[text_output]Even when the Rangers are riding a mini-hot streak, things seem to always be trending downwards.

The latest example of questionable coaching decisions by Alain Vigneault is the benching of center David Desharnais.

For the most part of the season, Desharnais has been perfectly fine. Not great, not a liability; just fine. Any issues that have come from his game are mainly due to DD being miscast. Vigneault has, at times, deployed Desharnais as his second line center and made DD a focal point of his second power play unit, but has not deployed him on any of the penalty kill units.

In light of this, Desharnais has still managed to post seven points (halfway to his 49-game total of last year), has won 62% of his even-strength face-offs, and his advanced numbers continue to suggest he has held his own in bottom-six situations.

And yet, for reasons, Desharnais will be a healthy scratch against the Florida Panthers.

I don’t know what more Alain Vigneault could possibly want Desharnais to do. Is he expecting 31-year old center’s game to develop to a level he hasn’t shown in the previous three years? Was he truly expecting Desharnais to be this team’s second line center when he signed as a free agent?

The top line centers shouldn’t be touched at this point. Mika Zibanejad has arguably been the best Rangers forward all year, while Kevin Hayes continues to impress despite having more responsibility thrown his way on a nightly basis. Boo Nieves has been electric since his recall from Hartford, so if you want to give him more ice time over Desharnais, I don’t think anyone would complain.

But to bench Desharnais for Paul Carey? What are we missing?

Carey hasn’t been given much run this season, and he’s been unspectacular when he’s been on the ice. Maybe with more ice time, that changes, but Desharnais hasn’t done anything to warrant the benching.

All this shows, to me, is Alain Vigneault doesn’t know how to evaluate his own players. The only way you can conclude Desharnais has underwhelmed is if your standards for his game were already at an unfairly high level. If you’re judging Desharnais’ game any other way, you’d see he’s been useful, and probably deserves time on the penalty kill. He should’ve never been on the power play, so I can’t even be angry or disappointed with him that his play on the power play unit has been, well, this predictable.

I can go on for another 2,000 words about thinking Steve Kampfer is more useful for the defense than a struggling Brendan Smith. Or how there isn’t a single scenario outside of injury where either Kampfer or Nick Holden should be in the line-up over Smith. Or how if you feel Smith is struggling, drop him to the 3rd pairing a protect his usage instead of benching the guy you just signed to a lucrative four-year contract. That’s not the point right now.

The point is – David Desharnais hasn’t done anything to warrant a benching.

But that never stops Alain Vigneault.[/text_output]