The Rangers went into this offseason with a clear aim: build a roster that could handle playoff hockey. A big part of that push came on the blue line, where New York made Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson two of its major additions, expecting them to form the second defensive pair behind Adam Fox and Vladislav Gavrikov.
That plan looked sturdy at first. Now, it has started to wobble.
Monday’s 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings was the clearest sign yet. After the Rangers conceded two quick goals, head coach Mike Sullivan broke up the Durzi-Pettersson tandem. Durzi skated with rookie and this year’s first-round pick Alberts Smits, while Pettersson was moved beside Braden Schneider.
The Rangers are off until Sunday, when they return against the powerhouse Edmonton Oilers, and Sullivan left the door open for that shuffle to stick.
"We might experiment other looks, but we're having those discussions right now. I haven't made decisions yet on that," said Sullivan, h/t SNY.
The move is a notable one because this is not the kind of return New York expected from the pair. Durzi has been banged up, which has played a role in his struggles, but the bigger issue is that the Rangers invested heavily to bring the duo in, giving up, essentially, Vincent Trocheck and a 2030 conditional first round pick. Right now, they are not getting that level of value back.
The defense has had its share of problems even with the focus on goaltending. Dylan Garand has been under plenty of scrutiny as his play has slipped after starting seven games in a row, before getting a short rest in the Kings game until he had to come in for James Reimer.
Still, the blue line has not exactly helped calm things down. The Maple Leafs game was a mess of repeated answers and instant counters in a 5-4 loss. The Senators game was even less forgiving, with Ottawa’s offense too much for New York to keep in check.
The numbers back up the eye test. As The Athletic's Vince Mercogliano notes, the Durzi-Pettersson pair has an expected goals for percentage of 44.1, which ranks 18th-worst in the league, according to MoneyPuck. Mercogliano also points out that the level of competition they faced matters, but the more immediate concern is simpler: that pair has allowed seven goals over the Rangers’ last six games.
That is not the kind of production a team wants from its second defensive unit, especially not with Edmonton next. The Oilers are scoring 4.25 goals per game, the best mark in the NHL, and Connor McDavid has 34 points through 12 games. For a Rangers team looking for answers, that is one brutal test waiting after the break.
Whether Smits gets a bigger role or Sullivan leans another direction, the Rangers are clearly searching for something that works.
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Garand has become the name the Rangers have had to trust while the rest of the depth chart sorts itself out, and the contrast with Shesterkin has been hard to miss. Managements decision to lock up Shesterkin long-term already looked important when the deal was signed, and it feels even more significant now with the team trying to survive without the kind of netminding it was built to expect. [Read more 🡒]