The Tanner Glass Conundrum

For some reason there’s been a call to arms among wise cracking bloggers to actual reporters wanting Tanner Glass, all of 44 goals in a NHL career of 500 games to re-join the Rangers’ roster to add what people are saying is much needed JAM™ to the 4th line.

While I’m all for someone being on the roster to bust someone’s head in when opponents take liberties with Henrik Lundqvist the way Cody Eakin did last week, the problem is that the Rangers’ roster is pretty full at the forward position. In no way does adding a 33 year old middle-weight enforcer solve any of this team’s problems. Had the Rangers potted 1 or 2 goals on the 5 minute major assessed to Eakin for his lame-brain hit, this isn’t even a topic of discussion.

But instead we’re watching a Rangers team regress right back to the point they were at last year. Which goes back to the assessment I laid prior to the start of the season: none of this team’s weaknesses were addressed in free agency. They were simply masked by bringing in a ton of decent possession forwards, whom then played at a ridiculous level out of the gate at the start of the season. Remember how hot Pirri was in the pre-season? He’s turned back into a pumpkin that got him cut from an NHL roster to begin with; Michael Grabner is still as fast as he ever was, but the shooting percentage is coming back down to his norms. Chris Kreider still hasn’t put it all back together since coming back from injury. Nash is once again pulling a Marian Gaborik. Buch and Zibenejad are still at least a month from returning. Hayes and Miller are slowing down just enough to make the problems the team has even more glaring. The entire weight of the team’s offense is being squared onto the likes of Stepan, Zuccarello, and McDonagh.

How many times this year have we seen the captain get caught pinching or turning the puck over desperately trying to keep a play alive at the offensive blue line that leads to an odd-man rush the other way? How many times have we seen Girardi have to defend a 2-on-1? How many times have we prayed that we don’t see the #5 snow angel?

This is the issue that needs to be resolved. For all my off-season gripes, Nick Holden has done a passable job on both ends of the ice. Not great, but not noticeably horrible either. Skjei is still growing and it’s going to take patience to get him where we want to see him, benching him for entire periods at a time is not going to help his development. Girardi is playing about as well as can be expected, which is to say, not great, but he hasn’t been getting his doors blown off as often this year. Staal has been in the same boat. 32 year old Kevin Klein, on the other hand, has dropped off a cliff this season in the same way Girardi did the past two years. Age is catching up to this blue line and fast, even the younger guys have logged a lot of NHL minutes on their legs.

So why is Adam Clendening wasting away in the press box? I get that he’s another borderline NHL talent, especially with how much he leaves to be desired in his own end, but he’s still good enough to play more than the 8 games he’s logged this season to spell those aging regulars.

The situation begs the even further question: Why trade McIlrath? A big strong defenseman who filled that enforcer role instead of the completely useless Glass; playing on the end of the ice your roster has the most trouble in, can take forwards out of the play, clears your net-front, and one of the best board battlers the team had?

My only answer to these questions is coach Wintergreen’s (tis the season) stubbornness and inflexibility.  His unwavering support for the “warrior” players on his roster, even if they don’t deserve to be playing by any statistical metric (not just Corsi). The fact is apparent and was obvious more than a calendar year ago: the fourth line with Tanner Glass wasn’t good enough and this defensive group is not good enough to win in the playoffs.

The GM promptly rectified the first problem with a ton of value signings to shore up the bottom six forward group and this makes sacrificing a player or two up front to solidify the back end even more realistic. This is the area that the Rangers need to improve, not in the “tough” or “intangibles” departments that everyone seems to think Glass could be a positive influence, guess what! He’s not. He’s not even doing that great down in Hartford.

Gorton has to take the chance come trade deadline and get a strong, top-pairing, two-way defenseman or else the Rangers will fall even further out of contention for a Stanley Cup while Henrik Lundqvist is still viable in net.