#21's #s: 55 games, 6 goals (on 137 shots), 8 assists, -9, 32 PIM.
Take the good: As a New York native and with family in FDNY and NYPD, he was an instant fan favourite. Smithtown had that incredible goal (3:50 mark) just after New Years to beat the Bruins. He showed small flashes of that kind of skill throughout his tenure as a Ranger but he mainly got into good spots thanks to his constant hustle around the ice. As the team sank lower and lower into the doldrums of the season, the one thing you could honestly say was "at least he's trying."Take the bad: It is one thing to try and another thing to succeed. Higgins busted his ass but couldn't score - odd-man rushes, breakaways, scrums, empty nets ... if he converted on half of those he would have easily reached the 20 goals we penciled in for him, and it likely would have happened before New Years. He was -4 against the Penguins in the 5-2, Mike Rupp hat trick game. Mike Rupp. Hat trick. It took Higgins 27 games before he got his third goal of the season.
Take them both and then we have: A good New York kid who couldn't get his act together in front of his friends and family. Maybe he was holding his stick too tight, maybe he was enjoying being home too much, whatever ... the simple truth is that Chris couldn't cut it on Broadway. Luckily Sather showed off his magic and essentially got the younger, cheaper, tougher Brandon Prust for him at the deadline.
2 comments:
Higgins was awful this year. Effort or no effort, he should have been off the top lines by the end of November. At least he sucked for Calgary too.
17 points in 67 games. -9 165 shots.
what. a. joke.
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