Peter Laviolette Fails to Assert His Authority on His Rangers Team

In Season 6, Episode 5 of The Sopranos, Tony Soprano felt that he was being disrespected by his crew. Tony was recovering from being shot by Uncle Junior, and he felt that his “team” was questioning his decisions, and worse, was looking at him as being weak. Urged on by Dr. Melfi to not appear vulnerable, Tony decided to act. He looked around the backroom at the Bada Bing, and rather than picking a fight with his long-time assistant Silvio Dante or the overweight Bobby Baccalieri, he zeroed in on his new driver Perry Annunziata. Perry was young, muscular and hot headed. Moments later, Tony left Perry bleeding on the floor, having reestablished his authority and a sense of order within the crime family.

I wish the same can be said for the New York Rangers.

After Saturday’s embarrassing 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at Madison Square Garden, a game in which Igor Shesterkin was pulled and player-after-player admitted the effort was unacceptable, a response from the coaching staff was not only expected, but it was also necessary before yesterday’s game against the Blues in St. Louis.

Peter Laviolette responded by benching his 23-year-old 3^rd line RW, who, despite having his most consistent season, is constantly in trade rumors. Not to mention the fact that Kappo Kakko has already been benched twice, in two different years, by two different coaches in the Eastern Conference Finals. Where’s the shock value in that? Also, Laviolette decided to “shake up” the defense by playing 34-year-old Chad Ruhwedel in place of 22-year-old rookie Victor Mancini, despite the fact that Mancini has outplayed Ruhwedel since training camp.  

What’s softer, that response, or his team’s recent play? Now, you might argue that in addition to benching Kakko and sitting Mancini, Laviolette also dropped Mika Zibanejad to the 3^rd line and Chris Kreider to the 4^th line in yesterday’s game. However, after Brett Berard and Will Cuylle scored third period goals to cut the Rangers deficit to 3-2, those two young players, who combined for 7 shots and 7 hits, sat on the bench, while the usual suspects, including Zibanejad & Kreider, played the last 2+ minutes with the goalie pulled.

As a result, the comeback came up short, much like the intended “shake up”.