The title of Brooks' latest article. Does this guy EVER write a positive column about the Rangers? Be honest everyone...is Brooks a poster on this board....
He has to write something eye catching that will bait the reader into reading his article, like he did with Chuck. Besides, let's not pretend ANYONE on this board thought this team would be off to a 15-3-2 start.
For the record I did not read the article...I just saw the title and laughed. But yeah that is eye catching for sure...agreed.
Brooks to the Rangers is what Graziano is to the Giants. They have to be negative. The Rangers aren't flawless but who is? Nobody expected this start and it's a nice surprise because this has usually been a solid second half team. Therefore this start at the quarter mark is a positive.
Here's my take on the Rangers. Went to the ECF last season, went to the SCF the prior season, went to the 2nd round the season before that, and went to the ECF the season before that. We are 1000000000% SC or bust now...we can lose game 7 of the SCF and that isn't good enough at this point. What that means is possibly the regular season is a little bit of a chore/grind to a team with that type of sole focus (I know all teams say cup or bust but none that haven't won have done what the Rangers have done the past 4 seasons). So that could lead to off nights and maybe the D not playing as tough as in past years. It is human nature whether we want to accept it or not. With that said we are still 15-3-2, so that is the best part of the story. That is also why I am not sweating it too much that our D has been up and down in the first 20 games. It is also why I think as the season progresses McIlrath will play more and give some rest to G, Klein, and Boyle. That's my take at least.
My take: Rangers speed game causes many turnovers.....giving their opponent great chances. Thanks to the 'last bastion of hope' (Hank Lundqvist), Rangers have done well so far. Upcoming games against Nashville & Montreal are cause for concern. Why? Because these two teams are premier entries for Stanley Cup honors down the road. Recently, Preds have scoring issues, but they play the same type game as the Rangers and their D is outstanding..... it will be a battle between Rinne & Lundqvist. Ditto with Montreal, a team that always capitalizes on opponents' mistakes. Again, it will be a goaltender's showcase between Price & Lundqvist. Like the Rangers, both teams rely on their goaltenders, and yet, they also rely on their speed. It's still early and there will be plenty to praise and there will be room for improvement. The road is never easy. Oh, I never read Brook's diatribe. He's a gimmick writer having no knowledge about the game. He's another example of bullshit media. Brooks can definitely be found on the HF Boards! LOL
Also, I believe it was Kreidertime who pointed out that every team is bringing their 'A Game' when they play the Rangers. So, the question is when do the Rangers bring their A Game? Like most of us here, we're hoping it comes & stays playoff time.
The one thing that has to happen if it's every going to is that Kreider needs to up his game. It's getting to the point where you're almost going to question if he can score 20 goals consistently let alone 30. Enough of the excuses out being timid because he ran some goalies. You can either play at a consistent level or you can't.
Brooksie is still thinking like its the pull-and-tug era. He wants the Rangers to trade away assets for guys like Doan. He thinks that is the missing piece for this team and it will get them over the hump
When it comes to 'room for improvement', Kreider comes to mind......the kid thinks too much.....should just go out there and create havoc(have some fun). Also, for a guy who has tons of experience(he's 39 yrs old), Boyle also is pressing, besides his slowing down. Brassard in the 1st quarter has been over passing, instead of shooting. In fact, many players are over passing early in the season.
His article is not far-fetched at all, and most of the points are valid. The defense gives up alot of prime chances, they don't get enough pp's and they don't have another big forward to help on the Kreider line. That's where i disagree with him that a dynamic player like Buchnevich couldn't make an impact even this year, he could, or go get a Ladd type. The team is still too perimeter oriented.
I don't worry about the D AT ALL. I do think we need to get grittier/tougher upfront to actually score some goals in the playoffs and not have to grind everything out, which wears you down by the ECF/SCF.
Do you not remember the 2011 team? Dubi Callahan Boyle Prust Fedotenko John Mitchell, Mike Rupp, freaking STU BICKEL got a ton of playoff minutes on that team. That team was all sandpaper, people said we need skill. We changed the coach, changed the roster. Now we have skill and people saying we need grit. 15-3, FIRST GAA, but the defense sucks. This board makes my head spin.
^^^^^^I'm glad you mentioned it. I was going to write that the Rangers never had speed & grit at the same time on their teams. Thanks for the reminder. I guess they can't have both.
Every team is going to have holes It's very, very hard to get that perfect balance of grit and speed/skill on a team. Guys like that are rare, and thus very expensive. We're blessed with a few of them in Nash, Zucc and, to an extent, Kreider. McDonagh on the back end. I'd say we're a more well-balanced team than Chicago was last year, but they won the Cup with their skill and timely goals, not out-gritting teams. I like where we're at. Brooks can take the "mirage" theme of that article and shove it, but I agree with the part that there's still a hole in the top 6 at RW. I've been saying that since draft day. It's not a deal breaker, but it's the one place I see where the team can be substantially improved. On D, they might not be playing very well right now, but it's a top defense in the league and they know what they need to do. There is zero reason to doubt them for having a crappy first 20 games after the body of work they have put together. Let's see how this thing plays out before we all declare this team not cup worthy.
We are right there. The regular season is what it is. All comes down to the playoffs. I think we need to focus on getting the puck on net and stop the fancy stuff and we'll be fine. Outside of that we are as good as any team. It is darn hard to win the SC, toughest trophy to win, we have to hope things go our way in May/June. Over the long 82 game haul there will be ups and downs, how it works. I have full faith this team will be right there, from there the chips will fall where they will.
Brooks is a mor0n but this article is for the most part, right on the money. If this team had gotten good goaltending instead of all world goaltending, they would probably be .500
In fact, I can't remember more than maybe 2 games where the defense has been what I would call very good.
