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Marc Staal: ‘No weaknesses’ on Rangers defense

Pittsburgh Penguins v New York Rangers - Game Two

Pittsburgh Penguins v New York Rangers - Game Two

Jared Silber

Take a look at the New York Rangers’ defense for a moment, as it’s currently constructed:

Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Keith Yandle, Dan Boyle, Kevin Klein and Raphael Diaz.

What sort of words or phrases come to mind when you see that group?

Just to throw out some guesses, one would assume that words like experienced, expensive and maybe even elite pop up in different minds.

What about flawless?

That’s more or less how Marc Staal assessed the Rangers’ group, as he told the New York Post.

“You look at our lineup, and there’s no weaknesses there,” Marc Staal said. “We’re a very talented group and a lot of different guys bring a lot of different aspects. We compliment each other pretty well.”

Staal is right about the group being fairly versatile. At their best, Boyle and Yandle can bring a lot of offense. Staal and Girardi cover the “defensive defensemen” category while McDonagh provides a nice combination of both.

This group has plenty of critics, however.

In particular, some believe that Girardi and even Staal are overrated. (Granted, Girardi is far and away the more criticized defenseman of the two.)

Ultimately, there’s nothing really wrong with Staal pumping his teammates’ tires, especially since it was likely an off-the-cuff statement.

One can imagine rival fans bringing it up after cringe-inducing gaffes - which even the best blueliners suffer from - more than a few times in 2015-16, at least if they’re diligently trolling Staal & Co.

(H/T to Kukla’s Korner.)