We haven't seen much of the Rangers' net crash since the calendar turned to 2024, and probably even before that, and we haven't seen enough of Will Quill's third period.
But lo and behold, two good things happened at the same time for the Blueshirts midway through the third period Sunday in Anaheim. At that moment, Kyle, on his third shift this season, took up his position up front and sent Jacob Trouba's snapper past netminder Lukas Dostal on a screen.
The 10:10 goal gave the club a 2-0 lead, tying the game and making it 5-2 on this trip, which concludes in San Jose on Tuesday, looking to heal the wounds of previous losses in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I ended up winning.
This is also the type of battle area goal that is prevalent and decisive in the playoffs, but the Rangers don't score it all that often.
The Blueshirts are not physical or malicious. It's not in their DNA. It's not big enough. They are not young enough up front in a young league that becomes much more demanding once the tournament begins.
In fact, Quill, Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko are the only forwards on the brightest side of the 30 on the current roster. The Rangers could use the infusion of energy that young legs and heart bring to the fight.
Quill, who turns 22 on February 5th, is 6 feet 4 inches tall. He plays a straight line. He arrived at the pack glumly. In the coaches' handbook, next to the section on simplifying the game, there's a picture of No. 50 on his jersey. The freshman's game has not been shaky since the first day. He represents the items in columns A, B and C required by the club.
But until Sunday night, when he was given ice time at 5 p.m. in the third period, Quill had played between 2:36 and 4:17 in the previous five final periods. He sits a lot during crunch time, and head coach Peter Laviolette often opts to put Artemi Panarin on second shift, but he won't do that when there's a game on the line.
But it changes the dynamics, taking away from Quill, who has the most modest profile ever. Again, that's understandable. If he can get time with Panarin, who played to the level of a Hart Trophy finalist, he should. Every point in the standings matters. An 18-4-1 start kept the club within nine points of the playoffs. But the coaching staff cannot afford to be short-sighted. The ultimate goal is to generate upside in late April, May, and June.
Quill averaged 12 minutes, 33 seconds on ice in his first 16 games, but in his next 30 games he averaged 10 minutes, 46 seconds, about two hours less. Of course, Quill was on Vincent Trocheck's line for the first 10 games before Cityl went down, and the No. 16 moved to his spot between Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere, effectively making the Blueshirts ( (in a different sense) began operations with two fourth lines. The winger, who had 13 points (8-5), is expected to play alongside Johnny Brodzinski and Blake Wheeler against the Sharks.
But Laviolette and assistant coach Michael Peca also removed Quill from the power play for the second time in 21 games this season. Currently, PP2 has a component average of 0:55 to 1:29, while PP1's component is 3:38 to 3:47, so you've got plenty of valuable time. The second power play unit accounted for three of the club's 41 goals on the man advantage.
Quill has played a total of 15 minutes, 44 seconds on the power play through his first 26 games, which equates to an average of 47 seconds per game. But over the past 20 games, Quill has played a total of 10 seconds spread across three games. I'm not sure Quill fits the power play profile perfectly.
This isn't 1993-94, when the Rangers were No. 1 overall every day since Dec. 15 and were as win-or-lose as any team in the history of professional sports. If they had lost that landmark Game 6 at the Meadowlands, Mark Messier's legacy in this city would have been much different. The same goes for Mike Richter, who will likely be tied forever to Ron Francis rather than Pavel Bure.
The end of 1940 meant trading 23-year-old Tony Amonte. That meant trading 20-year-old Todd Merchant. A year ago, that meant trading 22-year-old Doug Waite. That meant trading Mike Gartner. That meant trading youth and talent for veteran role players like Stefan Matteau, Esa Tikkanen, Craig McTavish, and Glenn Anderson.
It would be foolish for GM Chris Drury to follow in the footsteps of then-GM Neil Smith and trade the organization's crown jewels for a stopgap measure. But it's true that the Rangers need to add weight. It's true that the club needs to add size, strength and straight-up mentality.
It's true that the Rangers could use another Quill or two. You might also want to give the originals more of a chance.
