Rangers have a 1A and a 1B power-play decision to make with no easy call

The framework of the Rangers power play was created by David Quinn in late November of the 2019-20 season in which the second-year coach constructed a four-righty first unit featuring Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Strome and Tony DeAngelo at the point with lone lefty Chris Kreider in front.The structure has essentially remained the same, even as Adam Fox replaced DeAngelo at the point pretty much from the get-go in 2020-21 and Vincent Trocheck stepped in for Strome two years ago.The unit has thrived from its inception under three different coaches — Quinn, Gerard Gallant and the current occupant of the office, Peter Laviolette.The power play soared at a 29 percent rate the final four-plus months of 2019-20.

The Rangers were third in the league last year at 26.4 percent.Over the past three seasons, the Blueshirts’ PP ranks fourth at 25.2 percent behind Edmonton (28.4), Tampa Bay (25.9) and Toronto (25.7).At the start of a camp that is now 10 days old, Laviolette discussed finding the “balance” of perhaps wanting to give other plays more time with the man advantage — the subject of the conversation was of course Alexis Lafreniere — while acknowledging the first power play unit was one of the best in the league for years.But here is an imbalance that is implanted in my brain:Over the first six games of last year’s tournament, the Rangers went 10-for-25 on the power play — 6-for-16 against Washington and 4-for-9 against Carolina.Over the final 10 games of the playoffs, the Rangers went 2-for-25 with the man advantage — 1-for-10 against the Canes and 1-for-15 against the Cats.The thing was: Laviolette did not shake it up and did not elevate Lafreniere — who by the middle of the conference finals had separated himself from every forward in the room — onto the first unit.

We talked about it at the time.I thought it was a mistake not to give Lafreniere more room to run when he was the personification of the political slogan, “He is fresh an...