRADE: D
