*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.
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
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.
This team will pull it together but there's a good chance another clunker or two will happen before they do.
Don't want to fall too far behind, though.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
His ability to get the puck of the zone was really underappreciated.
Other guys need to step up.
-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
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.
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.
Wolfpack - ( New Window )
Still don't understand what is wrong with a tie.
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.
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
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.
Fsc
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.