boston is topps, no arguement from me.... BUT i was lookin at their full roster, we are actually the overall bigger team, so explain to me why is it that physicality seems to be the difference. we match up talent wise pretty much , i mean i know the differnce between lucic and chara ... bergeron and marchand... but, are they significantly better then nash richards zucc st louis kreider, hags? to name a few...... this thread mite be ridiculous to most of you, i don't know hockey, but if both these teams are in PS, will 1 team be that dominant? to me it could go either way don't want to leave any other team out, PITT is still a great team, but they lost a lot when cooke left team IMO
The Rangers under Torts early on used to always beat Boston in close games. However, the Rangers then got the stupid bug with Boston's 4th line who ended up winning almost every game they played vs. the Rangers. Pretty absurd. That is what I was attempting to explain to Chuck. If you had a 4th line of Pouliot-Lindberg-(player from trade) and a 3rd line of Hagelin-Miller-Fast instead of wasting tons of money on fat cat, UFA's, the team would be much better against Boston. The Rangers have too many lazy, unmotivated role players. Richards is a lazy, overpaid role player at this point. Boyle has always been lazy. Dorsett even has been lazy this season. That's 1/4 your forwards that are lazy. D. Moore plays really hard. He's just not a big time role player. The effort and courage has not been there vs. Boston like it used to be. Boston loves to take away other teams top 2 lines and win with depth. Put out a good 3rd and 4th line like the Hawks did, and they can't handle it.
Boston is a veteran team who have all played in that system for a long time without a ton of change in roster each year. They are bigger than the Rangers and just have better chemisty with their lines which do go 4 deep. I don't think there is light years difference in the roster. I do think playing in Juliens systems for awhile helps them....That isn't something the Rangers have as an advantage but the Rangers can establish that as an advantage for them as they play in AV's system longer. Boston has a proven system of players that have confidence in playing it because they have won before. Boston roster is better but I don't think the gap is as much as people think
Exactly the reason you play Fast, Lindberg and Miller next year. These are the type of smart, two way players that Boston has all over their roster. Especially on the lower lines. Yes, we need the toughness of McIlrath on our defense and probably a very tough, 4th line winger who can play. What we don't need to do is spend money in UFA like the tools they used to be when they have players on the farm that are NHL ready.
