I've said from a start they need to get somebody in here to share time with Cam which Lundy is out. Cam is a solid backup but the key word is backup. Over the long haul these guys get exposed.
I get it. You think Cam should've started over Lundy in the playoffs last year. Lets not go down that road again.
Funny Mess. I think Cam will be a 3 goal a game guy. Sure he will have some with less and sure he will have some with more, but overall as a starter I think he'll be close to a 3 gpg guy. Is what it is. Anyway you slice it we need to score more with Cam in net of course, so let's see if the O can step up. Maybe a 4-3 win at Toronto is on deck.
The real issue to me over the last month has been overall team play. The offense has dried up, except for Nash no one is scoring consistently and the d is inconsistent as well. Mcd has had his head up his ass in some games. Girardi cant keep the puck in at the blue line if his life depended on it.
McD has clearly not played to his ability, there is no way to argue that at this point. The D overall has been solid IMO. Every team has a lapse or two in games. The D overall has been solid as usual. The issue is the O. Unless Nash scores we struggle. And we get almost all of our O from the top 6, that is not a recipe for playoff success. That is why I think for the team we are right now I like Hags/Hayes/Miller on the 3rd line, gives us our best shot at a 3rd line that can produce. I would go with that until we deal for another top 9 forward, and I'll assume AV will with Fast out now. If it wasn't for a gift PP late AND then a bad play by Leht we would have scored 1 goal against bad D Dallas. Clearly not good enough. And even with the gifts 2 is not good enough against that team either.
The way I look at it is that they have some guys who should have some more goals than they currently do. Hopefully, down the stretch they start getting some more consistent contributions. You would love to see a guy like Kreider get hot.
Will a goalie ever give up a goal and get thrashed on here for it? They are all fucking human beings.
Amen Al. I agree with you. Like I said to Step, I don't care about two games, I said this BEFORE the games this weekend. I simply don't think Cam is going to be anything special starting 15 games for us. He is a very solid backup, but will be a 3 gpg guy +/- as a long term starter right now. So I am not getting on him for 1 goal or 2 goals or 3 goals. I have felt this way before any of these games. Hopefully I will be very wrong.
Comparing Cam to Hank is stupid, he is obviously less talented and way less experienced but a better option than any of the free agent garbage that will come at a higher price and allow 4+ goals a game. I agree Cam does need to work on controlling rebounds but I think any criticism regarding the last 2 games should be directed toward the team as a whole. Too many offensive opportunities in both games ended up with a turnover due to a bad, usually no look pass, or a shot that missed the goal. The Rangers are 4th in the NHL in GAA and that is solidly due to Hank. His injury is going to expose the softness of the Rangers defense but feel free to put the blame on Cam if you want to avoid that reality. Come playoff time Rangers fans will once again lament the defensive unit's inability to clear players from the crease or punish opponents cruising through the slot. Cam made several great saves on point blank shots in the Nashville game and gave up 3 goals on slap shots taken inside the top of the circle. If Hank would have stopped any one of those 3 shots it would be dumb luck as there's no time to react from that distance, all a goalie can do is hope to correctly position himself. The question is how can a Pred have the time to wind up and take a slap shot from such a close and normally congested spot on the ice without getting levelled or at least bumped? The first goal in last night's game was another example of soft defense. Spezza passes to Seguin and then coasts right down the slot between Girardi and McD for the tap in without even getting his jersey wrinkled. Second goal was a stoppable wrist shot from on a 3 on 2 with under 2 minutes in the period after Hayes turned the puck over entering the Stars offensive zone. Hags overpursues and instead of locking up with Hemsky or better yet Cole he plays neither and it's 2-1 Stars. The overtime goal by Hemsky was a pretty one, taking a pass on the boards and skating to his right for almost 5 seconds unmolested save a love tap from Boyle he rips a shot over Cam's right shoulder that was screened perfectly by Seguin. Staal couldn't budge Seguin so that counts as a soft goal by Cam? Nonsense. If you lack confidence in Cam that's fine but don't portray half the goals he gave up as softies that even a Sabre goalie would stop especially when he's replacing one of the great goalies in the NHL.
Of course you cannot compare Cam to one of the best goalies in the world. We disagree on the D though. In the last two games Cam has allowed 1 soft goal for sure in each, and 1 or 2 others he maybe could have stopped. That is not on the D. And how many of these great D's are due to their goalie? The goalie is always the biggest key. The first goal of the game was a 5 on 3 bro...what do you think the success of teams scoring on 5 on 3's is? The 2nd goal 100% needs to be stopped. You can list all the other stuff, but the puck went right through Cam. The OT goal was not a soft goal. Could have been stopped, but not a goal I would classify as soft. Bottom line to me is a goalie is judged on the goals he allows. Cam has allowed a soft goal in each of the past two games. Is what it is. I won't blame the D for that. I am hopeful that as Cam plays more he will tighten up his game some and the soft goals won't happen. Our D is fine. How many D's in the NHL are better 1-6? Not a lot I can tell you that. Not saying we are the best 1-6, but we are certainly in the upper group.
not for nothing but the tying goal was soft, these things happen, cant score 2 goals a game and expect to win much
And that is the biggest key of all. The O needs to improve and we need to add another top 9 forward. That's the biggest point out of this whole thing.
AV has to take some of the blame. He lets them run the locker room and I think some of them need a wake up call. Remember when Zuck was benched he came back hungry. MSL is suppose to be one of the leaders but it must be hard for him to say anything with his play lately. someone needs to tell them to shoot the puck. I think it should be AV
A big problem is McDonagh who's supposed to be a top 10 player but looks like he has no confidence and is a turnover waiting to happen.
To the point Mess and I are making. This is from Pierre this AM: Pierre McGuire was on SiriusXM this morning and was asked about the Rangers and being without Henrik Lundqvist. Pierre said, “I didn’t like Talbot’s game yesterday, I don’t think you can completely blame him in their OT loss to Dallas but, he has to be better and he can’t let goals go through his body. Their defense is good enough and they can play a four line game and I know they will try to be very active going into the trade deadline, that will be interesting to see what they add and what they need to pay to get those players that they want to add.” He added, “again, Cam has got to be a little bit more secure and he knows that. The Rangers are going into Toronto tomorrow and they have a chance to right the ship and come together as a group because they are about to go on a road trip.”
I agree with everything he said. From his comments on Cam to his comments on our D to his comments on us being very active at the trade DL. Well said Pierre.
People shouldn't be shocked about St. Louis and Boyle. This is what you get with guys their age with alot of miles in their legs. I think he's a good guy but there's no way I bring back St. Louis. He looks like a guy at the end of the line right now.
My take on MSL is he will show his true value in the playoffs (and he is a leader). He also has been solid on the PP. He is still on pace for 22 goals and 60 points, so that is solid (although he has struggled recently). I still maintain that not all 3 can be brought back between Hags, Zucc, and MSL. The only way it can happen is if MSL takes a big decrease down to 3 mill per season for 2 years maybe, and Zucc accepts around 4/low 4's per season for a few years (Zucc is on pace for 13 goals and 47 points). To me I don't view MSL as a major issue looking forward. He either takes what we can offer, 3 +/- I expect, or he can sign somewhere else no hard feelings. I am more torn on Zucc because the guy has had one good season, and he will want a raise. He hopefully will understand he should stay around 4 (a little raise) and be happy here. If he wants big money, and someone will offer it I bet, then he will be gone as well. Cannot give a guy with one good year more than 4 mill per +/- (if he rips it up in the playoffs or down the stretch that can change obviously). And BTW...shoot the darn puck Zucc. And if we want to get bigger, save some cap space, and open spots for Duclair, Miller, and maybe Buch I doubt all 3 are back.
Both guys still have it in them physically they just need to step it up a notch. But i would be careful with bringing msl back, that 4m could be better deployed.
