Shoot the Darn Puck, Will Ya?

It looks like the focus of today's news stories on the New York Rangers is their lack of offense (justifiably so).

Steven Zipay at Newsday reports on how the Rangers are in desperate need for a blue-line quarter back (You think)....

"...Help wanted: NHL team ranked 23rd in the league on the power play seeks legit blue-line quarterback.

Terms negotiable.For the goal-challenged Rangers, Chris Drury, Michal Rozsival and Paul Mara have been manning the point, and Martin Straka, when he returns from a broken finger, may be back in that role as well.

But with just 12 goals in 77 power-play opportunities (15.6 percent), the Rangers could easily place an ad in the classifieds..."

...Renney needs to start rolling two equal power play units. This worked so well at the end of last year.

...Renney needs to get Mara on the point of the 1st unit. I cannot for the life of me understand why Renney is not utilizing this guys point shot. He has a cannon. Renney also needs to get Drury in front of the net. That is where this guy is the most effective.

...To me it should be 1st unit: Jagr, Drury, Shanahan, Rozsival and Mara and 2nd unit: Avery, Dubinsky, Prucha, Gomez (point), and Girardi. These combinations will obviously change when Callahan and Straka return from injury. But for now I think they are solid.

Jesse Spector at the Daily News, reports that Renney is imploring the team to shoot the puck...

"...To get the Rangers out of a season-long offensive funk that has seen a high-powered lineup of scorers tally the fewest goals in the NHL, coach Tom Renney is prodding his team with a message straight out of the cheap seats: Shoot the darn puck, will ya?

'We need to keep pounding pucks at the net," Renney said yesterday in Greenburgh after the Rangers did some off-ice conditioning and film study to prepare for tonight's Garden game against Pittsburgh. "I'd love to see a 45-shot night every night (as in Monday's 2-0 win over the Flyers), because I know eventually we're going to get five or six goals'..."

...I'm not sure if shooting the puck is the problem. To me the problem is the lack of traffic in front of the goal. Please, please, please get a body in front of the net. I was watching highlights of the Predators/Red Wings game on Sportscenter last night and every goal scored in that game was the result of traffic in front of the net.