Staal was awful today...he made mistake after mistake. That is the one contract I wish we could have back. Once we got Yandle it was compounded even more. Long way off, but wonder what we will do with Yandle/Staal after the season. Obviously one will be gone for sure.
I am not going to overreact to a bad 5 game stretch or 23 game start to a season. We were way worse last season and look at how that went. Point is it's way early and yeah as we have all said the team needs to pick up their play, especially the D, but I cannot go over the top and draw these huge conclusions 23 games into the season. If we did that the past few seasons we would have said we were a bad team. It is way early, but I do agree we need to tighten up in our zone and play MUCH better than we have these last 5 games.
Chuck you mentioned Kreider. I've called him out often since last year. I've had it with him at this point. He's adding absolutely nothing.
It'll be Yandle gone. Staal's NTC and big money make him damn near impossible to move. He's NOT going to take a trade to a shitty team, so before you start being fantasy GM dump, don't say he's going to Phoenix or Edmonton or any crappy team like that. He MAY take a trade to Carolina to be with his brothers, but I don't see Carolina taking that contract back and us getting anything of value back.
Sather is his moronic no trade clauses or limited no trades have put the Rangers in a terrible spot. More stupidity.
That Stepan situation was complete crap. It's a dangerous late hit that takes him out of the game and we end up losing a dman for 15 minutes for coming to his defense.
Kreider is a guy I am almost done with. Tired of him playing a game or two where he looks dominant, and then disappearing for long stretches and making dumb plays. Then he comes back and plays a few good games and we all get excited again, just to be letdown when he falters again and makes a bunch of dumb plays. BTW...hope Step is okay. Expect he will be since he finished the 2nd, but who knows. Never like when a guy comes back and then goes out.
We started slow last year, but we all saw the flaws because we were losing. Some on here have ignored the flaws because of wins. Win or lose, the flaws were always there. We are giving up 35-40 shots per game. We are giving up 10-15 high scoring chances a game. That is unacceptable. Hank covered up a TON of the blemishes and got us wins that blinded some to the easy to spot flaws. The defense is a flaw. The inability to win board battles is a flaw. The inability to clear the zone is a flaw. These are all flaws we've had since before this past five games. It's just over the past 5 Hank hasn't stolen the game for us.
Yeah, I thought the Step play was a penalty as well, but they didn't call it...is what it is. I don't complain about refs...things usually even out.
It's laughable. It truly is. That is 100% a penalty for at the very least interference. The puck had been moved, and then two to three seconds later he's drilled into the wall. The instigator penalty was bullshit. It's always been bullshit. I understand why they did it, but the better solution is to have made it a call for the refs to make if it's a LEGIT instigator. Not every single time should that be called a penalty.
I don't think anyone has ignored any flaws. It was the same thing last season, and the same thing the season before, so I won't overreact to them this season. No different really. And we were way worse through 23 last season. What we do. Difference is this season our record was better because Hank was playing really well. Again many were calling for Cam over Hank last season at this time. Now with that said, just because we did it last season or the prior season doesn't mean we will do it this season. I personally will bet on this team playing well as they have done every season the past few years, but at some point that well will run dry. I am hopeful it will not be this season.
Hence why i have said numerous times your defense can not be the man to put fear into the other team. Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
They were out there for a long shift....because none of them could clear the zone. That's been a weakness all year.
Long shift, but it wasn't all on the D...it was the D and forwards. The in zone coverage has been poor overall recently, not just on the D. To me the whole team is off their game right now. That tells me the team isn't as focused and into it as they need to be...and that happens over a long 82 game season. We are in a funk that really started at TB...we'll see if they can get out of it tomorrow against Philly. Big game at NYI this week as well.
He's a waste of a forward spot. It's ridiculous. At the very least he should be a physical presence out there. I don't know what contract he's playing for. He deserves nothing.
