McCabe Impact On Power Play Goes Beyond The Numbers

Normally I agree with George Ays of Tracking the Rangers when he says, “Numbers don’t lie, they just don’t agree with you.”  One place where I don’t agree, at least not yet, is in terms of the impact Bryan McCabe has had on the New York Rangers power play.  It has been five games and the stats say the man advantage is still struggling only converting on 3 of 20 (15%) power plays.  The numbers say that the impact has been negligible to this point.  I do not get that same feel in watching the Rangers when they have the advantage since he has been here.

The willingness to shoot the puck and hit the net has created something opponents have not had to account for all season.  He has yet to score with his bombs from the point, but it has created a number of rebound opportunities and beyond that has made other players on the ice more aggressive and that aggression has been utterly lacking for this team all season.  More players are willing to pull the trigger on their own shots, with more space to do so and some are even heading to the front of the net for a change.  All of these things are critical to getting the final reward.

Along with his shot the biggest help to the power play has been his ability to keep the puck in the zone.  For much of the year the Rangers would spend half the power play chasing the puck down to the other end of the ice and starting over because they were unable to hold the line, but McCabe has been a virtual vacuum back there sucking up clearing attempts and continuing possession for the offense.

His understanding and comfort running a power play also shows in how he walks the line at the point to create angles for both his own shot and passing lanes.  These are the types of things that a power play quarterback does and the things that McCabe should be imparting to the rest of the Rangers defense core.  The results are not there yet, but I believe that between the movement, the aggression, the puck possession and the big shot from the point those results will come in short order.

So, do the numbers lie or my eyes?  Given the small sample size we might not find out the answer until the year is over.

The Inevitable Occurs: Rangers Get McCabe

Via Bob McKenzie, the Rangers have acquired Bryan McCabe from the Panthers for the low, low price of Tim Kennedy and a third round pick. Larry Brooks confirmed it. In 48 games with Florida, he’s got a 5-17-22 line and is a +3 for a team with a -11 goal differential overall.

McCabe, 35, missed a month with a broken jaw a little earlier this year, but he’s been back for just over a week now. We heard the two sides had a deal in place prior to the injury, so it’s not a surprise that they consummated a trade before Monday’s deadline. McCabe will be a free agent after the season, and his cap hit for the rest of the year is a little over $1.3M according to CapGeek. I believe the Rangers still have about $3.8M in wiggle room remaining (apologies for the uncertainty).

It’s hard not to absolutely love this deal. McCabe gives the Rangers exactly what they need, and that’s a veteran, left-handed defenseman with experience running the power play, and they did so without giving up a core piece a) off the NHL roster, or b) for the future. New York still has a first and two second round picks at their disposal. It’s unclear if he’ll be uniform in time for tomorrow’s game, but they really could use him with Marc Staal out. Either way, bravo. Great trade for the good guys.

Update: Michael Del Zotto’s been sent back to Connecticut to make room for McCabe. (h/t Bleeding All Blue)

Updates on Fedotenko, Gaborik, Staal and McCabe Rumors

For those expecting concrete news to come out of today’s New York Rangers practice you will be sadly disappointed as the day had more of a dump it deep in the zone and wait until tomorrow to see if they can chase it down feel to it.  There are updates for Ruslan Fedotenko, Marc Staal and Marian Gaborik to sift through though.

In the good news department, Ruslan Fedotenko took part in practice again today, this time with some contact and battling.  Signs point to a return in the very near future, with it being possible for tomorrow night against Washington, but they will not know that for sure until tomorrow morning according to Tortorella.  During practice he skated along with Avery, Newbury and Prust.  Getting Fedotenko back would be a huge lift for the club as they are only 5-8-1 since he sprained his shoulder on January 19^th and then had his recovery sidetracked by an emergency appendectomy.  If people did not appreciate how important Fedotenko was to the forecheck while he was in there they certainly are aware of it now.

In other positive news, Jesse Spector of the Daily News reports that Marian Gaborik is said to be feeling better, but that coach Tortorella was unsure if he was symptom free.  The team ran some blood work on Gaborik to see if there was any deficiencies in the results, but the coach was not sure what they were looking for and the results had not come back yet to his knowledge.

Now that you have been built up with good news it is time for the potentially bad news of the day.  Marc Staal, who twisted his knee Tuesday against Carolina, sat out practice today, and is said to be having soreness in the knee.  The main complaint though according to Jim Cerny, is about a lack of strength that he feels in the knee.  Staal will test it out tomorrow morning to see if he can go, but Andrew Gross labeled him as “iffy” for tomorrow’s contest against Ovechkin at the Capitals.

No doubt that missing Staal in the lineup would be a huge loss for the defense core, but it might be better to sit him for a game than push him back when he is not ready to go and risk prolonging the issue.

There were a couple of playful stories relayed out by the beat writers that involved Marc Staal today.  The first was how he was getting flak from the guys in the locker room, especially Martin Biron, for not practicing today.  The other was about Staal refuses to call his mother right now and is keeping communication strictly text based while she “cools down.”

Jesse Spector passes along these quotes:

“I have not talked to my mom about it yet,” Marc said. “She’s given me a few text messages, but I haven’t spoken too her on the phone. Not until I let her calm down. That’s probably the worst conversation out of the (family).”

Finally in the never ending trade rumor saga of close but not done there is another rumor about how Bryan McCabe could be on his way to New York shortly.  This one is passed along by Miami Herald sportswriter George Richards on his blog, On Frozen Pond, who says that the deal is close to being finalized.  Like with all rumors they are just that until it is actually done.  McCabe still has not waived his no-movement clause and he was on the team flight to Atlanta this afternoon, which does not preclude the deal from happening, but might eliminate a little of the immanency.

Did Rangers Have Deal For McCabe Before Injury?

There has been a lot of talk about the Rangers and defensemen that might be available through trades.  The hot name right now is Florida’s Bryan McCabe and that talk got more intriguing today with the report from Andy Stickland on his blog at True Hockey in which he wrote that multiple sources confirmed there was a deal in place between the Rangers and the Panthers before McCabe broke his jaw.

The New York Rangers are still looking for a D-man. It will be interesting to see if they re-visit a deal that almost went down with Florida’s Bryan McCabe several weeks ago.

A broken jaw to McCabe prevented the trade from happening but multiple sources confirm a deal was in place between Florida and the Rangers. Panthers GM Dale Tallon would love to still move McCabe who will take full advantage of his no-move clause. Word is McCabe is very selective as to where he would go.

With McCabe now back in the lineup and the Rangers presumably still looking for a defenseman it is likely that these talks will be re-visited, but one has to wonder how much the other trades in the past few weeks might have changed the demands from the Panthers in order to trade McCabe away.  One must also wonder if in the wake of Gaborik’s concussion if the needs for offense might take precedence over acquiring a defenseman right now.