Watched the game tonight against the Pens. Pitts score the winning goal with less than two minutes. Again, number 20 invisible. Strome scored. Bread man missed open net with ten seconds left with would tied the game. I don’t think Quinn is the guy. Question: Why is Brit Howden playing? What do they see? Rangers are falling behind. Announcers make all kinds of excuses
He just turned 19 years old 3 months ago. There is going to be an acclimation period.
I didn’t see the Blueshirts competing for a playoff spot in a meat grinder of a division against hardened and seasoned rosters but this start in a condensed season is about as disheartening as it can be. I’m not saying it’s time to throw in the towel but if they don’t come out of Buffalo with some positive results, there will be some serious decisions to make.
They are still not a finished products but young guys are doing their part....
Fox and K'Andre are really the only two bright spots.
imo A big factor in lack of chemistry is all the line shuffling in the attempt to find a group that works. But at some point the coach has to use a learned hockey eye to say, these 3, these 3, and these 3. That doesn't seem to be settled. On the late P2 PP with Howden out there with first unit--whytf is he out there.
No question the GA in the 3rd were shaky. Neither of the keepers has any standing yet with the team whereby Igor or Georgiev can steady and energize, kind of the inverse to a query by Brooks at DQ's PG.
I don't share this for any reason other than patience and it's not like Lias is setting the world on fire, he's playing on the Kings 3rd line, but even now he's still just 22 and is gaining good experience and a proper evaluation IMO.
I dont know shit about this, but this guy is fishy as hell. First, he cant start the bubble series because of "an undisclosed issue" then he looks like garbage in his few starts this yearvincluding a couple lame-os tonight. Then there was the car crash.
Maybe hes a boozer? Again I dont know anything, but he went from being Hasek to Darko Milicic this year.
Also DeAngelo has sucked. So has Lindgren. Zibby has been meh, Kreider has been awful.
THANK YOU! Where's Bill Chadwick when you need him? :-)
Buch square in front from 10 or 15 feet forces a pass to Panarin that gets blocked. PP is all pass pass pass, nobody shoots the fucking puck.
The other night I made a remark that Buchnevich looked a lot better this year shooting the puck instead of always looking for the pass and then he tries a pass with no pressure on him and he's 10 feet from the net. SMH.
I don't share this for any reason other than patience and it's not like Lias is setting the world on fire, he's playing on the Kings 3rd line, but even now he's still just 22 and is gaining good experience and a proper evaluation IMO.
Lias leaving the Rangers had nothing to with patience ... at least from the Rangers camp anyway. He was / is an entitled brat
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scored his 1st for LAK tonight. Out of the Penalty box picked up the puck for a breakaway, Binnington stopped it, but Lias banged home the rebound.
I don't share this for any reason other than patience and it's not like Lias is setting the world on fire, he's playing on the Kings 3rd line, but even now he's still just 22 and is gaining good experience and a proper evaluation IMO.
Lias leaving the Rangers had nothing to with patience ... at least from the Rangers camp anyway. He was / is an entitled brat
I don't know him, so I can't say either way, but I will say if it were *just* Lias then I could more comfortably say it's all Lias, but the way the Rangers have handled Kravtsov and others tells me it's not just Lias.
He could be an entitled brat, but like I said, I don't know him, but the Rangers development of prospects leaves something to do be desired.
Leon Draisaitl as a 19 year old posted 9 points in 37 games. He turned out OK in the end, no? Not everyone is a McDavid or Crosby who is enormously productive from day 1. In fact, almost no one is, which is why those guys are legendary.
Patience.
Leon Draisaitl as a 19 year old posted 9 points in 37 games. He turned out OK in the end, no? Not everyone is a McDavid or Crosby who is enormously productive from day 1. In fact, almost no one is, which is why those guys are legendary.
Not proclaiming him a disappointment yet . Not expecting him to fill the net. But I am looking for a sign of greatness to come. Hoping he gains confidence soon and provides some offense. Kakko in second year has had limited time but is underwhelming so far. Sure hope they become weapons eventually.
Problem with this season is time. If they have any shot of making a playoff push, it really needs to start soon. The good thing is, they play a lot of games against all of these teams, so they can make up points in the standings quick if they get going on a 3-4 game winning streak. Conversely to that, the Pens have 8 points, Rangers have 3. The way those games were played, Rangers should have 6, Pens should have 4. These 2 losses were an 8 point swing.
It seems to me Quinn is a significant question mark, is he the head coach to lead them forward.
I didn't want them to go hard after a 2C because I thought Chytil deserved a shot at filling the role.
Yeah, completely agreed. He's the young guy who has been flashing the most. I can see him as a 60 point guy - one of those guys who can play 1C but is a great 2C.
Miller's been great, too.
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Bad Teams Teams Find a Way to Lose...
K'Andre, Fox, Chytil and even Kakko to an extent have been positives. Kakko still needs to work on his skating because he's too slow for the pace of the game.
Honestly, if they can flip Zibanejad like they did with Brassard, I'd probably do it. If they can get Sasha Barkov for Zibanejad, I'd do that in a heartbeat.
Barkov already in the top 20 players, Mika was not.
Both players are signed for next year at similar deals.
Both have NMC/NTCs
I do think Barkov could be traded but it would be massive not like Brassard for Mika. More like Kakko, Miller or Neils Lundqvist and a 1st
Mika in my opinion would be traded separately. Why would FLA want Mika whose contract expires same times as Sasha's? And then have to extend Mika when they wouldn't extend Sasha?
Barkov already in the top 20 players, Mika was not.
Both players are signed for next year at similar deals.
Both have NMC/NTCs
I do think Barkov could be traded but it would be massive not like Brassard for Mika. More like Kakko, Miller or Neils Lundqvist and a 1st
Mika in my opinion would be traded separately. Why would FLA want Mika whose contract expires same times as Sasha's? And then have to extend Mika when they wouldn't extend Sasha?
He supposedly wants out and wants to go to a bigger market. I agree that we would have to add, but the Panthers could trade for Zibanejad without production dropping off too much. They still have Huberdeau. But yeah, I could see the Panthers looking for our younger guys rather than Zibanejad.
Not a chance.
Kotkaniemi is looking more and more like a legit 2C, who can play 3C or 1C, but really fits as a 2C.
He has grown so much physically - and improved his skating and he's such a great play maker. Canadiens went from holy shit we can't find a center to having 4 quality centers 3 under 25, 2 under 22.
I'd trade Danault and Caufield for Mika.
Brassard was 28 when we traded him
but you need to decide after next year (or before) is he an $8M player or not.
but you need to decide after next year (or before) is he an $8M player or not.
Spot on. I am confident that Mika will be a 1C for the next 5 years, but I am doubtful he ever hits the 100+ point pace he was on in his next deal.
Rangers will struggle with the cap, especially if some of the young guys pan out. Looking to move Mika for a younger, cost-controlled player is probably the right move.
but you need to decide after next year (or before) is he an $8M player or not.
Exactly
PS: Not that it really needs addressing, but trading Mika is laughable. He is an all-star center in the prime of his career (not to mention the only decent NHL-caliber center in the entire organization at the moment.) You sign him, period. It's Buchnevich that you trade; a winger (on a team loaded with players and prospects on the wing) who is about to get paid.
Minimal development from young players (Are you happy with anyone besides Fox? I am not. No one that has played the last two seasons has gotten any better besides Foxy.)
Terrible/undisciplined penalties... too many men penalties.
Brutal, slow starts where the team looks unprepared.
No in-game adjustments/line juggling that ever works.
Quinn seems like a nice enough guy, but the longer he stays the more this orginization is digging itself a hole. All these talented youngsters will be wasted and the bust list will grow exponentially.
Everyone wanted to blame the poor defense on Ruff. Now he has the devils playing strong defensive hockey (small sample size) and our defense is still an absolute mess.
QUINN HAS TO GO.
P.s. We have Kreider for 6.5 more years. So when we finally get back to the playoffs three years from now, he can clam up and hide like he has done in every playoffs except his first. This guy has not done a fucking thing for us when it mattered since then.
That contract is going to cripple the NYR for many years to come.
Kakko looks better this year than last. Still not where we need him to be, obviously.
I'm not a Quinn fan, but I think we need some patience.
From what I've seen so far 79 Miller looks like a potential future all star. Size strength skating looks good to me (is that accurate?) huge reach. Right now he's my favorite player on the team to watch.
The coach seems to be an issue. I think he's a short timer. The Rangers seem to be at a coaching disadvantage most nights. Anecdotally putting 77 out 3rd in a shootout was very odd. It will be a good day when 77 is gone. The sooner the better.
Based on what I know about the cap and the Rangers go forward plan I hope they don't invest in Mika at his age. Even if they don't get full value back. At this point they can't afford him.
I know they're kids and it's only 5 games but I also agree it would be nice to see 13 & 24 (Kakko looks stronger and has scored 2 goals) show a little more than they have so far. Although I agree with Greg that 13 almost looks like he's trying not to get in the way. I had to google who Leon Draisaitl is but I'm sure we'd all sign up for Lafreniere to mimic his trajectory.
How can anyone not worried about the goalie he's been really bad so far.
These no fan games are tough to watch as it is but when they're playing poorly they're brutal to watch. I hope by the end of the year the young guys show us enough to be excited about a fans in stands 2021-22 season.
Feel like a bounce or 2 could have gotten the ball rolling and they could have pulled away easy but of course it didnt happen.
Better goaltending would go a long way to helping, too. It hasn't been entirely their fault - there were weird fluky goals in both of the Pitt games, for example - but neither Georgiev nor Shesterkin have played particularly well overall.
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He was one of the top 5 centers in the league last year, and he’s off to a slow start after having COVID. He’s a leader on this team, plays both ends of the ice exceptionally well, kills penalties, scores big goals...5 bad games and we’re shipping him out of town? It’s not like he’s 33 years old, he’s only 27.
Brassard was 28 when we traded him
No disrespect to Brassard, but he was never the player Mika is on either end of the ice. Brassard was a 50-60 point guy who tapped out at 27 goals. Mika had 2 years in a row eclipsing 70 points and was on pace to go over 100 last year. Even if you look at last year as an anomaly, I think Mika is a point a game player and will be for the next 5 years. I am very comfortable paying him and keeping him around. He is the only real legitimate top 6 C on this team or in the pipeline. If they were as loaded at C as they are at W, I may be a little more likely to agree, but to me, trading Zibanejad would be a huge mistake. Also, if they were that interested in replacing him, I think they would have been more active in shopping the #1 pick with LA, so they could take Byfield or Stutzle. Mika isn’t going anywhere and he shouldn’t.
Youve got to be kidding Lafreniere critics!
My main concern right now is them being too cute with the puck on offense. It seems like they are being coached that. I legit threw my remote (against the couch....but hard) when Buch made that extra pass to Strome last night. I wanted to fight. But fortunately it was like 1 am and nobody was stirring around my buildimg. Lol
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In comment 15133819 ShockNRoll said:
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He was one of the top 5 centers in the league last year, and he’s off to a slow start after having COVID. He’s a leader on this team, plays both ends of the ice exceptionally well, kills penalties, scores big goals...5 bad games and we’re shipping him out of town? It’s not like he’s 33 years old, he’s only 27.
Brassard was 28 when we traded him
No disrespect to Brassard, but he was never the player Mika is on either end of the ice. Brassard was a 50-60 point guy who tapped out at 27 goals. Mika had 2 years in a row eclipsing 70 points and was on pace to go over 100 last year. Even if you look at last year as an anomaly, I think Mika is a point a game player and will be for the next 5 years. I am very comfortable paying him and keeping him around. He is the only real legitimate top 6 C on this team or in the pipeline. If they were as loaded at C as they are at W, I may be a little more likely to agree, but to me, trading Zibanejad would be a huge mistake. Also, if they were that interested in replacing him, I think they would have been more active in shopping the #1 pick with LA, so they could take Byfield or Stutzle. Mika isn’t going anywhere and he shouldn’t.
Not sure Stutzle is an NHL center. He's playing LW in OTT, and played LW all last year, and I think he can be a C, but it's not a slam dunk.
I think Kravtsov would be a good NHL center though.
I hate what the Rangers have done with him. He'll be in year 3 of his ELC before he plays in the NHL unless he plays here after the KHL season then he'll get a couple months of year 2.
He's also returned to NYC to be examined by the team doctors, so looks like it might be more than day to day.
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From what I've read, the plan is for him to come over after the KHL season.
I'm sure the Rangers have made their fair share of mistakes, since they've kind of botched many players' development, but a lot of the blame in Kravtsov's case falls on him. There was a guy who used to comment at BSB who had a very well-established track record for accuracy, and he filled in a lot of the details with Kravtsov.
When Kravtsov (and Chytil) were sent down to the A at the beginning of last season, Chytil took it in stride, played great at Hartford, and was shortly back in NY. Kravtsov sulked and pouted. He was not helped by his parents, who were described as "helicopter hockey parents from Hell", and who were constantly telling him that he was too good to play in the AHL and he should come back to Russia if the Rangers were going to do that to him.
Over his agent's strenuous objections, he did just that. Only problem was, he played poorly over there and was demoted from Traktor Chelyabinsk to the Russian minors. At that point, his agent was able to convince him to stop listening to his parents and return to North America with a better attitude. Upon his return, he played reasonably well in Hartford - not great, but decently enough and with a lot of effort compared to the first go round.
Could the Rangers have handled his situation better? Most likely. Could Kravtsov? Definitely.
I hope it can be worked out because he's a very talented guy.
My point has been though, that there is no more important asset to an NHL team than 1st round picks. the NHL draft is even more skewed than most other major sports the 1st round is where your talent comes from.
I would treat 1st round picks like investments.
There is not a universal approach, that's like saying every 18 year old man is the same and don't forget you're dealing with players who were 99% of the time to this point either the best player on the ice every time they stepped on the ice or close to it.
And add to that I absolutely HATE the AHL for developing young prospects. If you feel like it could help with getting used to North American rinks, fine, that's fair, but most of the players have been on NA rinks throughout their hockey careers for INTL tournaments.
The KHL is a far better league than the AHL, so I wouldn't phrase it necessarily like his parents, if that's true, but I do believe, especially for skill guys, the AHL is not the best spot for them.
Probably true for Lias as well (SHL better than AHL).
I would leave players in their home countries as long as possible.
The plan with Lundqvist in my opinion much smarter and I think the Rangers will reap the rewards, but they lost out on Lias and some of Kravtsov and that hurts a franchise.
And absolutely 100% this is at least partly on Lias and Vitali but that's not the point. It's the Rangers investment they should be protecting. If the players fails they fail - there are hundreds of first round picks, high first round picks who don't pan out, but the Rangers lose as much (or more in the case of Andersson). And most of the time when players don't pan out it's because their talent didn't develop as hoped (these are 18 year olds being drafted), so it hurts when a talented player fails and they still are talented if you know what I mean.
The team sent him down and he got an attitude. Damn kids nowadays.
Fox-Miller as the cornerstones for years to come.
The team sent him down and he got an attitude. Damn kids nowadays.
So it, all on Lias not on the Rangers in any way?
Let me ask you this, who stands to lose the most for Andersson not working out in NY?
We already know, it's the Rangers. Lias is in the NHL on the 3rd line with the Kings and the Rangers squandered the #7 pick in the draft. Of course there is the chance that William Cuylle pans out and softens the blow (I like his potential), but he's unlikely ever to reach #7 overall value.
And your assumption is no matter what the Rangers did, this was the definite outcome because Lias had maturity issues.
Maybe not signing him to an ELC at that time would have been a good option.
Maybe having him remain in the SHL another year would have been a good option
maybe put him in more of a position to succeed in the NHL like some teams do with youngsters (sheltered minutes, power play or pk, low pressure role with patience)
maybe avoid the AHL for a 19 year old "skill" player
maybe instead of the AHL suggest he could use the EAC and go to Sweden and work on stuff - the SHL is better than the AHL and he was clearly more comfortable there.
anyway, I've always said Lias shares the responsibility he always had an "edgy" attitude, he gained notoriety for throwing his silver WJC medal in the stands during the medal ceremony (which was obviously immature, but i had no real issue with - I like the competitiveness) - and let's not forget Andersson was the captain on that team - one with players like Rasmus Dahlin, Elias Pettersson, Jesper Boqvist, Alexander Nylander, Erik Brannstrom, etc. so in his native land the attitude wasn't such a negative, and he was still seen as a leader.
And Lias would not be the first high pick to fail, my point is teams (not just the Rangers) should do more to protect their investment
Sure, but he was a sunk cost.