This could not have been how general manager Glen Sather envisioned the season starting for the New York Rangers. When the Rangers fired John Tortorella, they saw it as the next step for a team that had been eliminated in the second round in 2012-13 and the third round the year prior. As Sather told ESPN’s Katie Strang:
Every coach has a shelf life. I've told every guy I've hired, that at some point in time this is going to change. Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup, and we didn't achieve the goal this year. I had to make the decision, and so I did.
Instead of looking like Stanley Cup contenders, the Rangers have struggled early on, posting a 1-4-0 record under new head coach Alain Vigneault. A four-game swing through the Pacific Division saw the team outscored by an embarrassing 20-6 margin, including a 9-2 defeat at the hands of the Sharks and a 6-0 loss to Anaheim. Veterans Aaron Asham and Martin Biron (786 and 508 career NHL games, respectively) were waived on Monday in a roster shakeup. So what has happened?
The answer, as it usually is, is a combination of things.
The goaltending has ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
What Is Behind the New York Rangers’ Bad Start?
October 14th, 2013 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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