McIlrath is not slow. That's just stupidity. He also has a huge reach. Chara was slow as molasses and for a while, nobody got around him because of his reach. This defense is soft and isn't built for the playoffs. Period. We saw that last year. They were all hurt by the end of the post season and the team should have lost to the Craps in 5. This defense has given up tons of glorious scoring chances all year. They don't clear the crease. Other teams forwards have no fear about skating into the zone. You could see the frustration on Hank's face after last game. The team forward wise is set for a few years. Especially with Buchnevich probably coming into the mix next year While the age might not reflect it, the defense looks old. I've supported Staal and Girardi for years. Our spoiled fan base states they suck every year when it's nonsense. They were among the better shutdown guys for years. They both look old this year. I would be all in favor of the team trading Staal or Yandle for a 1st. The reality is this team is going to draft defense, defense and more defense in the draft next year. I'd like them to have a first rounder. If the reports are good on Skjei down there, he can come up after game 40. To me, this defense this year has shown no ability to shut any top offense down. Tarasenko embarassed them all game. I haven't seen that happen to this defense in many years.
As the Rangers sit on top of the Met and near the top of the NHL, and are a clear win now team, I cannot see them dealing one of their top 6 dmen for a pick...not happening IMO. Now this summer could they deal Staal, assuming they can get him to waive his NTC, yes I could see that and then resign Yandle. But as it stands now I just don't see the Rangers dealing a dman unless they get a dman back. They have already made their peace with letting the Yandle thing play out and dealing with it after the season. As the season progresses and we hit the dog days of winter I fully expect McIlrath to play more games giving G, Klein, and Boyle some games off. I won't sweat it 20 games into the season. If we are sitting at 50 games in and AV still never plays McIlrath, then I will have more of an issue because I don't think it is smart to play a guy like Girardi 80 games.
If Nash needs an enforcer this team has more issues then simply dan boyle Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
