Deciding how much stock to put in preseason games is
difficult because as everyone knows they have no meaning in the standings, and
they are as much for evaluating talent as preparing for the season, but the way
the New York Rangers have performed in their three outings thus far is a little
concerning. In all fairness, the Rangers
have played mainly minor leaguers/prospects in two of the games, though the
more veteran squad was not overwhelming in their outing at New Jersey last
Friday.
The biggest concern from the games thus far has to be the
number of lazy stick penalties they have been taking. Instead of doing the work necessary to get in
proper position to make sound plays they have been relying on their sticks to
bail them out of trouble and getting caught committing hooking or tripping
penalties. Apparently the frustration
with this kind of work from the team spread to coach John Tortorella today in
practice based on reports from Dan
Rosen of NHL.com.
Torts is in the process of scolding his team, telling them to start concentrating on everything they do. He's not a happy guy right now.Tortorella's message sending continued at end of practice. He gave a long, impassioned speech about needing to be better and it starts here.
It is certainly true that the results of preseason games are
not important because of the lack of points in the standings, but the way a
team plays and prepares absolutely has importance when getting ready for the
regular season. The Rangers have been
sloppy in all three games thus far and while the lack of their regular roster
accounts for some of that it cannot be seen as a given that they will just turn
it on when the games count. The work
must be put in every day whether it counts for something in the standing or not
and hopefully today’s message from Tortorella got them heading in that
direction.
