Rangers Report Card '10-11

After slogging through a player-by-player assessment in my NYR Facts of Life series, I figured it was finally time for my usual report card.

As I've done in the past, I graded each player based on expectations, performance all season long and performance when it counted. I am, admittedly, a tough grader. If you feel so inclined, you can refer back to the report cards for the last few seasons: '07-08, '08-09 and '09-10. Explanations are brief, if only because I already hit upon each player in the Facts of Life.

By my math the grades worked out to a 1.85 GPA, which is between a C and a C- in my system but the overall grade was a C+ because the team was more than the sum of its parts at times. There were some great performances by a handful and there were great disappointments by a few more. A reminder that these guys are graded against themselves and their own limits, not against other players.

Forwards

#42 Artem Anisimov: Skilled to be sure but all too inconsistent. C

#16 Sean Avery: Sean wasn't Sean for too long. C-

#94 Derek Boogaard: Yes he scored that goal that time but he fought for no reason and got hurt. D

#22 Brian Boyle: Incredible start but goals dried up midway through. B-

#24 Ryan Callahan: Heart and grit, injured in the line of duty. A

#26 Erik Christensen: Mr. Softie the Backstabber? D

#23 Chris Drury: See the Sad Commentary. C-

#17 Brandon Dubinsky: Career numbers but should be so much better. B-

#39 Brodie Dupont: Wasn't given a real shot. Inc.

#19 Ruslan Fedotenko: Training camp invitee turned invaluable third liner. A-

#31 Alex Frolov: The wrap-around king was an all-around failure. F

#10 Marian Gaborik: Lackadaisical, lackluster and just plain lacking. D

#91 Evgeny Grachev: Showed he could skate and defend but pointless in eight games. D

#25 Chad Kolarik: Ice time was too limiting for a full assessment. Inc.

#45 Kris Newbury: Won some faceoffs and played bigger than his size. C

#20 Vinny Prospal: Vet proved his value when he finally returned. B

#8 Brandon Prust: Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award winner. A

#21 Derek Stepan: Accounted himself well for a rookie. B+

#32 Dale Weise: Dane Byers 2. D

#12 Todd White: Could be an A just for not being Brashear but no. F

#86 Jeremy Williams: Four minutes of ice time. Inc.

#86 Wojtek Wolski: Where was the guy who starred in Phoenix in the playoffs? D

#36 Mats Zuccarello: Skillful but still transitioning to North America. B-

Defensemen

#4 Michael Del Zotto: Utterly disappointed on both side of the ice. F

#44 Steve Eminger: Had a few good stretches of solid defense. C

#97 Matt Gilroy: Never took that next step. D

#5 Dan Girardi: Shot blocker extraordinaire. A

#28 Bryan McCabe: Power play actually got worse with him on it. F

#27 Ryan McDonagh: Midseason call-up showed he could play. B+

#33 Michal Rozsival: Injuries didn't help veteran get his game back. F

#38 Michael Sauer: Steady and dependable as a rookie. A

#18 Marc Staal: Overworked but still the best of the blueline. A

Goaltenders

#43 Marty Biron: Blew away expectations before getting hurt. B

#29 Chad Johnson: Not good that the coach didn't trust him. Again. INC

#30 Henrik Lundqvist: Vezina-caliber season with career-best .923 save %. A