New York Rangers' Brandon Pirri in Need of Right-Hand Man
The New York Rangers power play is struggling and it is becoming increasingly apparent as they near the crossing into the new year.
The biggest success factor at the beginning of the season was New York’s ability to make fluent passes in the umbrella formation, leaving an uncontested Brand Pirri on right side or an uncontested Mika Zibanejad on the left.
This formation takes pressure off almost every player on the ice, where the two “trigger men” can hover anywhere between the hash marks and the top of the faceoff circle, while the defenseman sits at the middle of the blue line quarterbacking the power play.
The other two players are found at the bottom of the circles on each side of the opponent’s net, giving them the opportunity to crash rebounds or remain open as another passing option, to allow the trigger men to find open ice.
Before Zibanejad suffered a broken fibula against the Florida Panthers, the Rangers had a 22% success rate on the power play in 19 games. In the 16 games since the beginning of his absence the team’s success rate has fallen to 18.2%, including zero power play goals on 10 opportunities in their last five games.
While Pirri was not scoring at a torrid pace with Zibanejad in the lineup, he was at least getting open looks, with bodies being drawn to the other side of the ice in fear of a Zibanejad one-timer shot.
With Zibanejad out of the lineup, the Rangers are left with only six right-handed players, in which three are defenseman, in which one is always a healthy scratch.
That leaves Derek Stepan, Marek Hrivik, and Jesper Fast as the only remaining forwards who could be slotted in the crucial role Zibanejad played on this power play.
By now, it is obvious that Fast and Hrivik’s style of play do not translate to power play specialists. They play more of a hard-nosed fore-checking and net crashing style of hockey. That leaves Stepan as the only plausible right-hander to fit the bill, but even struggles in that slot.
Stepan has a pass first mentality and when the puck comes to his stick on the left boards, he tends to slow down and look for a passing outlet, rather than simply keeping the puck moving, while taking the open shot when applicable.
The Rangers have seen some success without Zibanejad, including a strategy involving Rick Nash parked in front of the net, but they will not see a better power play without two solid shots on their off wings.
Pirri has cooled off significantly since the start of the season, which has led to him being a healthy scratch in recent games. He will continue to be ineffective on the power play, unless the Rangers can find a good, right-handed player to replace Zibanejad.
It might be time to put a trade in order.
More from Blue Line Station
This article originally appeared on 
