But I can't say I'm surprised. I've seen this story before. A goalie making his first start against the Rangers? Of course he's going to look like Hasek.
The last 3-4 regular season games are likely meaningless
Down two to nothing they came back and tied it. They suck three on three. And I don’t know why gallant had those three out there. But it’s really not relevant since you do not play three on three in the postseason.
First two, no shows. East West passes are killing them. No one drives the net
that's been the case for weeks. It's no coincidence that the goals have been coming from the bottom 6. They drive the net and get dirty. the top 6 playing like they're in the Ice Capades, Tarasenko excepted. Kreider better wake up and start being a power forward again.
Lackluster performance again. Maybe Trouba needs to throw his helmet and go clobber somebody again because they are in a funk.
First two, no shows. East West passes are killing them. No one drives the net
that's been the case for weeks. It's no coincidence that the goals have been coming from the bottom 6. They drive the net and get dirty. the top 6 playing like they're in the Ice Capades, Tarasenko excepted. Kreider better wake up and start being a power forward again.
Lackluster performance again. Maybe Trouba needs to throw his helmet and go clobber somebody again because they are in a funk.
last two games suck but aren't they 9-1-2 in their last 12? is that really a funk?
improvement in almost every area except goalie, if Igor plays like Igor the Rangers have a shot IMO.
The Igor impact IMO can be measured in the goals save above expected. Even on his bad days Igor is not bad, just not super human. Also shots through traffic save %, no clue how you do better at that as a goalie maybe CHP knows - positioning? quick reaction?, some of that is puck luck (and puck luck <> luck luck)
Quote:
Meghan Chayka
@MeghanChayka
The @NYRangers
this year vs last.
(uh, oh, this has gotten long). Thanks, or not ):, for the call out. Some of those stats are head scratching, e.g., I would have thought the Gs given up from the inner slot would be way higher this year, but just .00s of differential. But, yeah, the 1st, 2nd, and last categories are pretty stark.
My sense is it's one part Igor's bad strech and one part the team around him. What I saw in Jan and Feb (maybe game vs Habs marked a turnaround) he was playing very passively, was not aggressive in moving toward the front of his crease and was letting the play around him dictate, as opposed to challenging shooters and being aggressive on angles. There were some games he'd go into a crouch behind the post on play at the circles. He was also late in glove and blocker reaction time to shots, not all of which were through traffic, shots he would have picked off last season like apples from a tree. He looked very out of synch (someone mentioned his new fatherhood). He seems to have snapped out of that Oddly, this recent run of better play has coincided with Lindgren missing a bunch of time.
Brings us to the team: two of the three pair have changed personnel, three of the four lines have changed, even aside from Gallant's tinkering. Positionally, the skaters seem all over the place and are, imo, playing more the puck than moving forwards out of the crease area. This applies to Miller (many games of puck watching), Fox (who is a bit short on force and mass), Harpur. Trouba has been late/out of position. Schneider (who I think has been playing better than that stat you put up earlier this week, but I guess stats don't lie) has had to adjust to a roving partner and a poor partner. And now GG is playing with back line pairings. Combined with some really poor back checking from the top two lines, it has allowed opposing forwards to move freely along the BL to line up shots using screens. This to the shots through traffic stat.
Aside, last night, during the 3rd, a close-up shot of Zib 'told me' he didn't want to be there, was disinterested. And Skinner walked right in between him and KAM (I think) for the OT winner. Zib is a guy you want on ice in OT but he was an observer. I made a post some weeks ago that a Kane move by Drury would complicate line shuffles into late in the season. I don't know what his 'interest' in coming to NYR was but it has not meshed for him or around him.
With him, Kreider, and Bread that means half of your top 6 are defensively deficient, with Tara a bit tbd. That's a lot to overcome. Fox is constantly pressed about the defensive breakdowns, slow starts, etc., and all he can offer up is wan 'have to be better' comments and b-t-b games; I am not slamming him, he's the first face the beats like to push their mikes against. But with all the supposed 'skill' players that everyone likes to get all excited about, to this point, laughably with Kane coming to NY, most of those supposedly endowed with it need to be playing two-way hockey for keeps instead of going through the motions. With all that ice, and only five (or fewer) skaters aside, poor play and effort are hard to hide. Maybe the skating and puck battles and ability to clear along the boards improve from here...?
One thing, I do think small changes in some cases (like save percentage) yoy is kind of significant.
But.. it doesn't tell the whole story since this graphic is all goalies not just igor and after his slow start - on the season - Halak has been better than Georgiev was last year.
So in context just of Igor, last year he had a .935 save percentage and this year .914. on 1622 shots that is around 40 more goals in a season if my math is right, which is about .70 goals per game. it is significant.
I agree the team around has an impact, but if you look at the other stats for the most part the team around has basically improved. even with the Lindgren injury. The exception is odd-man rushes, but somehow the stats don't translate that to high danger scoring chances which has improved.
I don't know how to evaluate goalies from a technical standpoint - so again appreciate your input, they're a different breed. I don't know I've ever played with a goalie who didn't have a screw loose or at least some idiosyncrasies. Even coaching the most I ever did was "warm up the goalie" by firing pucks at their head, lol.
anyway, I'm not a Rangers fan, but I get the angst over the past couple games, however, I tend to give players like Kane who has a Conn Smythe and a few rings, and Tarasenko, and other veterans - even Mika the benefit of the doubt playing out the string with not much to play for. I would however be worried about the effect it may have on the youngsters.
Bottom line, like it's been all along, if Igor plays like 2022 Igor the Rangers will be tough to beat. The Rangers with the good not great Igor are +51 goal differential - two goals out of being tied for 2nd in the league behind the staggering + 118 for the Bruins.
I think NYR is better this year than last other than the goaltender, which the numbers pj posted suggest. 2021-2022 Igor was worth 5-10 more wins than the team deserved last season and the Rangers' performance above expectations last year was almost entirely driven by Igor, in my view. People kept talking about how the team was ahead of schedule but it was mostly because Igor was so good. He has come down from the historic year (maybe the best single year a goalie has had since Carey Price's Vezina year?), which was to be expected.
I think these games have to be tough - they're meaningless, they have the playoffs in a couple weeks, etc. I literally don't care at all about the next two weeks.
Lindgren is key. Harpur sucks. The top four needs to account for 50 minutes a night in the playoffs. Too much risk otherwise.
Playoffs are a bit of a crapshoot. They can beat anyone and anyone can beat them.
Also, I think Kane is terrible. Bumbles the puck, sucks defensively. I can't stand him, lol. Tarasenko is impressing, though.
pj, I don't know, re. other stats indicating team around Igor has mostly improved, offensive side seems so, defensive end seems close to a wash to me, back to traffic below.
Brett, yeah, I get what you're saying, in the standings/SCP positioning, the next two weeks might not matter much. But there's been fair amount of commentary from within the team about the risk and fallacy of believing you can just turn the switch on for the Playoffs. Maybe they're just repeating coach speak. That said, you said:
Quote:
Lindgren is key. Harpur sucks. The top four needs to account for 50 minutes a night in the playoffs. Too much risk otherwise.
There is validity to giving some of the high minutes guys a breather. Fox has looked absolutely gassed after the past few games, averaging 'only' (to your 50) ~ 24 minutes. He's been one of the few, along with Kids and Trochek, to force the action late in games in which they're tied or behind.
Yet, I'll say again: when three of your top six are so poor in playing the game 100' each way, Kreider, Bread, Kane, and a pass for now to Tara, these are not young bucks and 'in their bodies and in their minds' (thanks, Dave D), against the Devils, e.g., the Series can get over in a hurry. To my mind, there's too much slack given to the highly paid Vets in demanding two-way accountability. Without consistent aggressive backchecking, teams get in the zone, set up, and can dictate how they want to attack Igor: the team's d-men as a group are not exactly the quickest or swiftest in clearing out traffic nor defending vs the rush. The odd man rush stat is revealing. They need all the help they can get from the Fs.
But they are also first in passing in the offensive zone. So if you pass that much, more passes are going to get picked off and I think that is a factor in giving up so many rushes.
Pissed at their lack of intensity and poor play.
Reminder to his players you play the games to win…
Everybody starts at zero when the SCP begin. You need to bring your A game not half ass effort
pj, I don't know, re. other stats indicating team around Igor has mostly improved, offensive side seems so, defensive end seems close to a wash to me, back to traffic below.
Brett, yeah, I get what you're saying, in the standings/SCP positioning, the next two weeks might not matter much. But there's been fair amount of commentary from within the team about the risk and fallacy of believing you can just turn the switch on for the Playoffs. Maybe they're just repeating coach speak. That said, you said:
Quote:
Lindgren is key. Harpur sucks. The top four needs to account for 50 minutes a night in the playoffs. Too much risk otherwise.
There is validity to giving some of the high minutes guys a breather. Fox has looked absolutely gassed after the past few games, averaging 'only' (to your 50) ~ 24 minutes. He's been one of the few, along with Kids and Trochek, to force the action late in games in which they're tied or behind.
Yet, I'll say again: when three of your top six are so poor in playing the game 100' each way, Kreider, Bread, Kane, and a pass for now to Tara, these are not young bucks and 'in their bodies and in their minds' (thanks, Dave D), against the Devils, e.g., the Series can get over in a hurry. To my mind, there's too much slack given to the highly paid Vets in demanding two-way accountability. Without consistent aggressive backchecking, teams get in the zone, set up, and can dictate how they want to attack Igor: the team's d-men as a group are not exactly the quickest or swiftest in clearing out traffic nor defending vs the rush. The odd man rush stat is revealing. They need all the help they can get from the Fs.
Agreed on the backcheck effort. I've been shitting on Kane non-stop partially because of it.
Fox only got twenty minutes tonight. I hope they sit him a few games. Not sure if it's feasible with the cap situation. He looked a lot slower last season against TB than he did during the regular season.
You really need to have a quick series at some point in the playoffs but the Rangers aren't significantly better than any of the teams they'll be playing (if they are at all).
Pretty sad effort from Harpur, too.
The Kids again
Are they playing tonight?
But I can't say I'm surprised. I've seen this story before. A goalie making his first start against the Rangers? Of course he's going to look like Hasek.
that's been the case for weeks. It's no coincidence that the goals have been coming from the bottom 6. They drive the net and get dirty. the top 6 playing like they're in the Ice Capades, Tarasenko excepted. Kreider better wake up and start being a power forward again.
Lackluster performance again. Maybe Trouba needs to throw his helmet and go clobber somebody again because they are in a funk.
Quote:
First two, no shows. East West passes are killing them. No one drives the net
that's been the case for weeks. It's no coincidence that the goals have been coming from the bottom 6. They drive the net and get dirty. the top 6 playing like they're in the Ice Capades, Tarasenko excepted. Kreider better wake up and start being a power forward again.
Lackluster performance again. Maybe Trouba needs to throw his helmet and go clobber somebody again because they are in a funk.
last two games suck but aren't they 9-1-2 in their last 12? is that really a funk?
The Igor impact IMO can be measured in the goals save above expected. Even on his bad days Igor is not bad, just not super human. Also shots through traffic save %, no clue how you do better at that as a goalie maybe CHP knows - positioning? quick reaction?, some of that is puck luck (and puck luck <> luck luck)
@MeghanChayka
The @NYRangers
this year vs last.
My sense is it's one part Igor's bad strech and one part the team around him. What I saw in Jan and Feb (maybe game vs Habs marked a turnaround) he was playing very passively, was not aggressive in moving toward the front of his crease and was letting the play around him dictate, as opposed to challenging shooters and being aggressive on angles. There were some games he'd go into a crouch behind the post on play at the circles. He was also late in glove and blocker reaction time to shots, not all of which were through traffic, shots he would have picked off last season like apples from a tree. He looked very out of synch (someone mentioned his new fatherhood). He seems to have snapped out of that Oddly, this recent run of better play has coincided with Lindgren missing a bunch of time.
Brings us to the team: two of the three pair have changed personnel, three of the four lines have changed, even aside from Gallant's tinkering. Positionally, the skaters seem all over the place and are, imo, playing more the puck than moving forwards out of the crease area. This applies to Miller (many games of puck watching), Fox (who is a bit short on force and mass), Harpur. Trouba has been late/out of position. Schneider (who I think has been playing better than that stat you put up earlier this week, but I guess stats don't lie) has had to adjust to a roving partner and a poor partner. And now GG is playing with back line pairings. Combined with some really poor back checking from the top two lines, it has allowed opposing forwards to move freely along the BL to line up shots using screens. This to the shots through traffic stat.
Aside, last night, during the 3rd, a close-up shot of Zib 'told me' he didn't want to be there, was disinterested. And Skinner walked right in between him and KAM (I think) for the OT winner. Zib is a guy you want on ice in OT but he was an observer. I made a post some weeks ago that a Kane move by Drury would complicate line shuffles into late in the season. I don't know what his 'interest' in coming to NYR was but it has not meshed for him or around him.
With him, Kreider, and Bread that means half of your top 6 are defensively deficient, with Tara a bit tbd. That's a lot to overcome. Fox is constantly pressed about the defensive breakdowns, slow starts, etc., and all he can offer up is wan 'have to be better' comments and b-t-b games; I am not slamming him, he's the first face the beats like to push their mikes against. But with all the supposed 'skill' players that everyone likes to get all excited about, to this point, laughably with Kane coming to NY, most of those supposedly endowed with it need to be playing two-way hockey for keeps instead of going through the motions. With all that ice, and only five (or fewer) skaters aside, poor play and effort are hard to hide. Maybe the skating and puck battles and ability to clear along the boards improve from here...?
One thing, I do think small changes in some cases (like save percentage) yoy is kind of significant.
But.. it doesn't tell the whole story since this graphic is all goalies not just igor and after his slow start - on the season - Halak has been better than Georgiev was last year.
So in context just of Igor, last year he had a .935 save percentage and this year .914. on 1622 shots that is around 40 more goals in a season if my math is right, which is about .70 goals per game. it is significant.
I agree the team around has an impact, but if you look at the other stats for the most part the team around has basically improved. even with the Lindgren injury. The exception is odd-man rushes, but somehow the stats don't translate that to high danger scoring chances which has improved.
I don't know how to evaluate goalies from a technical standpoint - so again appreciate your input, they're a different breed. I don't know I've ever played with a goalie who didn't have a screw loose or at least some idiosyncrasies. Even coaching the most I ever did was "warm up the goalie" by firing pucks at their head, lol.
anyway, I'm not a Rangers fan, but I get the angst over the past couple games, however, I tend to give players like Kane who has a Conn Smythe and a few rings, and Tarasenko, and other veterans - even Mika the benefit of the doubt playing out the string with not much to play for. I would however be worried about the effect it may have on the youngsters.
Bottom line, like it's been all along, if Igor plays like 2022 Igor the Rangers will be tough to beat. The Rangers with the good not great Igor are +51 goal differential - two goals out of being tied for 2nd in the league behind the staggering + 118 for the Bruins.
I think these games have to be tough - they're meaningless, they have the playoffs in a couple weeks, etc. I literally don't care at all about the next two weeks.
Lindgren is key. Harpur sucks. The top four needs to account for 50 minutes a night in the playoffs. Too much risk otherwise.
Playoffs are a bit of a crapshoot. They can beat anyone and anyone can beat them.
Also, I think Kane is terrible. Bumbles the puck, sucks defensively. I can't stand him, lol. Tarasenko is impressing, though.
Brett, yeah, I get what you're saying, in the standings/SCP positioning, the next two weeks might not matter much. But there's been fair amount of commentary from within the team about the risk and fallacy of believing you can just turn the switch on for the Playoffs. Maybe they're just repeating coach speak. That said, you said:
Yet, I'll say again: when three of your top six are so poor in playing the game 100' each way, Kreider, Bread, Kane, and a pass for now to Tara, these are not young bucks and 'in their bodies and in their minds' (thanks, Dave D), against the Devils, e.g., the Series can get over in a hurry. To my mind, there's too much slack given to the highly paid Vets in demanding two-way accountability. Without consistent aggressive backchecking, teams get in the zone, set up, and can dictate how they want to attack Igor: the team's d-men as a group are not exactly the quickest or swiftest in clearing out traffic nor defending vs the rush. The odd man rush stat is revealing. They need all the help they can get from the Fs.
In other words, its not all lack of checking.
Reminder to his players you play the games to win…
Everybody starts at zero when the SCP begin. You need to bring your A game not half ass effort
Brett, yeah, I get what you're saying, in the standings/SCP positioning, the next two weeks might not matter much. But there's been fair amount of commentary from within the team about the risk and fallacy of believing you can just turn the switch on for the Playoffs. Maybe they're just repeating coach speak. That said, you said:
Quote:
Lindgren is key. Harpur sucks. The top four needs to account for 50 minutes a night in the playoffs. Too much risk otherwise.
There is validity to giving some of the high minutes guys a breather. Fox has looked absolutely gassed after the past few games, averaging 'only' (to your 50) ~ 24 minutes. He's been one of the few, along with Kids and Trochek, to force the action late in games in which they're tied or behind.
Yet, I'll say again: when three of your top six are so poor in playing the game 100' each way, Kreider, Bread, Kane, and a pass for now to Tara, these are not young bucks and 'in their bodies and in their minds' (thanks, Dave D), against the Devils, e.g., the Series can get over in a hurry. To my mind, there's too much slack given to the highly paid Vets in demanding two-way accountability. Without consistent aggressive backchecking, teams get in the zone, set up, and can dictate how they want to attack Igor: the team's d-men as a group are not exactly the quickest or swiftest in clearing out traffic nor defending vs the rush. The odd man rush stat is revealing. They need all the help they can get from the Fs.
Agreed on the backcheck effort. I've been shitting on Kane non-stop partially because of it.
Fox only got twenty minutes tonight. I hope they sit him a few games. Not sure if it's feasible with the cap situation. He looked a lot slower last season against TB than he did during the regular season.
You really need to have a quick series at some point in the playoffs but the Rangers aren't significantly better than any of the teams they'll be playing (if they are at all).