Defense has always seemed to be a problem for the New York Rangers over the last few years. This season, the problem is not about what decisions the players themselves are making, rather the problem is figuring out who belongs to stay in the lineup.
Out of training camp head coach David Quinn and general manager, Jeff Gorton decided to carry eight defensemen on the opening night roster, something teams don’t normally do. Brady Skjei, Marc Staal, Brendan Smith, Tony DeAngelo, Neal Pionk, Kevin Shattenkirk and the newly acquired Adam McQuaid and Fredrik Claesson were going to have to rotate as the team’s sixth defenseman which was not a problem early on considering none of them really stood out.