So I was talking to Chris Kreider a week ago about his team’s uncommon depth up front, and No. 20 immediately flashed back to his formative years on Broadway that inform his career.
Kreider, who joined the Blueshirts at age 20 for the 2012 playoffs just days after helping Boston College to the national championship in his junior year, went to the conference finals in three of his first four NHL seasons — including to the Cup final in 2014.
“You know what this reminds me of?” Kreider asked before he answered, “Our teams those years.”
Kreider often has referred to those seasons through a career in which he has ascended to sixth on the franchise’s all-time goal-scoring list. He has scored 261 goals in Blue, one away from tying Vic Hadfield, with only Rod Gilbert, Jean Ratelle, Adam Graves and Andy Bathgate — Rangers Royalty — ahead of the two left wingers.
Understand: This current group of Rangers, imposing as it may be and omnipotent as it may appear after the weekend 6-0 victory over the Penguins followed by the 7-0 triumph over the Predators, hasn’t done a thing yet. Kreider’s early teams did not win the Cup, but the 2014 team did at least get to the final before losing to L.A. and the 2015 squad did at least win the Presidents’ Trophy before going down in Game 7 of the conference finals to Tampa Bay.
So comparisons are premature. If the Rangers lose in the first round to Carolina or New Jersey, no one will be extolling the club’s great depth. So let’s keep that in mind when we do this little exercise here in comparing forward depth.
But we’re not only measuring this club against 2014 and 2015. No, sir. No, ma’am. We’re including the post-deadline 1993-94 team and the 1978-79 Ooh-La-La Gang. And we are going back to Boomer Nirvana to the 1971-72 team that went to the final before losing to Bobby Orr and the Animals in six games.
The current Rangers: A. Artemi Panarin-Mika Zibanejad-Vlad Tarasenko; B. Kreider-Vincent Trocheck-Patrick Kane; C. Alexis Lafreniere-Filip Chytil-Kaapo Kakko; D. Jimmy Vesey-Barclay Goodrow-Tyler Motte.
The 2015 Rangers: A. Rick Nash-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello; B. Kreider-Derek Stepan-J.T. Miller; C. Carl Hagelin-Kevin Hayes-Marty St. Louis; D. Tanner Glass-Dom Moore-Jesper Fast.
The 2014 Rangers: A. Kreider-Stepan-Nash; B. Benoit Pouliot-Brassard-Zuccarello; C. Hagelin-Brad Richards-St. Louis; D. Brian Boyle-Moore-Derek Dorsett/Daniel Carcillo.
The 1994 Rangers: A. Graves-Mark Messier-Glenn Anderson; B. Stephane Matteau-Alex Kovalev-Steve Larmer; C. Esa Tikkanen-Craig MacTavish-Brian Noonan; D. Greg Gilbert-Sergei Nemchinov-Joey Kocur/Nick Kypreos.
The 1979 Rangers: A. Don Maloney-Phil Esposito-Don Murdoch; B. Steve Vickers-Walt Tkaczuk-Anders Hedberg; C. Pat Hickey-Bobby Sheehan-Ron Duguay; D. Pierre Plante-Eddie Johnstone-Lucien DeBlois.
The 1972 Rangers: A. Hadfield-Ratelle-Gilbert; B. Gene Carr-Tkaczuk-Bill Fairbairn; C. Ted Irvine-Pete Stemkowski-Bruce MacGregor; D. Glen Sather-Bobby Rousseau-Ron Stewart.
The course of the 2015 playoffs may have changed in the first-round Game 5 clincher against Pittsburgh when Zuccarello suffered his grievous brain injury when hit by a shot off teammate Ryan McDonagh’s stick. Alain Vigneault juggled combinations following that.
In 1994, it was routine for head coach Mike Keenan to move Kovalev up to Messier’s right wing when circumstances called for it. Lines were mixed throughout a season of equal dominance and volatility.
The 1979 lineup cited above represents the alignment used in the playoffs in Ulf Nilsson’s absence. That was the season, remember, when Murdoch was suspended for the first 40 games because of a cocaine-related issue. Sheehan was summoned to join the club after the first game of the quarterfinals against the Flyers. The Tkaczuk line, by the way, probably stands as the best checking unit in franchise history.
In 1972, clubs generally did not use four lines. Rousseau was less a fourth-liner than a power-play point specialist, finishing seventh on the team in scoring (21-36-57) during the regular season before leading the team during the playoffs (6-11-17) after moving between Hadfield and Gilbert in Ratelle’s absence.
Now: If the Rangers win the Cup, maybe even if they fail to win but reach the final, the current group might win recognition as the deepest group of forwards in club history.
But until these guys have a chance to write their own history, I am writing that the 1972 group had the best three-line rotation of them all.
This is my story and I will stick to it forever — or until the June 2023 parade up the Canyon of Heroes, whichever comes first.
Every one of the 1972 team’s top three units aced their chemistry exams, though Carr at left wing on the Bulldog Line was perhaps a bit incongruous. The third line is likely the best in franchise history. And again, the fourth line housed one of the club’s greatest offensive weapons.
And, please, at the top, this was the GAG Line flaunting all of its power and glory with each of the three hallowed components at the very top of his game.
Can the Panarin-Zibanejad-Tarasenko unit take advantage of this Broadway runway to prove something different, maybe something more grand? You bet they can.
Can the Kreider-Trocheck-Kane line eclipse the Bulldogs with a dominant run in the postseason? Absolutely.
Can the Kids dislodge Stemmer and the Boys from their franchise perch? We will see.
The Lindgren alternative
Ryan Lindgren is expected to return Tuesday night at the Garden against the Hurricanes after being sidelined for 11 games due to the left shoulder injury he sustained on T.J. Oshie’s first-period hit in Washington on Feb. 25.
That is the same number of games No. 55 would have been required to miss had he been placed on LTIR at any time during his absence. Not doing so probably represents a miscalculation by GM Chris Drury and the staff, which obviously projected an earlier return.
I have heard some intelligence that the Rangers might have had similar issues getting immediate and full relief from the league by placing Lindgren on LTIR as they did when denied emergency status, but that does not seem to have entered into the decision to maintain the defenseman on the active roster.
The Blueshirts played short for four games surrounding Kane’s deadline acquisition. There was disruption. But it was temporary.
Overall, the Rangers went 8-2-1 without Lindgren, and they are 6-0-1 since forming three stable pairs for the game in Montreal on March 9.
The K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba tandem has been on for 11 goals for and four against in 111:34 of five-on-five play, the Niko Mikkola-Adam Fox tandem has been on for four goals for and four against in 95:05 and the Ben Harpur-Braden Schneider pair has been on for two goals for and one against in 86:58.
By the time the Rangers were allowed by the league to dress a full 18+2 roster, there was no point in placing Lindgren on retroactive LTI other than to guard against another injury. It’s not as if the club would have played, say, either Libor Hajek or Zac Jones ahead of Harpur.
Tempest in a teapot.
Even better back-to-backs
So, you think this past weekend was great? How about the consecutive games in January 1972 in which the Rangers beat the Blues, 9-1, four days ahead of taking out the Kings, 8-0?
Or the week of Feb. 4-10, 1973, when the Rangers recorded a triple bagel: 6-0 over the Atlanta Flames behind Gilles Villemure and then 6-0, 6-0 over the Original Islanders with Eddie Giacomin and Villemure taking turns with shutouts?