#28's #s: 19 games, 2 goals, 4 assists, -1, 6 PIM (5 playoff games, no goals, two assists, even, 14 PIM).
Take the good: All six of his regular season points came on the power play, which has to be a success compared to the fact that he had all of five power play points in 48 games with the Panthers. His goals came against the Isles and Flyers and we hate them, so that's good.Take the bad: McCabe's thought process was as slow as his skating and he proved that he was not the man-advantage answer. Over his 24 total games the Rangers power play was 12-85, a 14% success rate that, for comparison, matched Columbus' season mark; the Blue Jackets ranked 29th in the NHL. McCabe saw more than three minutes of power play ice time in 19 of his 24 games; in the other five the team had just a total of five power plays. He saw less than 17:49 minutes of total ice time in 16 of his 19 regular season games (six were less than 15) and yet come playoff time he didn't play less than 17:50. Seeing as he hadn't played in the postseason since before the lockout and he was clearly not capable of containing the Caps, that makes no sense whatsoever.
Take them both and then we have: A failed experiment. The idea was good - MDZ failed and the Rangers needed a defenseman who could be a power play threat - but the execution was poor. The power play unit became even more predictable as the team insisted on setting him up for a big shot. When he didn't shoot it - which was too often - he could be pressured into choking up the puck. And adding a so-called 'veteran leader' that has never led anyone to any kind of success is not a recipe for success. The Rangers gave up Tim Kennedy and a third round draft pick in the coming draft for him. Kennedy could have helped the Whale in the playoffs (and thus helped get our prospects more valuable experience) while the pick ... we'll never know ...
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