Rangers Pound Pens

Goes to show what a little skating, shooting, passing, hitting, checking, offense, and defense can do for you -- the Rangers put it all together for an easy wire to wire win over Pittsburgh last night at the Garden, the game not as close as even the wide 4-0 final score would suggest. The new line of Scott Gomez centering Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka clicked right away, pinning the Penguins deep in their end for an entire shift before finally scoring in the second minute. They then took the Rangers out of dangerous 1-0 territory halfway through the game on a Straka goal. Meanwhile, the fourth line of Blair Betts centering Ryan Hollweg and Colton Orr threw their bodies around and kept Sidney Crosby in check to help Henrik Lundqvist record his sixth shutout of the season, perhaps the easiest of them all.

"Most of the night we had the puck on our sticks," Jaromir Jagr said about how the Rangers limited the Pens to just fives shots on goal over the first two periods. "The goal is to have the puck on the stick, and we did that all night long. We didn't give them a chance to score -- not just our defense, we played a pretty good possession game." The way the unit was moving the puck, Jagr got only one assist despite contributing to three of the four goals -- he was the fourth player involved in the play that led to Straka's deflection of Marc Staal's point shot, and all five players moved the puck around to set up Chris Drury's third period power play goal. Michal Rozsival was on for all four goals, as was Gomez -- Rozsival had a career high three assists, Gomez two goals and an assist. Jagr and Straka were on for three goals, Staal, Drury, and Brendan Shanahan for two goals each.

Still, Shanahan credited this win to the team returning to the tight defensive game that carried them until a recent slump. "We got the four goals, but tonight's game was all about defense," he said. "I've never doubted for a second what this team should be about. With the names on the back of the jerseys, [people] would love to see us score 600 goals a night. But the best hockey we've played is tight defensive hockey. If we're patient, we'll get more games like this, more opportunities to score goals." Scoring first was huge -- the Rangers are 14-3-2 when they assume the first lead of a game. "When you're ahead, offensive players are more willing to expend their energy on defense," Shanahan explained. "When you're behind a goal or two, you might be back on D, but there's a little piece of your brain saying, save something for the turnover, save something for the opportunity to go and score a goal. When you've got a lead, the game gets easier."

Renney concurred. "These last eight or nine days haven't been glorious for us," he said. "We haven't played particularly well, and part of the reason for that is that we haven't been able to get that first goal -- we haven't been able to pursue the game beyond that the way we should. We play outside of our system and outside of ourselves, consequently we lose by more than we should. So scoring first certainly gives you confidence to carry on and stick with the game plan." When they can do that even after falling behind is when they will take the next step forward, according to Shanahan. "That will be when I see us as a mature team," he said. "When we're down a goal or two and still have the patience to play that effective shutdown style and wait for your turnovers and opportunities."

It certainly helped the Ranger cause that the Penguins were thinned by injury, especially in net, where Dany Sabourin has replaced the injured Marc-Andre Fleury as starter. But that was only a factor in hindsight -- the Rangers have had their fair share of trouble against teams they should have beaten, squandering a two-goal lead over last place Washington and being shut out in their last game by the fledgeling Coyotes, who had no one like Crosby or Gene Malkin on the ice. And though Sabourin had a poor showing, he has been very good in half of his outings this season, so there was no taking him for granted by the Rangers.

What helped do in the Penguins was their coach splitting up Crosby and Malkin, seemingly using Crosby as a decoy with a pair of anonymous wingers to free up Malkin's line with Petr Sykora and Gary Roberts. If so, that plan backfired, with help from the Rangers' fourth line, which made Crosby such a non-factor that one wonders if he was hurting too. "You've gotta give credit to our fourth line," Jagr said. "When you shut down Crosby, you've got a pretty good chance to win the hockey game. He's 50% of their offense. They shut him down and had some scoring chances too." Still, when he missed the net on a two-on-none breakaway just forty seconds after the Rangers scored the opening goal, it was a reminder of what he could do if he got the chance, which might have broken the Rangers' resolve the way Phoenix's early fluke goal did the other day.

Jagr was cautious about attributing too much credit to line changes. "I don't want to make comments off the first game," he said. "I don't want to say anything that will haunt me later." But he was not spare in giving Gomez credit and explaining how he plans to work with him. "He got a lot more confidence than he had when we played the first time," Jagr said. "That's understandable -- everyone wants to impress when they come to a new team. Now he's settled down, he's playing great. It's time for me to adjust a little bit. Don't play with the puck that much, try to get open. I learned when I played with Mario [Lemieux], it's going to be the same way -- I have to go to the net, create more scoring. He's so dangerous, he makes the game easy -- you don't get tired with him because he has the puck most of the time. Sneakiness -- that's the right word for him, sneakiness. You can't hit him -- I tried once, spent five months in the hospital. That's an advantage -- I don't know how he does it, but it's like a quick animal. You cannot hit him, you can't -- it's impossible."

Game reports -- Daily News, Journal News, Newsday, Times, Post, AP, NY Sports Day, SNY, and NYR.com, plus the Pittsburgh papers here and here. More on the game from the Post and Newsday. More on Gomez and Jagr from Blueshirts Blog and Slap Shot; more on the status of Sean Avery from Rangers Report, Blue Notes; and NY Sportscene, and Stan Fischler's observations at MSG.com. For Hartford news see Bob Crawford at WP.com, for Charlotte news see Holwings, and for other prospect news see Prospect Park.

Comments

[Chris QCT]

It was a good bounce back win last night.

However, Pittsburgh mailed this one in. They did not look they put out too much of an effort at all. I like the fact that the guys do not seem to be patting themselves on their backs too much about this. It was a good win indeed. Good to see some chemistry between Jagr, Straka, and Gomez. Also good to see some real good defensive work and Henry looking like the rest helped a lot. But they were not really challenged too much in this one.

The challenge will come next week. Then we'll know if they have learned anything. They should match up against Minnesota pretty well since they're a trapping team. But I'm more interested to see what happens when the face Ottawa, Carolina, and Toronto. No doubt they will bring the hard forecheck again.

Nice win, but it could also be a false positive if we get whipped by the hard forechecking teams next week....

[Jess]

Chris

It was the Rangers scoring first which took the wind out of the Pen's sails.

I disagree with you the challenge is this week as the Wild (40), then the Avs (39) and THEN the Sens (47) and Canes (39) just might be the toughest stretch the Rangers have all season. Do not overlook any team this season as we just watched the Coyotes win 3 games from the first 3 teams in the Atlantic division and they are supposed to be the worst team in the NHL.

Simon

30 games for a repeat offender who clearly was shown trying to injure someone is a joke. Does anyone believe had Simon did that to a Crosby or any other poster child then it would have been much higher.

Yet the NHL has to keep their eye on Hollweg who have never pulled a stunt even coming close to anything Simon has done.

[Jess]

I really hate this site's spam filter

Bertuzzi claims he was ordered to attack Moore

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/12033-Court-documents-Bertuzzi-says-he-felt-he-was-expected-to-fight.html

[ant]

You can't hit him -- I tried once, spent five months in the hospital.

Jagr is priceless LOL.

[Chris QCT]

Jess - I do not mean to overlook West teams. I worry about the West teams differently though since we barely play them. We do not have to face the Wild or Avs again. You do not want to lose those games, but it's different. It's not a 4-point swing. To me, the big issue facing the NYR right now is how to deal with the forecheck and Pittsburgh did not really bring anything last night. The Penguins looked the NYR vs Phoenix.

All I'm saying is that if the NYR get pushed around again next week, it will make this game appear more of a Pittsburgh loss than a good NYR win...

[Denver Frank]

WAY TO GO RANGERS!! Keep up the good work on the road. 2 tough teams to face on back to back nights. Looking forward to seeing them in Denver on Friday. Hope the Wild don't take too much outa them. LET'S GO RANGERS!!

[Gary]

Granted, the Penguins played very poorly last night, but the power play did well last night and the Gomez, Jagr, Straka line kept the pressure on (the puck was consistently in the Penguins zone).

They skated hard and there wasn't many mistakes made last night. Hopefully they can come out and play this way against Minnesota and Colorado.

[rangerbill94]

rangerbill94 retracts a previous comment:

A couple of threads ago I suggested that Renney give up on the defensive approach and open the game up. It's more fun to score goals then it is to play a defensive game. Well, I thought that out, prior to last nights shutout, and now have a better idea where Renney is going.

As many have posted on this site, agressive forechecking teams who come at the Rangers fair much better and expose a weakness. I agree with that conclusion. Renney's goal is not to win the Presidents Trophy, it's to win the cup. Teams that play a strong forechecking game with lots of energy are not the one's who win playoff series. They simply wear down, especially playing a well coached and executed defensive team.

This team is being built for the playoffs, not the regular season. It is hard to sustain this defense, game in and game out, over a season, but in a playoff series the focus is keen and aimed at the game in hand. High energy teams that consistantly get shutdown become frustrated and that's the time the Rangers can put them away. We have enough offense to make an opponent take us seriously and enough defense to frustrate them.

Renney needs to keep the defense and his strategy going full force and continue to tweak the offense to improve our offensive strengths.

Cups from form defensive strategies. I'm not sure we have enough defense, but CAR won a cup and their defense was not overpowering, so there is hope.

[marko]

Bertuzzi is full of sh*t. Fighting someone is a little different than breaking his neck. He should have been kicked out of the league for that. He ended the guy's career in a premeditated attack. Crawford and the Canucks team (Brad May publicly threatened Moore before the game, as I recall) should also share blame for planning retribution. This is only coming up again because Moore hasn't dropped his lawsuit. It's another example of how the league and player's association don't know how to protect their players. I suppose the league won't get serious and permanently ban a player until 1) somebody dies (crippled isn't enough, apparently) or 2)some thug hurts Sidney Crosby on purpose to help his team win a playoff series. Gee, Riley Cote is suspended but Crosby's out for the year...too bad! (hypothetical)

Regarding Simon, I haven't heard anyone mention it, but I was watching that game and I thought I saw Simon try to kick Ruutu earlier in the game after they were scuffling and both fell to the ice. Did anyone else see that or has it been mentioned? I wondered if Ruutu accidentally (or purposefully) kicked Simon and that made him snap. I'm not sure if 30 games is enough for this psycho, especially if he did try to kick him earlier. Again, I guess someone must perish before a player is permanently banned. It's time for the league and Player's Association to accept that some acts may call for a permanent ban -- especially a player who has been suspended 8 times now! (Although by that logic Messier probably should have been thrown out of the league.)

[jason]

No one other than Jess has really commented that it was more or less the Rangers scoring 72 seconds into the game that took the Pens wind out of their sails. We skated well and forchecked as well as we have all season.
Oddly enough, Gomez was out for all 4 goals as was Rozy.

[Bob]

I heard a number of the Pens were suffering with the flu, so let's not carried away with this performance. Bring back the Hurricanes, Islanders and anyone else with a ferocious forechecking squad and then let's see if they, in fact, have turned a corner.

[Jameson]

I'm not TOO overexcited about the win, but the fact is that we'd been making a lot of errors, turnovers, bad passes, etc. that had a lot to do with it, almost moreso than what the other team was doing. So for a line to click the way it did against the Pens is great news, for there to be almost no turnovers, great news.

[Jess]

Chris

Every game is important these days as the Rangers need to get points from everywhere. Playing two of the better teams in the NHL is a good test to see if they are real contenders. I think 3 games in 4 nights with 2 on the road is a tougher test than next week.

Marko

You are right someone is going to have to die before the NHL really punishes someone. Other leagues will ban someone for a year so why not the NHL.

Jason

That is just it, getting the early goal from the Jagr line helped the Rangers while taking a tired sick team and hurting them.

Bob

So what do they need to do in order to get credit? They are about to play 3 straight games against teams ahead of them in the NHL standings. Want to bet if they lose those 3 games people will be screaming for blood but if they win any of them it will still be discounted?

[ant]

Well the 2 of you can sit and bitch about this win and say it was a fluke while the REAL rangers fans are being happy abotu the teams performance and the way they handler the all mighty Cindy Crosby

[ant]

Dubi should make 2 comments sections one for people who are just never happy.So they can sit and talk of how ether Malik or Hossa or Jagr ruined the game or how the other team didnt play good.And the other section should be for us fans who enjoy any win and who wont panic after 3 games losing streak

[Robz]

I agree with Ant's last post

[Matty]

Well I don't see why people should caution against getting overly "excited" about this win ... I never see these same people caution about being overly "negative" about a loss ... what's the difference? There is none ...

They win, we are happy, they lose, we are not happy ... it's simple ... the only difference is the levels that some people take it to when the team loses or wins, specially when they lose ...

[IITH]

How about a third column ant, one for people who believe that jagr, malik, and hossa never do anything wrong. That the nhl is a "non-contact league" and playing a hard hitting, edgy stlye of hockey is just silly to do in a sport based upon violence and agression. A column that is for those same people who believe glue guys like betts and strudwick are just not necessary on a team or should only play in 2 or 3 games a year. You have got to be kidding me!!!!!

[kovazub94]

Ant,

Agreed too. The litmus (sp?) test for the "other" board is if at any point this season the following posts were made:

1. Trade Jagr

2. Fire Renney / Suther

3. Bring back Nylander

These are the most outrageous IMHO.

[IITH]

That comment section would also be for whom ever posted on the last thread about crosby going after the smallest ranger on the ice, well NO SH%T folks. The smallest guy took a run at a teammate "A TEAMMATE" of his. So being not only a good teammate, but A CAPTAIN of his team, he stood up for someone. WOW, sometimes I truly wonder if some of you have any idea about the sport of hockey or what being a stand up guy and leader is. If it would have been the biggest guy on the ice, crosby would still have went up to him. You guys have obviously forgotten what a CAPTAIN and a LEADER is supposed to do.

[IITH]

That comment section would also be for whom ever posted on the last thread about crosby going after the smallest ranger on the ice, well NO SH%T folks. The smallest guy took a run at a teammate "A TEAMMATE" of his. So being not only a good teammate, but A CAPTAIN of his team, he stood up for someone. WOW, sometimes I truly wonder if some of you have any idea about the sport of hockey or what being a stand up guy and leader is. If it would have been the biggest guy on the ice, crosby would still have went up to him. You guys have obviously forgotten what a CAPTAIN and a LEADER is supposed to do.

[IITH]

sorry about the double post, stupid sensor!!!!

[LI Joe]

Akayama - re your quote at the bottom of my message here from the previous thread: I can only guess that you've seen a lot of him in the AHL and maybe even before that. he has not shown to me to be a high performance car even on the pp. I mean he's ok but I would rather have Drury, Gomez, Shanny, JJ, Straka and some of our d men on the pp before him. Maybe even Peter Prucha. So it comes across (especially after winning 4-0 with some pp goals) as if that is the only thing you care about. Dawes being on the Rangers and even being the key man on the pp. I totally understand being devoted to a player and thinking the team would be better with him on the team and in this role or that role - but every post?

"LI Joe: Read my posts a little more carefully please; no one is saying Dawes is the savior, but his play when his team has the extra man is particularly strong and not using him at all there is like buying a high performance car and keeping it in the garage covered by a tarp!"

[Godot]

IITH, Jagr, Malik, and Hossa have all done things wrong, of course. As has every player ont his team. But would you want to give up the wins that we earned from Hossa's shoot out goals??? Or short handed situations in which he and Betts played great shutdown hockey? What about the points earned while Malik was on the ice--his +/- (even before his tenure with Jagr) is pretty astronomical--it can't all be flukey. What about the times when Jagr has carried this team?

I like all the Rangers. I like them all equally. I can see Hossa's limitations, Jagr's funks, and Malik's bad blind passes. I can see Shanahan's aging, and hollweg's leaden hands, and Avery's dumb mouth--but you know what: I also see Shanahan's leadership, Avery's heart, and Hollweg's energy. These are my Rangers. Do I want them to send the best team on the ice every game--indeed. But I won't whine and cry when a player is benched or sent down--even when one I like is sent down. I want Dawes to succeed, I like the kid, but to be honest, he hasn't shown me much in the games he's been up.

[Colton Orr & Avery Are Not Happy But They Say "Vote for Hank, Jagr, Shanny, and Drury!!!!]

GODOT

I agree with the Dawes thing. So far in two games i havent seen him doing anything special. You'd think being sent back down after scoring 4 goals or what ever, would light a fire under his ass, but he's really just skating around. I didnt notice anything to great, but maybe smeone else did.

I hate Simon, and he got off easy. Also hopefully Bertuzzi loses a crap load of money to Steve Moore. I hate that guy too. Bert that is.

[Jess]

IITh

Uh that was me who made the comment about Crosby going after Dawes. Dawes threw a clean check at Malkin and Crosby (down 3-0) threw a fit.

Sorry on this one we will disagree as if Crosby wanted to stand up for a teammate where was he when Hollweg and Orr ran his teammates?

Dawes doesn't fight so if the leader wants to make a statement then try a Hollweg or Orr on for size not a guy 3 inches shorter than him

[Ryan]

Please tell me that comment was sarcastic or a joke Vincent..

[Jess]

Hey Vince

Do you have any idea what you are butting your nose into here? Did you read the original post from the last thread before opening your mouth and sticking your foot into it?

Do you even have a single clue as to what IITH and I have been discussing?

Congrats Vince you are (with your response) saying it is OK for Crosby to have run Dawes for his CLEAN hit of Malkin in the game last night.

So should we think that you are in favor of cheapshot artists? I bet you think that Chris Simon should not have been suspended for his hit on Rutuu as well.

After all what else are we supposed to think when post something that lame.

[Dubi]

I've been told that the spam filter has been updated since I lodged my complaints yesterday. I see fewer comments in my spam bucket and more getting through -- please let me know if you are still experiencing problems and if they are improved over the past 24-36 hours. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[IITH]

GoDot

I love this team just like the rest of us. I agree jagr carried the team 2 years ago. Never once have I said he was not a great player, but he is not a leader in the capacity of a team captain. Hossa just does not belong on the first two lines at all. Name me an NHL team where he plays on the first two lines (other than ours). And I just would rather see other players on the third and fourth lines. Malik, well, he's steady in a no thrills kind of way, but so is struds and he is more scrappy and physical and we all agree this team could use more of that.

Jess

well, i've deleted the game from the dvr already, but perhaps (speculation on my part) the other guys that were hit by rangers could take care of themselves better than malkin. The whole point for me was that as the captain, he was willing to get his nose dirty so to speak and physically stand up for a teammate if necessary. I think that is the responsibility of the captain, not to drop the gloves every five seconds or anything, but to be physically involved and physically be there for his teammates. I understand "enforcers" and other players (struds, avery) are there for that as well. A captain needs to show his teammates that he is there and involved at times even when the chips are down (say in a 4 to 0 losing effort to the rangers) and that pride and respect are still important as well as cohesion and not giving up or not forgetting to support one another or the team. A "we may be losing, but you can just hit our players at will" little guy or not. I mean wouldn't be great to see our captain skate up to chris neil (sp?) of the sens after he just hit prucha and just say hey you cannot get away with that, he does not have to fight him, but man think of the energy and spirit that would give the rest of the team to see their leader do that.

[IITH]

Dubi,

Apparently the new filter hates me (probably for being such a neanderthal). I tried to post my response to jess like 4 times.

[comment spam formerly known as craigz]

wow...win a game against a division rival and look what you get here...

[LI Joe]

Dubi - I tried to post a response to the Dawes fan - but flagged as spam (maybe because it was hard to read the code). Still haven't seen it come through so unless it's in the bucket to be reviewed it's lost I guess.

[LI Joe]

Dubi - actually I do see it posted but it was flagged.

[david]

Dawes will fight.

This link is to a score sheet from last season. Dawes scored a goal at 16:18 of the 2nd period. He was cross-checked in the back of the head after scoring the goal. He got up and proceeded to pound the guy (MacDonald) the team captain of the Norfolk team (Chicago affiliate). It was impressive.

The was the great Al Montoya fight during the stuff that went on after that Dawes goal was scored. LOL. Al swinging wildly while the Norfolk goalie (Crawford) held Al's jersey at the neck with one hand and beat the daylights out of him with the other. Al got props for the effort though.

http://stats.theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1002997

[Jess]

IITH

I understand where you are coming from and in most cases would agree with you but not here. In my eyes Crosby acted more out of frustration than defending his team.

His line was facing Betts/Orr/Hollweg all evening which is why I dissed Crosby. They were hitting Crosby all night long and he did nothing to respond. But one hit by Dawes and he becomes a tough guy.

David

That was what Dawes first fight in how many years? I like Dawes but other than Dubinsky I think even Prucha fights better than both of them

[akayama49]

LI Joe: Herewith an Akayama post on a general topic: I have been a Rangers fan since 1962-63 and in that time i can't recall a Rangers team that was ever #1 in defense and last in offense in the same season. If anyone knows of such a previous development, please remind me. If it is truly unprecedented, then it's any body's guess how this season will ultimately turn out. As a season subscriber, I usually attend about 20 games in person, giving away or selling the rest of my subscription. In the course of 45 years I've seen or watched or listened to several thousand Ranger games and I don't recall as successful a defensive team as this year's squad. To this point in the season I have attended 5 shutouts of opponents in the 9 games I've attended. A ratio that is obviously spectacular. Lundqvist and company are the real deal---they may not be flawless over the course of the season, but they are clearly exceptional on the D side of the puck relative to almost all other Ranger squads I've seen.

[Cromagnon man(formerly IITH)]

Jess,

I see your point, makes sense from both points I think.

[Jess]

IITH

Thanks

[i]

It looks like they are finally ready to turn the corner, and be the Team they should be. Getting Gomez & Drury in the roles and responsibility they were signed for should jump start the offense. Playing those two lines with help from the third line on the PP will begin to bury teams. But the third line has to do it's energy part consistently. They now have to build on Tuesday's game, & really compete in the next two games. And go from there.

[dtaild]

Definitely got my money on Prucha over Dubinsky in a fight

[david]

I wasn't trying to make the counter-point that Dawes in going to be the next Colton Orr. I simply wanted to point out that Dawes does have it logged in -- in his professional career to drop the gloves. That is more than some.

[Chris QCT]

Hey Matty - Before you write that, maybe you should go back and read what I've written in the past few days durnibg the losing streak.

" I never see these same people caution about being overly "negative" about a loss ... what's the difference? There is none"

I've been doing that all week, bro...go back and read.

[RobZ]

Yes Vincent, JJ is always the problem. He also was a pretty good solution in our success the last 2 years.

[Godot]

IITH,

No doubt Hossa doesn't belong on the first two lines--and did he start on those lines--no. Why was he there: due to injuries and an overcautious approach to the salary cap by management. He replaced Straka because he had shown promise with Jagr last year. But he was a victim of bad chemistry between Jagr and the center--whose game to play? Note he did score his one goal this year playing on the second line. But I agree--he's a third line or fourth line guy, but I would rather have him than Hollywood on the fourth line in many games.

As for Malik--you're tight, Struds is a grittier player. No doubt about it, but I just hate how some "fans" attack Malik because he's Malik and he plays a very European hockey game.

On Jagr, there's no doubt on a team that's under performing, he's seriously under performing--but as Dubi pointed out, he played a terrific game against the Pens, and has been playing strong for awhile. No doubt there's been some adjusting to the whole center issue. With Straka back on his wing, he seems already to be up for the task, and he and Gomez really seemed to groove some last game.... We'll have to see how it goes when they're playing someone a little tougher than the Pens. Again, though, it's frustrating to have fans speculate that he's pouting about Nylander or some other nonsense and then repeating it over and over again as if that repetition makes it fact.

G

[Bones]

I just watched Pollyanna with Haily Mills and it was so inspiring I'm never going to say anything negative about the Rangers again. GOOOOOOOO RANGERS!!

[Cromagnon man(formerly IITH)]

Well leave it to me to instigate a riot at BB. 2 minute minor for myself. I wish the team played with as much passion on a nightly basis as we use here in the chit chat area! You can always count on ranger fans to be passionate, no matter what their opinion of the style of play or personnel should be.

[RobZ]

further than we did the 7 years before JJ, Nice try vince.

[TonyM]

Malik is not hated by fans because of his Euro play. He is hated by fans because on most nights HE STINKS!
He gives up the puck easily when pressured. he doesn't clear anybody in front of his own net
He mishandles the puck more often than he handles it cleanly.
AND he must be the leading scorer on the Rangers AGAINST his own team.
Also until today he always felt he played better than he actually did. Today he finally admitted he was " TERRIBLE" against the Yotes.
Just think, we could have had Witt for the same amount of money.

[rangerbill94]

TonyM

If we had Witt, this place would have lit up when he took a 2 minute minor (stupid penalty) with just over 2 minutes in a 2-1 loss. He put his team down a man and unable to pull the goalie. Nit-Witt!

Malik is the Osgood of the Rangers. The fans boo'd him out of DET, but he is still around and doing OK. Same will be said of Malik. We'll hear..."Why didn't he play like that here or Renney just didn't know how to use the guy" or something else. I will not deny that he has "his moments", but he is a 3-4 defenseman in the NHL.