Nash A+ Went from an incompetent idiot to a guy that has saved this team up to this point. Klein A Has stepped up to save the incompetence of some defense. Offense is huge. Brassard A- Has taken his regular season game up to his playoff game. D. Moore A- Basically, the only sonabitch on this team who can win a draw. Plays hard. Stepan B+ Almost a point per game but he sucks on faceoff which drags him down. St. Louis B+ At his age his production is still pretty darn good. Fast B Many moron Rangers fans bashed him. He's turning into a good 4th line player. Hunwick B Not a fan but he's filled in better than could be expected. Girardi B Solid most games. Same as usual Talbot B Solid as backup Staal B- Takes way too much crap. Still shuts down top forwards. Makes some stupid mistakes but most every NHL defenseman does. Lundqvist B- Not great but his defense has sucked in front of him too much. Hagelin C+ Disappointing to say the least. Hayes C+ Embarrassing on faceoffs but he's had some good moments Stempniak C+ 10 points for a role player is decent at this point Duclair C He would do more but he needs to be on a top line Miller C If the kid played hard every game he'll rocket up this list. Zucc C- For the most part, he's sucked. Kreider D Underachieved and has his head up his ass. He is a joke compared to his playoff play. McDonagh D- He has been a bumbling idiot on defense this year. J. Moore See McDonagh Glass F- Scrub who should rot in the minors. Boyle F- 10 games and no assists. Basically, useless.
What about Hank's grade? I'd go C+. His stats overall have been weak but the 4 shutouts in 20 games boost the grade, usually that's the guy who shows up as the season progresses. Klein has been outstanding both sides of the puck, leads the team in shooting %, wish the rest of the defensive unit would follow his lead and just put their shots on goal.
Taking into account that the offense from the Rangers defensive unit aside from Klein has been pathetic (3 G/27 A), several forwards expected to play large parts in this year's scoring haven't (Kreider/Hags/Zucc - (13 G/22A), their special teams aren't so special (22nd in PP/16th in PK) and they've had to play through several injuries the Rangers have hung in there. There have been a few unbelievingly frustrating losses where they didn't show up to play or suffered critical mental lapses that lost games but the Rangers are still only 5 wins off the lead teams. They really haven't put together any type of winning streak since October when they won 4 games in a row but the Rangers are still in the playoff hunt. I still believe that this team is more talented than last year's and it's probable that most of the above will improve.
My message to Kreider would be simple if I"m AV. If he didn't start playing like he does in the playoffs, I'm going to send you to the minors and call you up 5 games before the playoffs if the big club looks like it will make the playoffs. Let him deal with that and see if he pulls his head from his ass.
Don't you think it is just a bit too extreme? Just scratch him for a game if you want to send a message to CK. He has not been that terrible all season to be send to the minors. AV is NOT Torts.
In 24 games he's 4G 9A 13PTS. He has been garbage. Especially considering he scored a goal in the first game of the year. That means 3 goals in the last 23 games. This from a guy you expected and needed to be one of the top scoring forwards.
He was getting some scoring chances but just could not bury them. Lately he has been playing like garbage.
If you think back to the playoffs, this guy dominated. He dominated the Kings. He just didn't finish. They had no answer for him or Hagelin with their speed. Neither one of those players is skating anything like they did in the playoffs. I'm not saying players can play 82 regular season games like playoff games. However, Kreider and Hagelin have to turn it up in at least half the regular season games. That's not a lot to ask. If Kreider played half the regular season games like he did in the playoffs, he would be at least a 60 point player.
I would give Hayes a solid B even though he hasn't been great on faceoffs he's added stability offensively during the injuries. He's getting better each game. Staal i wouldn't give more than a C, he's been average at best.
