Rangers Blueline Gets Boost With Sauer Return, While Offense Searches For Answer With New Lines

The New York Rangers have battled through defensively without two of their top four defenders in the last five games, but that appears ready to change tomorrow night.  Michael Sauer told reporters today that he expects to be in the lineup tomorrow for the first time since October 8 against Anaheim.  This is a huge help to the defensive corps as Sauer was the steadiest defender on the club last season and while his presence does not show up in the boxscore often he does plenty of things on the ice to make himself known.  This should help ease the burden on Girardi and McDonagh while solidifying the second defensive pair for the Rangers.

What would Rangers game be without some new lines heading into it?  With the offense continuing to struggle to generate not only goals, but consistent pressure coach John Tortorella has mixed up the lines once again.  Lines via Steve Zipay:

Fedotenko - Richards – Gaborik

Stepan - Dubinsky - Callahan

Wolski - Boyle - Prust

Newbury - Anisimov - Rupp/Christensen

The top two lines are solid as Fedotenko’s grit should help the Richards, Gaborik line possess the puck more in the offensive zone and create chances.  Stepan brings his playmaking ability to Dubinsky and Callahan, while all three are trying to get their games going this season. 

The bottom six is less certain for me as Anisimov on the fourth line is not good for him at this stage of his development.  It was fine two years ago to protect him and let him come along slowly, but playing with Newbury and Rupp is not going to help him now, especially if Torts uses his fourth line as little as normal. 

Wolski needs to bring the Rangers offense or he is not worth the price they are paying him, and it is unclear if he will do that with a more grinding type pair in Boyle and Prust.  Putting Anisimov between Boyle and Prust is something I would like to see them try as Anisimov has excelled in the past with physical players, Boyle gets more freedom on the wing to play in the corners and all three guys can score.  However, if Fedotenko sticks on the top line it would mean wasting Wolski on the fourth line.  Rangers once again are still searching for combinations that work.

Rupp didnt practice today, as was the case before Winnipeg, but is expected to go tomorrow.

Sauer Out Against Islanders Saturday

Update (12:50PM): Sauer officially out tomorrow against Islanders.  Will make the Western trip but no timetable on when he will be back in the lineup.

Every team in the NHL will have to deal with their share of injuries during the 2011-12 season, but the New York Rangers are being hit hard on defense with injuries right now.  Already without Marc Staal (concussion), Michael Sauer missed another day of practice today (shoulder).  Sauer has not practiced at all since the team returned from Europe and Andrew Gross tweeted that Sauer is likely to miss tomorrow’s game against the Islanders.

If Sauer does miss the game the Rangers are looking at Del Zotto, Erixon, Woywitka and Eminger as the bottom four defenders in the lineup.  Those defensive pairings from practice…

McDonagh-Girardi

Del Zotto-Erixon
Woywitka-Eminger

While McDonagh and Girardi will certainly eat a ton of minutes regardless of whether Sauer goes tomorrow, looking at that bottom four against the speed and skill of the Islanders is a scary proposition for the Rangers.  Mitigating the loss of Staal is enough to deal with, but being without both Staal and Sauer is a huge blow the Rangers defense corps.

In terms of those four playing tomorrow, pairing Erixon and Del Zotto seems like a recipe for disaster at even strength defensively.  Both have played reasonably well in the first two games, but both have their defensive shortcomings at this point so putting the two young defenders together might not be the best move.  Del Zotto pairing with Eminger while Woywitka plays with Erixon seems like a more balanced approach, but regardless the loss of Sauer from the lineup would likely be very evident tomorrow.

Would Leaving McDonagh-Sauer Together Be Better Move For Rangers Defense?

There is no way to prepare for the absence of an All-Star defender like Marc Staal from your lineup.  The combination of the level he plays at, the competition he shuts down and the sheer number of minutes that he eats makes him one of the most valuable New York Rangers.  However, that is the situation before the Rangers now and the question is not about if they have to cope without him, but which set of pairings is the best way to do so?

The plan for now is to have Ryan McDonagh move up and play with Dan Girardi on the first pair while Michael Del Zotto will partner with Michael Sauer on the second pairing.  There is no question that McDonagh is capable of playing against the top opposition around the league, but would the Rangers be better off leaving him with his regular defense partner, Michael Sauer, and letting them become the de-facto top pair? 

Argument For Girardi With McDonagh:

Dan Girardi has been playing excellent quality defense against the top lines in the league for the past three seasons.  That level of experience playing against the best in the league is exactly what the team needs on the top defensive pairing with Staal missing.  Girardi can impart what he knows to McDonagh and they would be ahead of where McDonagh-Sauer would be in knowing how to best limit the league’s elite players/lines.

In terms of the team, there is no defender on the club, including Staal, that epitomizes the character of the team like Girardi with how he sacrifices his body on a nightly basis blocking shots.  While Michael Sauer did an excellent job last season of making himself into an integral part of the defense, he has not done anything to warrant him moving ahead of Girardi on the depth chart.  There is also the consideration that the pairing of Girardi and Del Zotto had their struggles when together in parts of each of the past two seasons

Argument For Sauer Remaining With McDonagh:

Michael Sauer was the Rangers most consistent defender on a nightly basis last season and showed that he can handle any and all situations against every level of competition.  Sauer did not have significant time against top line competition, but he had some, playing with Staal, during the brief absence of Girardi last season.  Obviously he had some on the penalty kill and during different shifts throughout games last season. 

This is not an argument to say that Sauer is better than Dan Girardi or anything of that ilk.  Sauer has less experience in the NHL in totality than Girardi does in taking shifts as a top pair defender.  The difference for Sauer is the relationship he has with McDonagh on the ice.  The two are one of those pairings that has just clicked from the very beginning as they complement one another very well.  How quickly they developed the understanding of what one another were going to do on the ice was one the most impressive aspect of last season, so it seems strange to playing around with it.

Leaving the continuity of a tremendous pairing that knows exactly what one another are going to do on the ice is something that is appealing, especially with the flux that is the rest of the defense corps right now.  The decision came down to the fact that Tortorella is more comfortable with Girardi’s experience against top line competition.  There is no arguing against that experience, but maybe that experience was better served building Del Zotto’s confidence as he in thrown into playing against better competition than expected while leaving McDonagh-Sauer together.  It is tough to argue against having McDonagh rise and Girardi stay where he has earned his place in the lineup, but maybe a little continuity might not have been so bad when the ability differential in Sauer and Girardi’s game is so slim.

Camp Day 1 Recap: Avery, Rookies Impress In Conditioning; Sauer, Anisimov Injury News

Reports out of Day 1 of Camp Torturella are all relatively positive in terms of the conditioning of the New York Rangers, which tells you how committed the team is to being prepared for a big season.  Sean Avery was cited as one of those who was the most impressive to start the day, but the conditioning of Avery has never been in question.  

Beyond Avery the standouts were rookies trying to make the team with Tim Erixon, Ryan Bourque and Carl Hagelin making their turn at the conditioning drills look relatively easy.  It is impressive to see how driven these rookies are in trying to earn their way on the club from opening night.  There could be some advantage for these guys having played in Traverse City this past week so their conditioning level could be slightly higher than those who have scrimmaged at best.  The Rangers veterans better be ready to fight for their spots on the roster because these rookies are certainly ready to take them away.

While the news on the conditioning front was good there was injury news with Michael Sauer and Artem Anisimov sitting out today with knee injuries.  For Sauer the injury is something that was sustained during the summer and earlier today I looked at whether it is a cause for concern.  With Anisimov the injury is something that was discovered during a physical and he not only sat out, but had a precautionary MRI that came back negative.  Sauer is expected to be on the ice tomorrow, but no timetable was given for Anisimov. 

How Concerned Should Rangers Be About Sauer's Knee?

As the New York Rangers open training camp today with the infamous conditioning testing of coach John Tortorella, Jim Cerny is reporting that Michael Sauer will not be taking part because of the right knee he tweaked this summer.  Cerny follows up that Sauer says he is feeling stronger each day the past week so there is no cause for serious alarm yet, but is there reason for concern over the health of Sauer?

Sauer, 24, came from off the radar last training to become a critical part of the Rangers young defense corps pairing with Ryan McDonagh to give the team a second shutdown defensive pair.  Sauer was rewarded for his excellent play with a two-year deal paying him $1.25 mil a season.

Sauer’s talent has never been in question, but his ability to stay healthy has been what held his career back before last season.  Already in his career he has undergone surgery to the same knee that is bothering him now as long as shoulder and hip injuries.  The 76 games he was able to play last season was his highest career total, with only 2006-07 being the only other season in which he cracked 70 games.

An injury to Sauer or any of the other top four defenders would put some strain on the Rangers as it would require Tim Erixon, Michael Del Zotto and Steve Eminger all to be in the lineup, which while plausible would not be the ideal scenario for the team.

Could McDonagh, Sauer Regress In Second Season With Rangers?

The New York Rangers have an impressive group of young and talented defenders on the NHL roster.  The group has the potential, if each plays at their peak, to be the best defense corps in the league.  Marc Staal and Dan Girardi are the constants, and the Rangers will need them to maintain their elite level as a top pair to go far this season.  However, as important as Staal and Girardi are to the team, the emergence of Michael Sauer and Ryan McDonagh last season was critical to the Rangers success.  There is no question as to whether Staal and Girardi can bring their level again this season, but should there be more questions about Sauer and McDonagh slipping in their level?

Neither Sauer nor McDonagh were expected to play the roles they did last season.  Sauer was a fringe bet to even make the roster heading into training camp while McDonagh was seen as a top prospect, but certainly not expected play 20 minutes a game and be as composed as he was game after game.  Now the expectations for each has risen considerably as they are considered locks to be the second defensive pair on the club this season and play huge minutes.  The fact that they are more defensive minded should limit the potential for a slip in their game, but it is interesting to see that there is little to no concern over whether the two of them will regress this season.

For Sauer the concern is more with his prior injury history than his ability to play at the NHL level.  Sauer always had the game made for this level, but could not seem to stay healthy long enough to get a legit shot with the Rangers.   The 76 games he played last season were his most as a professional, so there is some concern there, but the other side of that is he went into the offseason healthy and training for next year instead of rehabbing an injury.

With McDonagh the most interesting part of his first professional season was the differential in the two adjustments he had to make to the AHL and NHL competition.  When starting out with the Connecticut Whale McDonagh struggled early, but then found his stride before his January call-up.  With the Rangers he seemingly took one game to shake off the rookie nerves and never looked back from there.  The concern with McDonagh is that the staff is going to push him to get more of the offense he is capable of, as they have with Marc Staal, and could lead to some early season struggles, but do not expect him to lose confidence and have a sophomore season like Del Zotto did last season.

I do not expect either of these two to regress from last year, and the lack of concern over their regression is a testimony to how well they played last year and the faith it created for them with the fan base.

Which Current Contract Is The Best Value For The Rangers?

The New York Rangers work as a franchise in not only signing key components of their young core to long-term contracts, but contracts that are of great value in the salary cap era has set the team up to contend for multiple seasons.  The contracts given to Marc Staal and Dan Girardi last summer along with those given to Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan this summer are ones that have taken four critical components to what the Rangers want to be and signed them to deals that are excellent values.  The value of each deal, especially those of Staal and Girardi only look better this year based on their respective 2010-11 campaigns and the overpayments made to defensemen around the league this summer.  In addition to those deals, New York locked down Michael Sauer, Artem Anisimov and Brian Boyle this summer to multi-year contracts.  The question is which contract on the Rangers roster, excluding entry-level contracts, is the best value?

Rangers Sign Sauer To Two-Year Deal

According to Larry Brooks of the New York Post the New York Rangers have agreed to a two-year, $2.5 million contract with Michael Sauer.  The $1.25 million per on Sauer is right in line with what was expected for the 23-year-old defender.  Sauer went from an afterthought coming into training camp last season to a key part of the Rangers top four on defense.  In 76 games he had three goals and 12 assists, but Sauer is not in New York for his offense. He is here to provide his defensive awareness, position and attention to detail.  He hits, clears the crease and will fight to defend his teammates which is something the Rangers had been lacking in the defense corps recently.

Signing Sauer takes one of the Rangers restricted free agents and arbitration cases off the list this summer.  Glen Sather's very good summer continues.

Which Rangers RFA Would Team Most Likely Walk Away From Arbitration Award?

When Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Brian Boyle and Michael Sauer all elected to file for arbitration yesterday they set the stage for an interesting few weeks for GM Glen Sather, but they also made his job easier.  There is no worry about any of the four key Rangers being offer sheeted by an opposing club.  There is no uncertainty about the timetable of having a contract and/or dollar amount for next season decided.  There is also now the option for Sather to use the secondary buyout period if he wants to reconsider his options on players like Wojtek Wolski and/or Sean Avery who were amongst those potentially rumored to be bought out before the June window.

Yesterday there was an examination of how front-loading the longer-term contracts for Callahan and Dubinsky could benefit both sides.  In the case of Michael Sauer and Brian Boyle shorter term contracts would be more expected given that both have only had one season in the NHL at the level they performed last year.   Both going into camp last season on the outside of roster projections and turning into crucial contributors sets them up for large raises from their modest prior salaries.  Sauer made $500K and Boyle $525K respectively during the 2010-11 season.  While it is possible that the Rangers could walk on Callahan or Dubinsky if the award were to be obscene it is highly improbable.  So, of the Sauer and Boyle, which is more likely to receive the big reward and have the Rangers walk away?

Rangers In Need of A Blueline Shakeup?

The idea of mixing up players is nothing new for the New York Rangers as with every struggling period of offense coach John Tortorella gives the line lottery wheel another spin to see what combination of players it kicks out.  On the flip side of that, there is little to no consideration of changing things up when it comes to the defensive pairings, at least not when it comes to the top pair of Marc Staal and Dan Girardi.  Maybe it is time for that to change.  I have thought about and even suggested this for some time and now I think the time has come to put real consideration into splitting up Staal and Girardi.  I know it is crazy to think about doing this down the home stretch of a playoff chase, but hear me out first and see if it sounds a little less insane by the time I am done.