It’s time to change the Rangers defense pairs

Dave Shapiro argues that the New York Rangers should reconfigure their defensive pairings following a 7-1 loss in Newark. Shapiro highlights that the second pairing of Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi has struggled significantly in their assigned shutdown role against top competition, surrendering 29 high-danger chances against at five-on-five across the team's first nine games.

To balance the lineup, Shapiro proposes pairing Alberts Smits with Adam Fox, Vlad Gavrikov with Durzi, and Pettersson with Braden Schneider. Furthermore, the writer suggests general manager Chris Drury could explore trading either Durzi or Schneider to clear room for Scott Morrow and acquire offensive talent to address forward depth.