Stepan is now killing this team. He's regressed. I might seriously try to get the Oilers 1st round pick which I think they have no interest in keeping. They can't pay 5 players 7 million a year. I think MDZ, Fast and Talbot would be good enough to get that 1st round pick. MDZ would immediately play 20 minutes a game there. Talbot would give them some goaltending. Fast should be a fine two way player. Bottom line is you get 3 starters for a team that sucks and needs to win now.
Stepan is frustrating right now no doubt. We need him to do more. I have to believe he will get better and do more. All we can do is hope he works hard and tries to better himself and his game. I want to believe he will get there, but at this point who knows. I don't like that he appears to be passing up a lot of good chances to shoot and instead tries to make low % passes. That looks like a player with low confidence. I think he gets better, and when he does we will be better for it. On the trade front I would still focus on a winger who can score, and a physical dman. I think those are our needs at the moment. I also like the fact that Girardi appears to be playing better recently, still think we lean towards re-signing him unless he wants a crazy deal and/or we fall apart. Cally is frustrating me like Stepan is at the moment. He just seems to be off. Maybe coming back from his latest injury will take some time to adjust. But I'll say this, we better not break the bank to re-sign him. Stay in the 4's for sure per season, and I would like to see mid 4's at most for the cap hit. We'll see.
Tough loss, the Rangers outplayed Tampa but left with nothing but a good effort, Bishop should be an Olympian. Brassard and Stepan need to shoot more, Brassard tried to make a low percentage pass with 4 minutes left instead of shooting for an open corner. Callahan's penalty was inexcusable, Bishop embellished but Ryan definitely takes the dumbest penalty of the year so far and was the turning point in the game followed by MDZ brain cramping but Hank made another weak effort on a breakaway on a not that great move. If they beat the Wings still a very good homestand.
Agree, cant get worked up over this loss. This team will finish most probably between 6 or 8th seed. Will be a dogfight, scoreboard watching until the last game as always. Same shit different year. As chuck would say, "It is what it is"
Chuck, unfortunately with todays prices neither cally or girardi are signing for less than 5 plus a year. And if I'm right Rangers should look for some young assets and picks at the deadline. Cally I don't think at this point is that hard to replace and while losing girardi would hurt he's not exactly bobby orr eitherr
I think another team lacking defensive talent will offer Girardi $5+ after seeing some of the ridiculous contracts last year. Dan's a solid, consistent dman who's still relatively young.
A lot will depend on how much the cap goes up. If it goes up a decent amount, all free agents are going to get more than what you think they should get based on today's cap.
Beating the Red Wings is no easy task......especially with this team. Playing the Rangers is the last game of their road trip.....they have been off since last Sunday night.
Girardi is not taking 2/9. Think what Dmen who play his minutes get on open market. I get that he had a lot of miles on him but his minutes are not easy to replace. I guess you don't resign him then ;-)
