The NYR Facts Of Life: #26 Erik Christensen

For each player who suited up in a Blueshirt this season we will take the good, we will take the bad and take them both and see what we have. And this time around we started with the high numbers and are up to #26, Erik Christensen.

#26's #s: 63 games, 11 goals, 16 assists, 3, 18 PIM (5 games, one goal, no assists, even, 2 PIM).

Take the good: Dude has some skills, no denying that. His lone playoff point was one purty snipe (or one awful mistake by the goaltender, depending on how you look at it). Five shootout goals in eight attempts, three that won games. The Rangers were 9-1-0 when he tallied a goal. He had a streak of 12 points in nine games from February 25th to March 20th.

Take the bad: Mr. Softie the Backstabber? Oh where to start? He called out his own teammate in public, an unforgivable sin for someone with no standing; Mark Messier could do it, Erik Christensen? No. On a team that blocked so many shots, Christy put his body in front of 11 over 63 games (two in the playoffs). He averaged just over two minutes of power play time per regular season game and managed seven power play points. Seven. He had an 11 game goal drought as the regular season came to an end, his second longest streak (13 games straddling his late December injury). Actually, after said injury Christy didn't block a single shot in 25 of the next 26 games. The whole idea was to keep him around because of his chemistry with Gaborik but Gabby had an incredibly disappointing 23 goals (including playoffs); Christy assisted on five.

Take them both and then we have: Brad Richards' roster spot? He is under contract for one more year so he can spend the season being soft and underachieving with Grachev in Connecticut.