This is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the events of each segment of five Rangers games. The sites involved are 5-holeSNY Rangers BlogBlue Seat BlogsThe Rangers Tribune, and Bleeding All Blue.

This week it was my turn to ask the questions:
1) Carl Hagelin has had a strong first few games with the Rangers, do you think he sticks all year? Or, do you think that once Wojtek Wolski and Mike Rupp return from injury, he will be sent back to the Whale?

Suit: So long as Torts trust him in all three zones, I think he could stay. Would love to see WoWo get waived. Playing aggressive forechecking, Tortorella hockey is just not in his DNA.

Michael Gleich (Bleeding All Blue): Hagelin is certainly making an impression that creates an opportunity to stick out the year, but whether he stays the rest of the year is not fully decided by his play.  The return of Wolski and Rupp will play a factor, but so will the level of players like Brandon Dubinsky and Brandon Prust.  It is hard to imagine that Dubinsky and Prust are going to spend the rest of the season on the fourth line to leave the spot for Hagelin in the top 9 available.  The Rangers could decide to keep Hagelin up as a fourth liner, but that would be a mistake with his development for me.  There is certainly also the chance of a trade, just as we saw last season when McDonagh’s play made the Rangers comfortable enough to deal out Rozsival to create time for McDonagh.

Eric Roitman (5-hole): Hagelin is certainly not upset that Wolski, Rupp and now Deveaux are out. I think he sticks around. The play he made on his goal was fantastic. He caught Max Talbot flatfooted and with just two strides was halfway across the ice to Bobrovsky’s left and all alone.

Aaron Bauer (5-hole): Torts generally rewards players who are doing well, and punishes those who are not, so if this is a continued trend he will stick.  I think Wolski needs to just go.  He is horrible, but that is another rant for another time.  Granted 2-3 games is not enough of a sample size to say for now, but I like how he’s played.  He’s also 22-23 so more developed than people give him credit for.  And swedish.  Can’t discount the Swedes.

Adam Rotter (SNY):  I think that Hagelin sticks, at least for a little while, because his speed is something that the Rangers need. He was one of their best player last night and used his speed to create a lot.

2) Do you think Mats Zuccarello has a future with this team?

Suit: So many variables, it’s hard to know short-term, but long-term definitely not. As I have said many times before, he doesn’t have enough escape-ability with the puck for someone his size.

Michael Gleich (Bleeding All Blue): No.  The $1.75 mil cap hit is probably the biggest reason that Zuccarello is basically done as a Ranger, but it is also that he needs a top-6 spot to be fully effective and that place, at least as right wing, is not available to him.  Zuccarello could certainly get another look if Gaborik or Callahan happened to go down to injury, but even then I am not sure that coach Tortorella has enough confidence in Zuccarello to stick in that kind of role.

Eric Roitman (5-hole): Yes, absolutely. As long as he keeps excelling in the AHL he has a spot next year with multiple players probably on their way out.

Aaron Bauer (5-hole): Not at all.  Sadly, I never thought he was given a chance this year, but the way the team has been playing chemistry should not be messed with.

Adam Rotter (SNY):  I don’t. I wish he did because I think he has a ton of talent, but his time with the Rangers appears to be up. I would be shocked if he wasn’t traded by the deadline, if not sooner.

3) The Rangers just spun off seven straight wins and followed that up with two wins against Philadelphia and Washington, two playoff bound teams? Is this team for real?

Suit: I believe so. I’m not pegging them for deep playoff contention just yet, but we should be able to get out of the 1st round pending the match up.

Michael Gleich (Bleeding All Blue): The game against Philly was likely their most complete effort in playing to their system, which is a great sign for what they can do.  However, if we are going to praise the Philly game, then we do also have to admit it was the Flyers squad without Pronger, Jagr, and JVR.  The Rangers are for real as a threat in the playoffs, if they get the right matchups.  New York is still struggling against speed/skill based teams so matchups are a key for how for real they can be.  To be a legitimate contender the team will have to be more potent with the power play, while getting last year’s 20 goal scorers to start scoring again.

Eric Roitman (5-hole): The team is for real as long as they don’t have to play a small speedy team. The Caps have a new coach now so they might transform back to their old run and gun selves. Or they could continue to flounder. Who knows?

Aaron Bauer (5-hole): Ask me again at the all star break.  Sorry its been a quarter of the season, nothing is for sure yet.  People need to stay healthy, and we just gotta keep chugging along.  I like this team, but championships aren’t won in November.

Adam Rotter (SNY): In terms of being a top six playoff team they are real. I don’t know if they are top four material yet, but we will see. They beat all of the good teams last season and almost missed the playoffs. It’s about more than a couple of games.

4) At what point do the Rangers need to upgrade their bottom defensive pairing? Steve Eminger and Jeff Woywitka cannot continue to play just eight minutes a game if the Rangers want their top four to be effective.

Suit: Once Marc Staal comes back this should help even things out a bit. At that point I think Jeff goes down or maybe Eminger is moved for like a late round, or a conditional pick, etc.

Michael Gleich (Bleeding All Blue):  The front office is unlikely to make a huge move to improve the defense until the deadline when they have a better feel for what exactly the team is and when or if Marc Staal is coming back.  Adding Staal back completely changes the depth issues on defense as the Rangers not only gain Staal, but it allows McDonagh to pair with Sauer to give them one of the best second pairs in the league.  If Staal is not coming back, then they will likely try something else to boost the defense, but some of these fringe defensive guys have to be gone first.

Eric Roitman (5-hole): Like two weeks ago? How much longer can Girardi and McDonagh eat up 27-30 minutes a night? It’s not conducive to a long run in the playoffs.

Aaron Bauer (5-hole): Yesterday.  They’re still playing?  I don’t even notice them.

Adam Rotter (SNY):  I think that if/when Marc Staal comes back it pushes everyone down and eliminates Jeff Woywitka from the lineup. Otherwise I don’t see them doing much to upgrade the position as Torts will ride the top four and give them around 10 minutes per night.

5) Why do you think the Rangers have such trouble against smaller and faster teams like Florida and Montreal?

Suit: Probably a combo of a young, still developing defense and a lack of speed in the middle of our lineup. Boyle, Arty, and Dubi are big guys who don’t have a great first step, so recovering on transition rushes can be an issue defending some of these quick little guys. Will be interesting to see how we handle Buffalo in a couple of weeks.

Michael Gleich (Bleeding All Blue): Speed and skill teams are typically better puck movement teams which prevents the Rangers from establishing their forecheck in the offensive zone.  The forecheck is still the base to the Rangers identity under Tortorella, so the inability to establish that allows the opposition to dictate the game against New York and takes them away from what they do to generate offense.

Eric Roitman (5-hole): Physical teams aren’t very effective if they can’t catch up to the other team’s players.

Aaron Bauer (5-hole): Man I really wish I could come up with a detailed response to this, but I’m so sleep deprived.  So I’ll just say because faster teams skate circles around the Rangers and get good goaltending.  I think the Rangers could beat either teams 4 times out of 7, which is more important anyway so I really just don’t know.

Adam Rotter (SNY): Those teams establish their games and the pace before the Rangers get a chance to. When the Rangers are thrown off their game it gets ugly. It is really something that the team needs to figure out and deal with.

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