Rangers recession

Henrik Lundqvist shows his frustration after being substituted against the Philadelphia Flyers. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Ryan Dixon
2009-02-16 14:16:00

Given the way the New York Rangers started the season, it's incredible to see how bleak things have become on Broadway.

A Blueshirts team that posted 10 wins in October has just one this month with February past its halfway point. The Rangers won their first five games this year and went 10-2-1 in the season's initial month, but it's been a steady decline since then with the bottom completely falling out recently.

New York's power play ranks 28th in the league, Chris Drury is on pace for 48 points, Nikolai Zherdev is back to being Nikolai Zherdev and Henrik Lundqvist can't fudge it for this team forever.

All this must have GM Glen Sather asking one thing: is Sean Avery in game shape yet?

THE HOCKEY NEWS POWER RANKINGS
RK.	TEAM	LW	OVERALL	L10	THE SCOOP
1		5	37-17-3	8-2-0	Won a 1-0 duel with the Bruins, then a 6-5 goalfest with the Sharks
2		2	37-12-8	6-3-1	Pavel Datsyuk is the league's quietest superstar
3		4	36-16-5	6-2-2	Mike Green injects all kinds of fun into the NHL
4		1	39-10-8	5-2-3	Too good and deep not to pull out of this recent nosedive
5		9	30-16-9	6-4-0	Mike Richards scored while his team was killing a 5-on-3 for the third time in his career, setting an NHL record
6		3	37-8-9	4-2-4	One win in their last seven, but this feels more like a character-build than a real sign of trouble
7		8	33-18-5	5-4-1	Mike Cammalleri had a two-goal game on New Year's Eve and has 15 goals in 19 games in 2009
8		6	31-15-8	6-4-0	Hopefully Patrick Sharp wont' be sidelined too long with his knee injury
9		19	28-23-5	6-3-1	Get ready for a March with meaningful games, Jackets fans
10		18	27-26-3	7-3-0	Barry Trotz just always keeps this team competitive
11		7	27-21-7	7-3-0	Consistent production from rookie Fabian Brunnstrom would sure help down the stretch
12		11	28-20-8	7-3-0	Must be happy they resisted the urge to move Tomas Vokoun when Craig Anderson was hot. Vokoun has been awesome in the second half
13		10	29-22-6	5-4-1	Unless Pens find themselves, Sabres look strong enough to stay in the East's top eight
14		21	27-21-8	5-2-3	Feisty Ryan Kesler has 11 points in his last seven games playing with Mats Sundin
15		12	28-25-5	5-5-0	Can a team that gets hammered by Atlanta be a real contender?
16		13	28-24-5	6-4-0	Eric Staal has three points in his last two games; he needs to be a point-a-game player to push this team into the post-season
17		17	24-22-8	7-2-1	Only one loss in their last seven on the road, but have dropped two straight at home where they need to be better
18		23	28-23-4	5-4-1	39-year-old Dwayne Roloson has been on top of his game this year, especially of late
19		15	28-24-3	5-5-0	Blowing a three-goal lead against the Sens had the feel of a season-defining setback
20		26	21-25-8	5-4-1	Four straight wins for a team that's clicking under a new coach
21		14	30-21-6	3-5-2	One win in their last eight and that was in a shootout
22		16	30-21-6	3-7-0	Should play the Rangers for the Crash Cup
23		27	23-25-7	5-2-3	Andy MacDonald has 21 points in the 19 games he's gotten into this year
24		20	27-25-5	4-5-1	Axe finally falls on Michel Therrien, to absolutely nobody's surprise
25		25	21-25-10	4-3-3	Jason Blake has 11 goals in his last 13 games; unfortunately, he also has three years left on his $4-million a year contract. Hard to believe anybody would be willing to take that on
26		28	26-30-1	3-7-0	Paul Stastny, who's been out since Dec. 23, could make his return this week after fracturing his forearm
27		22	19-26-11	4-5-1	Firesale could break out at any moment
28		24	25-27-5	2-8-0	Young team finding out second-half wins are harder to come by
29		29	20-32-5	3-7-0	Bryan Little and Todd White both broke out of slumps in an 8-4 thrashing of Anaheim
30		30	16-33-6	4-4-2	Is it April yet?