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NFT: The imposters wearing Rangers jerseys

Greg from LI : 10/15/2014 12:07 pm
*With the entire defense looking like garbage, we can at least feel confident that McD will get his act together....but I'm really starting to fear that the bad Girardi from the playoffs is going to be the kind of player he'll be going forward. Who knows how much Staal can rebound, either? I don't know how much longer they can keep giving John Moore chances, either. A trade might be needed very soon.

*I think Tanner Glass has made it abundantly clear that he brings nothing to the table. He needs to hit the press box so Fast can play. We need forwards who can play D, and that's what Fast does.

*Malone stays in the lineup for now. He looked decent and threw some hits.

*Hank needs to cut this shit out. They certainly didn't do him any favors these past two games, but he makes the big money to make incredible saves that bail out the defense.

*I hope Zuccarello is still hurt, because if he isn't he's playing like garbage. Same for MSL, only he doesn't have an injury to blame.

*Kreider's playing too passive a game out there. Haven't seen the charging bull he was in the playoffs much.

*Hayes and Duclair both played reasonably well last night, although Duclair didn't backcheck on one of those goals. Pretty sad that two rookies have played better than anyone else besides Nash and Stempniak.
BTW  
Greg from LI : 10/15/2014 12:12 pm : link
Watched some of the Kings-Oilers game last night, and it will surprise no one for me to tell you that Pou-Pou took an incredibly stupid offensive zone penalty. The one thing that's worked completely this year is replacing him with Stempniak.
Looks like Jeff Skinner will play tomorrow night  
Anakim : 10/15/2014 12:17 pm : link
Still, if we lose to the Hurricanes, we really have hit rock bottom
The whole team looks like shit, except for Nash and Stempniak  
Anakim : 10/15/2014 12:21 pm : link
And not one C has stepped up in Stepan's absence. JT Miller has been the most disappointing and he's now firmly in Chateau Bow Wow. They need to end this St. Louis/Center experiment. It's not working out. Just...UGH.

I'd sign Derek Morris if we're not going to give Conor Allen a shot. He can't be worse than Hunwick and Kostka
We had a great second period.  
BrettNYG10 : 10/15/2014 12:23 pm : link
We should have scored three or four.

I'm not worried yet. Losing Stepan was even worse than I thought. MSL has sucked at center - which is understandable. But make that experiment end.
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arcarsenal : 10/15/2014 12:24 pm : link
Don't be surprised if we lose to Carolina.

This team will pull it together but there's a good chance another clunker or two will happen before they do.
Yeah, I'll be concerned if we're playing like this in November.  
BrettNYG10 : 10/15/2014 12:26 pm : link
It's odd that we played so well against the Blues and then sucked the next three.

Don't want to fall too far behind, though.
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arcarsenal : 10/15/2014 12:31 pm : link
We played really well in LA early last year, too.. I think it was like the 2nd or 3rd game of the year. And then we followed it up by getting skullfucked in SJ and ANA. So I guess I see how it could happen.

We sure miss Step, though. I think outside of Hank and probably McD, Step was the player we could least afford to lose because of our makeup down the middle. MSL at C isn't helping at all, just cut the cord on that now.
One of the problems is they have  
Gman11 : 10/15/2014 1:15 pm : link
a non-center and a rookie at two of the center positions. Stepan coming back helps in that regard.

They need to find a couple of 3rd pair defensemen. Moore, Kostka and Hunwick are all terrible. I don't see how guys like Allen and McIlrath would be worse. Why not have the young guys gain some experience and maybe by March they are playing some decent hockey. McIlrath might not be an improvement, but at least we could watch him fight every now and then.

Damn, I never thought that I would miss Anton Stralman.
I KNEW we'd miss Stralman  
Greg from LI : 10/15/2014 1:21 pm : link
He was their second-best defenseman last season and it really wasn't close.
RE: I KNEW we'd miss Stralman  
BrettNYG10 : 10/15/2014 1:23 pm : link
In comment 11921722 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
He was their second-best defenseman last season and it really wasn't close.


Yeah, I was pretty floored that he didn't get at least $5M. I was pretty pissed we let him walk for what he got.
RE: I KNEW we'd miss Stralman  
Gman11 : 10/15/2014 1:33 pm : link
In comment 11921722 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
He was their second-best defenseman last season and it really wasn't close.


The thing with Stralman was that he had a career year after a bunch of not-so-good ones. So, was it an aberration or did the light go on? I don't know how he's doing down in Tampa.
Stralman was really good in the year before, too.  
BrettNYG10 : 10/15/2014 1:36 pm : link
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Stralman was very good with the Rangers  
Greg from LI : 10/15/2014 1:56 pm : link
Nothing special before that, but as Brett said, he was excellent for them for two years. It's a shame MC79 Hockey has vanished from the Internets since Tyler Dellow was hired by the Oilers, but he had a couple of excellent posts demonstrating just how good Stralman was, and that it was over a long enough period of time to make it difficult to dismiss as a fluke. Guy was a puck-possession monster, and while he personally didn't rack up a lot of points, the team scored a helluva lot more when he was on the ice than when he was off.
There are a handful of good teams struggling early..  
BurberryManning : 10/15/2014 2:05 pm : link
over an 82 game season I expect the cream to rise to the top and I just hope we're included within it.

I cannot be very dissatisfied with the performance of our forwards on aggragate, especially within the context of having lost Stepan and MZA. On the downside I figured that MSL would take a step back with age and be a bit awkward at center, even if injured I wasn't especially confident that MZA would continue to be a 60 pt player, Hags has never had the hands to be a consistent scoring threat, and Brassard has always seemed a bit streaky. On the upside Duclair has played well, Krieder looks to have taken the next step in his development, Stempniak is a stablizing presence, and most importantly Nash is playing fantastic hockey. I actually don't think that Glass has played too poorly and I'm not going to attribute much of our rough start to the performance of our 4th line. Again, on aggragate I'm not too alarmed considering that our 1C is injured.

Defensively we've obviously been a mess. I am of the opinion that the Rangers are among the teams with the most blueline depth in the NHL however that belief is dependant upon our top defensemen playing up their abilities/past performance. It hasn't happened and Kostka is cleary an unmitigated disaster. It'll be interesting to see if they give Hunwick another crack in the lineup or if they bring up Allen or McIlrath to offer a bit more upside at the position. At this point if we're going to ice a defenseman that will lack in effectiveness then we might as well benefit from a younger player developing in that spot.

I remain relatively optomistic that the team will ultimately gel and prove themselves to be a very solid if unspectacular club....which they've been for a nearly a half decade.
RE: RE: I KNEW we'd miss Stralman  
BurberryManning : 10/15/2014 2:47 pm : link
In comment 11921758 Gman11 said:
Quote:
In comment 11921722 Greg from LI said:


Quote:


He was their second-best defenseman last season and it really wasn't close.



The thing with Stralman was that he had a career year after a bunch of not-so-good ones. So, was it an aberration or did the light go on? I don't know how he's doing down in Tampa.


I think that part of the problem with the appreciation of Stralman was that A) he didn't arrive in NY with a terrific pedigree having had just been released by NJD, and B) folks perceived him to be an offensive, puck-moving defenseman which was not really his game. Stralman then proved to be a terrific possession-based defenseman and I think that it took folks a bit to realize and appreciate the value in his game.
Stralman was very dependable  
dpinzow : 10/15/2014 2:47 pm : link
and another steadying influence on the blue line
RE: Stralman was very good with the Rangers  
BrettNYG10 : 10/15/2014 2:53 pm : link
In comment 11921802 Greg from LI said:
Quote:
Nothing special before that, but as Brett said, he was excellent for them for two years. It's a shame MC79 Hockey has vanished from the Internets since Tyler Dellow was hired by the Oilers, but he had a couple of excellent posts demonstrating just how good Stralman was, and that it was over a long enough period of time to make it difficult to dismiss as a fluke. Guy was a puck-possession monster, and while he personally didn't rack up a lot of points, the team scored a helluva lot more when he was on the ice than when he was off.


His ability to get the puck of the zone was really underappreciated.

Other guys need to step up.
out of*  
BrettNYG10 : 10/15/2014 2:55 pm : link
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I think a lot of people confuse puck moving with puck handling  
Greg from LI : 10/15/2014 3:05 pm : link
Stralman was no Brian Leetch with the puck, but he was very efficient at corralling the puck in his own end and finding quick outlets to start the rush. A positionally sound defenseman with decent speed who was also more physical than most people gave him credit for. I agree with Burberry - a lot of fans put too much credence into the fact that he was released by Jersey when assessing him as a player. They may or may not have made a mistake by cutting him loose - I don't know how he played there - but the Rangers made a big mistake in letting him leave when all it took was a rather cheap contract. They're not paying Klein much less than Tampa is paying Stralman, and Klein's nowhere near the defenseman Stralman is.
I'm amazed that Sather didn't see Sralman's value. Actually not.  
yatqb : 10/15/2014 3:05 pm : link
But Kostka, Hunwick...holy crap, these guys don't ever deserve a uniform, and Stralman was a rock for us last year.
according to Andrew Gross  
Greg from LI : 10/15/2014 3:17 pm : link
Personnel at practice today remained the same as last night. Only change in the lineup was Hunwick replacing Kostka who, sadly, remains on the roster for the moment. Lines:

-Anthony Duclair, Marty St. Louis, Rick Nash
-Chris Kreider, Derick Brassard, Lee Stempniak
-Carl Hagelin, Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello
-Tanner Glass, Dominic Moore, Ryan Malone

This is the first time in quite a while that the Rangers have not had  
yatqb : 10/15/2014 3:24 pm : link
at least 4 defensemen who are really solid defensively. Dan Boyle sure isn't, Klein is JAG and really a bottom six defenseman, and these other clowns are that much worse. At least Moore is young and has some upside (I'd even argue a lot) but the rest are dreck. I think it will be hard to pry away a top 4 defenseman from someone this early in the season without giving up some really nice assets, but if that's the case it's time for McI to come up here...but that won't likely happen any time soon.
I think Klein is a good 3rd pair d-man  
Gman11 : 10/15/2014 10:03 pm : link
but now they're having to either put him on the 2nd pair or put Kostka, Hunwick and when he comes back Boyle. None of them are 2nd pair d-men. I'm not sure Moore has any more upside than what he has shown. I don't see any improvement from him, but people still say that he's young, give him time. When do you get the idea that he's not going to be much better than he is right now?
Regarding Klein, I agree he belongs on the second pairing  
Anakim : 10/15/2014 10:27 pm : link
The problem is, then, the third pairing is a fucking sieve with Moore and #6. I mean your top 2 pairs will be set (Staal and Klein, though they haven't gelled yet, would be a very good defensive pairing with limited offensive upside), but the third will be a huge red mark. I think that's why they prefer to keep Klein paired with Moore.

Stralman is better than Klein (not by the amount you say, Greg) and he's only making a few dollars more per year. But I'm not worried about Klein and the Stralman thing, while sucking greatly, is a dead issue. It's done. He's in Tampa and I hope he does miserably there, as I hope Callahan and Boyle also fail, so we get a high second rounder.

For the time being, I'm very worried about the third-pairing. I think McDonagh and Staal will both bounce back, as we have little reason to believe they won't. Klein and Girardi are steady, albeit unspectacular.

But Moore and that #6 D hole is concerning. Sather and AV cannot continue to roll Hunwick and Kostka. Conor Allen seems to be the best option and I hope they know (they do) that he can play both sides of defense, so the whole "LHD/RHD equilibrium" thing is not necessary. McIlrath? I don't know. I can see him easily fuck up like Kostka. Allen at least is somewhat reliable.

If not Allen, then sign Derek Morris maybe? Though I assume it would take him time to get back into hockey shape. A younger option would be like Stefan Elliott, who is pretty shitty in his own end, but has potential and can be the offensive PMD that we're lacking with Boyle out and Moore not stepping up.
I think that Klein is a 3rd pair defenseman on a good team.  
yatqb : 10/15/2014 10:38 pm : link
So we really have one top 4 pair, an inadequate 2nd pairing, and an awful 3rd pairing. I was always unhappy about the Boyle signing as I saw Stralman as a more competent all-around defenseman who was incredibly solid at moving the puck out of the zone and had a lot less age on him. Regardless, the other spare parts that Sather signed for what he saw as defensive depth make this situation that much worse with DB injured. How Sather could leave the team with so little depth on defense is inexplicable, and his moves for St. Louis and Boyle, which put us hard against the cap, contributed mightily to this failing.
RE: I think that Klein is a 3rd pair defenseman on a good team.  
MetsAreBack : 10/15/2014 11:28 pm : link
In comment 11922476 yatqb said:
Quote:
and his moves for St. Louis and Boyle, which put us hard against the cap, contributed mightily to this failing.



Oh my. So "failing" is building a Stanley Cup Finalist... followed by a 1-3-0 start to the season... against a minimum of 3 playoff teams in there by the way... but it's a 'failing' now.

I HATED not re-signing Stralman too. No question, especially with Staal still unsigned. But get a grip.
Speaking of Rangers, the Hartford Wolfpack won using new OT rules  
Giants2012 : 10/15/2014 11:38 pm : link
The goal came as the team's skated three-on-three, part of the AHL's new OT rule. The seven-minute extra period starts as 4-on-4 play but drops to 3-on-3 after the first whistle three minutes into the frame. The idea is to settle more games via action that at least resembles regular hockey instead of resting a point on the result of a shootout.

Wolfpack - ( New Window )
yeah i dont know about 3-on-3...  
MetsAreBack : 10/15/2014 11:44 pm : link
I suppose its better than a shootout, but its still not really hockey.

Still don't understand what is wrong with a tie.
So we are a few games in and Anton Stralman  
SethFromAstoria : 10/16/2014 1:26 am : link
has already come up. Even though we had a severe injury to his better replacement. Cool.

I don't think there is a single thing to worry about aside from moving Marty back to wing where he belongs, moving Miller to wing where he belongs, getting a real D in for Boyle while he is out. The forwards look fast and good. I can literally see in my mind at least 4 or 5 goals that were directly due to Hunwick and Kostka being bad. There was a goal this game out of midair into our net that wouldn't happen in 9 out of 10 scenarios just like it.

Zucc and Hags need to get on the board.

Other than that Duclair looks superb, Hayes looks real, Kreider is a beast, Nash is a goal scoring force again apparently, Stempniak has done everything well thus far, Dom Moore is Dom Moore, Glass has hit people and been just fine...

I don't see what the major problems are. Game 5. Game 5.
As an islander fan, I know I'm speaking from the outside  
JayBinQueens : 10/16/2014 1:59 am : link
but can you guys please quite your whining?
Ya, you're in a rut and playing shitty. It sucks.
but it's within the first 5 games of the year.
The Rangers have a ton of talent and some unfortunate injuries. You will be fine. You're acting like you're trotting out a Hurricane's lineup. When all's said and done you will no doubt be in the playoff hunt with a month left to the regular season. Take this as a low and know things will be better soon
Rangers are trying to integrate a lot of new guys in  
oipolloi : 10/16/2014 2:51 am : link
And they are playing a lot of young guys at forward, which is going to mean mistakes that lead to scoring chances for the other team

Losing Boyle is big, too. Spent all camp predicting the attack on long, quick outlet passes and then boom the guy gets injured the first game. Girardi is trying to puck up the slack and be a poor mans Danny Boyle. He will be better when he can go back to bring Girardi.

Last two years, Hank has played like crap to start the season. Classic example of what happens when guys sign the big contract. But he'll be fine in a few weeks.
Predicating  
oipolloi : 10/16/2014 2:52 am : link
Not predicting

Fsc
RE: So we are a few games in and Anton Stralman  
MetsAreBack : 10/16/2014 9:10 am : link
In comment 11922537 SethFromAstoria said:
Quote:
has already come up. Even though we had a severe injury to his better replacement. Cool.

I don't think there is a single thing to worry about aside from moving Marty back to wing where he belongs, moving Miller to wing where he belongs, getting a real D in for Boyle while he is out. The forwards look fast and good.

I don't see what the major problems are. Game 5. Game 5.


Agree with this post but it's fair to be upset about losing Stralman. At best its highly subjective of you to call 37 year old Boyle his "better" replacement. At best its a two year swap of talent and Tampa gets the better longer-term play.
.....  
BrettNYG10 : 10/16/2014 9:47 am : link
People were upset about losing Stralman when it happened. It's not reactionary.
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