When he was placed on waivers yesterday, Marty Biron was taken by surprise. Five games into the season, the veteran backup was jettisoned along with Arron Asham. Somehow, the blame has fallen on two bit parts. It doesn’t seem right.

“I’ve got to take some time and think about it,” the 36-year old Biron told reporters Monday after getting the bad news. “There’s many different options that are going to be presented to me and I’ll see what fits the best.”

Sure. He was dreadful in two periods before getting pulled at St. Louis. He allowed two bad goals in a winnable game. The only one in the last three the Rangers competed in. They’d already been humiliated by Sharks rookie Tomas Hertl, who unfairly came under criticism for having the audacity to celebrate his between the legs goal on reliever Biron. The Rangers didn’t stop him. They embarrassed themselves. How did they respond? By going through the motions in a 6-0 blowout defeat at Anaheim. Henrik Lundqvist was in for that. He couldn’t stop anything either. The former Vezina winner has a 4.21 goals against average (GAA) and .887 save percentage. He’s allowed 16 goals on 141 shots.  Hardly what you expect from one of the league’s best. Even with the defense struggling adjusting to Alain Vigneault’s system, he’s taken responsibility. So have teammates for the team’s 1-4-0 start.

“With the way we’re playing, sometimes that happens,” said alternate captain Marc Staal, who’s tied with Dan Girardi for a team worst minus-seven rating. “I don’t know if we need any more wake-up calls but we know, in the room, it’s not acceptable the way we were playing and changes happen.”

“It’s a performance-based business and the organization felt that Marty’s first two performances were not what we expected,” Vigneault analyzed. “I said before, we need a backup that can play 15 to 20 games and play well.”

Maybe the coach might want to look in the mirror. He wants his team to play with a different mindset. For the most part, they did that scoring three against the Blues. Brad Richards’ resurgence continued with a goal and assist. He leads everyone with four goals. At least someone’s confidence is up. Ryan Callahan also scored not once but twice on the power play. Yet they still managed to give up five falling for a third consecutive game. At least the goals against have dropped from nine against San Jose to six against Anaheim to five in St. Loo. They’re heading in the right direction. Vigneault accentuated the positives. That’s fine. But it still doesn’t explain how lost they are defensively. Rather than playing zone as they did under John Tortorella, he wants them to play man with defensemen actively attacking the puck carrier to start a counter. That style is much riskier putting more emphasis on the forwards. There have been too many instances where they haven’t taken the man in front leading to easy goals. Derek Stepan has been victimized and rookie Jesper Fast was on David Backes’ winner Saturday. On the same play, Staal was in no man’s land.

Clearly, they’re not on the same page. When Girardi pointed out that they have to get back to playing the defensive style they used to after the Ducks’ loss, it spoke volumes. If you already have one of your team leaders questioning the shift in strategy four games in, that isn’t encouraging. This is a D that’s used to out-grinding opponents. By also playing a higher tempo, more defensemen are getting caught pinching leading to odd-man rushes. Even Ryan McDonagh has struggled. Maybe it was easier playing a simpler defensive system under Tortorella. He had them get back and make lift difficult by blocking shots and keeping opponents on the perimeter. This made it a lot easier on Lundqvist and even Biron. A defensive scheme is more goalie friendly. The complaint was that it didn’t allow the Rangers to open up the attack. Something Glen Sather wants to see. Not to play devil’s advocate. But haven’t we seen this act before? Maybe the players will adjust and it’ll still be a good season. It’s not like the Metro Division is strong. Only the Pens are off to a good start. Two of the Rangers’ next three opponents New Jersey and Philadelphia have played worse. Their next opponent Washington picked up their second win last night. Columbus, Carolina and the Islanders have been so so. It’s better to struggle now than later.

The Rangers still have four more road games before returning to MSG for the home opener against Montreal on 10/28. On paper, only Detroit is scary. However, they must go out and prove themselves. Start winning. It doesn’t help that Rick Nash (concussion) is on IR. Dating back to last season, they’re 0-5-1 without Nash having been outscored 23-9. With Nash’s status uncertain, it’s up to the rest of the team to figure it out. J.T. Miller was summoned from Hartford. He’ll be back in for tomorrow’s game. Maybe he can provide a spark. It still doesn’t say much when they waived Asham, who was okay. At least he wasn’t taking undisciplined penalties like Derek Dorsett. Asham didn’t deserve this treatment either. It’s no secret they lack toughness. That’s the roster Sather and Vigneault assembled. That’s where the blame belongs.