Tortorella Considered Benching Gaborik Last Night
Andrew Gross at the Bergen Record notes that John Tortorella acknowledged that Marian Gaborik, who scored his team leading sixth goal in the first period last night, was one of the players he considered benching against the Islanders before eventually deciding on Brian Boyle...
“There’s a couple of tops [top-liners] but they’ve got a little bit of a bank account – five goals. Brian has squat. The other guys are going to be held accountable also. There’s no question, when you have a third- or fourth-line guy, they’re easy targets because they don’t have the goals. Some other guys I’m really upset with are also making plays.”
Gaborik played just 14:42 last night. Only 1:11 more than rookie JT Miller.
...guess Torts made the right decision. Assuming he still had a few choice words for Gabby before the game. Message received I guess.
...and this further proves the importance of depth. With hungry, youngsters such as Miller and Kreider chomping at the bit to make an impression, while Powe, Halpern, Asham and Boyle fight for a spot in the line-up, players know that Torts isn't making empty threats. If you're not playing to the best of your abilities there is someone else who is ready, willing and able to take your spot in the line-up. Competition is a great motivator. And I think we saw that last night with Gaborik.
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Wanted to mention that Gaborik has been asked to play out of position up until last night. He had been moved to left wing since day one to accommodate Nash on the top line. Even when he was not on the top line, and he played 2nd line duty, he was moved to accommodate Callahan on the RW. Not as easy as it sounds and might explain the struggles a bit for Gaborik. He has been in the league for a long time as a top 5-10 player at RW and all of the sudden, he is being asked to play out of his comfort zone. Think Tortorella needs to see that it will take time to adjust.
You are right, it is actually easier than it sounds.
There are no real major changes when you switch wings. It might have a tiny affect on the breakout/rush (catching the puck on the opposite side?) but once your are in the zone there is really no difference. Now everyone has a preference what side they are on but if kids with 1/10th the talent level of Gabby can switch sides throughout the game with ease, it really should have no impact on his production. And technically LW is actually Gabbys "natural wing" so I have never been able to buy into this argument as a legitimate excuse.
Agree with you both, ChrisD and Kevin, I just mentioned it seems like Tortorella is on Gaborik more than on Nash for his shoddy play. Both are having to make adjustments, but only one of them seems to be getting crap about not playing all that well. We can add Richards into the discussion as well as he has played just as poorly. None of the forwards have been outstanding until the last 2 games to be honest.
@LanceGold1 I wondered about this before the season started but he still hs the ability to move from the side boards to the high slot and rip shots - and score so I'm less concerned about his adjusting than I am with Nash learning Torts' style. Nash still seems a little out of synch with the rest of the team. He's so used to individual effort. It's getting better and hopefully by game 20 we will be rolling and on long win streaks!
Yep. It will work for a few games and then we'll be talking about the next possible benching. The problem is: we shouldn't be having this discussion at all. Perhaps we do not have the character guys we thought we have.
Rangers have all the skill now and all the players are good enough.All that is lacking is ALL of them playing up to their skill level -not just some of them,I think this will come with more games.Some tinkering, some crappy games and some good games are on the way -no doubt.But after that- I could see this team stringing wins together regularly-the components are there now.Just too much skill now not to win a lot.But its not automatic of course-It's NHL-Its tough.But its possible to be positive now.
keenan did the same thing with leetch and mess in the playoffs in '94. this tactic works.
@traderserge I like Keenan but where tactic might work in isolated spots it doesn't wrk over long haul. Hence why Keenan unemployed and had ton of jobs.
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@Chriserwin @traderserge Agreed. Motivation via competition is good, but you can only hold a gun to someones head for so long. Creates a poor environment - no one wants to worry about being benched after every game...especially 40+ goal scorers
Rangers head coach with a New York resume that boasts a 14-18 postseason record, two first-round exits, one Conference Finals loss and one missed postseason. And that first series blowing lead to Caps was all him going after fan and toying with Avery when he was still key contributor.
@Chriserwin I agree, let's call up ol' Tommy Renney, see if he's busy with anything right now.
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@Ty Galpin @Chriserwin I think he's in Detroit - their record is on par with ours. We do need a PP specialist - maybe Sully should be sent to the press box or Hartford
@Chriserwin @Ty @Ty Hey, fair enough, man. I like Torts but he's not immune from criticism.
@Ty Galpin @Ty And Roger nielson did win the presidents trophy and was able to conduct himself as decent human being in the process. Let's talk after season I predict early playoff exit, putrid pp and everyone else's fault but little Johnny napoleon. And if you remember the chants of shoooot before torts wasn't he supposed to fix that? Or does he only teach shoot blocking?
@Chriserwin @Ty I noticed we almost won the President's trophy and had our best postseason in years last season. I remember the SHOOOOOOOT chants being around even before Torts got here.
@Ty Galpin Did you notice the 14-18 post season record? Two first round exits and one missed playoffs? Last season Henrik had career year and team barely got past first two rounds. Pp has sucked as well as offense for entire time he has been here.
@chrisD for the record, I was joking. Torts is easily one of the best things to happen in us in years.
@Ty Galpin I liked Renney but it was time for change with him. Think he had similar results with less talent IMO
Just proves Torts a douche. Gabby scored cause he is a goal scorer. Very rarely do you see other too stars on other teams being disparaged in media or benched. I know Torts is master motivator or at least he thinks he is. When players don't perform it's on player but when they do it's due to Torts. I read this recently and couldn't agree more
Benching Gaborik? I dont know about that... benching your teams leading scorer. Going into last night he had 1/4 of our goals, that would be idiotic in my opinion. Even if they came in 2 games.
@slapshot13j He had 1/4 of our goals in 2 out of the 9 games we've played this year. Gabby had two dominant games and then from there he really didn't seem to make much of a difference on the ice. There's no denying Gabby could score, that's never been the question. The question is the amount of effort he's putting in. And that is something that is fair to question.
@JoshKaye @slapshot13j Have you guys noticed Gabbys back checking or play in front of Hank recently? He's been much better defensively and he's still a sniper. Limit his ice time if Miller Pyatt or Kreider are shining but don't put him in the press box!
He's gotta do what he's gotta do.....It seemed to wake Gabby up by scoring a goal..........Gotta play good consistantly though....Time for Nash to start scoring....McDonough had a good game and keep Strawman on the PP over MDZ......LGR
