Really is There Any Difference?

So the New York Rangers gave their fans what they wanted when they fired Tom Renney and replaced him with John Tortorella. Out with the bland and in with the fan favorite.

So are we really seeing anything different besides the talents of Marian Gaborik?

Honestly it is almost like a mirror of last season where we watched the Rangers jump out to a great start and then turn into the leaders of inconsistency. After a 7-1 start to the season; the Rangers have gone 4-8-0-1 ever since then.

We see a lot of the same questions surrounding this team that we did last season such as scoring problems, taking too many bad penalties and even worse Rangers getting run and nobody doing anything about it supposedly because they don't want to take a penalty.

The Tortorella quote that is getting a ton of coverage:

“I thought, for most of the game there, we played. Obviously our biggest weakness is that we are not getting any secondary scoring. We played in surges at times. We held them to 11, 12 scoring chances. We just aren’t creating enough with our secondary scoring.”

For starters you have created a team that has become totally dependent on Marian Gaborik, just like Tom Renney did when he had Jagr on the Ranger roster. Yes I know the Rangers are missing Drury and Dubinsky but as Andrew Gross pointed out neither was sorry when they were healthy.

It is funny how while people love to point out the differences between Tortorella and Renney that they are not seeing how the two coaches are too much alike. It is in this area why we are seeing the ugly side of Ranger's hockey.

Everyone complained that Tom Renney changed his lines around on an almost game by game basis; John Tortorella does it only worse as he will change lines almost every period. Now how exactly can one expect the team to develop scoring when they first need to develop some chemistry with each other.

When you have no idea who is going to be your linemate from one shift to the next then you are going to have problems getting scoring chances unless it is the result of an individual effort like Gaborik for the most part has been. Take away Gaborik and Prospal and this Ranger team is in deep trouble.

No team no matter how much talent they add is going to become a winner until they develop chemistry with each other. It goes back to this annual problem of the Rangers being dependent on free agents to stock their key roster spots not develop them on their own.

You are not going to purchase chemistry as every Ranger fan has seen that since 1997, chemistry is developed over time with players who grow up in the same system together. Until the Rangers learn that lesson we are going to keep seeing quotes about what is wrong from the coach.

Put together lines and give them 2-3 games to see if they can come together as units; swapping them out every other period is not going to work. We are seeing Ryan Callahan being turned into a checking forward after his 22 goal season last year WHY?

Yes it is nice that Callahan is leading the NHL in hits but sorry that is not why he got that bump in pay after last season. It is totally unacceptable that Callahan has just 3 goals in just 21 games as we should be expecting 25-30 this season from him.

Put him where he can be used as a scorer not as a checker as if you want some checkers use the 4th line more than 4 minutes a game. The Rangers are currently built as one scoring line, two very confused lines, and 3 guys who take up close to 3 million dollars of cap space just to have free ice level seating.

Remember how Tortorella told us how much we Ranger fans would love see Brashear protecting his teammates? How Brashear would be a deterrent from people running at the Rangers?

Tom Renney said he never believed in using enforcers but at least Colton Orr was used about 10-12 minutes a night. If Brashear is a better overall player than Orr was then how come we see him only being used for 3-4 minutes a night?

This is not a knock on Brashear cause he can't protect his teammates if he is sitting on the bench for all but 3:47. I may not like the guy but if he is dressed then use him or bring in people you are going to use.

We watched now in back to back games rookie mistakes cost the Rangers, unlike Renney would would never point a finger at the player we saw Tortorella finger point. Sorry coach but point the finger at yourself too because a good teacher of a coach would have already taught his rookies lessons on how to play at the NHL level.

That is why you have Schoeny as one of your assistant coaches instead of hiring a full-time one right?

Yes I know it is only a quarter of the season gone by but all the symptoms from the Tom Renney years are already rearing their ugly heads and Renney is not even here anymore.

There is no excuse for a coach who does a great job talking to get more out of this team. This team has much more talent as a whole that last seasons but it simply is not being used right and the finger there needs to be pointed at the coach.

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Only 1 Ranger prospect in action on Tuesday evening as Tomas Kundratek may have had a quiet evening but his Medicine Hat Tigers still won 4-3 over the Brandon Wheat Kings. The Tigers have put together 4 good efforts and despite all the strange things that have happened to them have found themselves with the 5th best record in the WHL at 13-9-2-3.

(Tortorella courtesy of the New York Rangers)