Poetic justice that it's Stempniak who buries one on the doorstep. His right shot would be PERFECT on the third line right now. Just add him to the list of guys pushed out of town by Tanner Glass: Stempniak, Etem, Stoll, Sheppard.....
How are undersized, overpaid softies like Staal, Girardi & Boyle going to tighten up? Better call Balco! The Rangers defensive unit gets paid a shitload of money while the 8 guys on the Devils roster make $13 mil combined so I think it's more than appropriate to call the Rangers dmen out when they keep making the same basic coverage mistakes and fail to quickly clear the puck. An average shift lasts 40-60 seconds, about the same amount of time it takes our dmen to move the puck to the neutral zone for a line change dump in. If Girardi is hurt he should be sitting and healing. McIlrath is a simple solution to shake things up, he brings a unique component to the Rangers defense - no way Stempniak is posted up with his junk in Hank's face if Dylan is on the ice. The biggest problem with the offense is the continuing refusal of the top line players to take open shots, some even point blank, it's unbelievable. Special teams and breakouts begin with the coach so AV and staff deserve criticism. I find it hard to believe that our top line players will all collectively have off years and still think this team is going to the playoffs where anything can happen.
Cut it out, guys. We're in second place but really, Gorton cannot possibly stay still during the deadline. We need change. Stepan in the off wing on the PP is a noble idea but the guy is a playmaker not a sniper and his shot is softer than warm butter. Even worse is that the team keeps trying to force the puck to him for the one timer.
It still boils down to the fact that this is not the type of roster that could take on numerous players having down seasons. It's not even just about the goals, assists and points for the usual suspects. Stepan for example takes a dumb penalty last night for no reason and that leads to a New Jersey goal on the Power Play. You simply cannot do stuff like that.
I have been down on Stepan for a few weeks now and last night did not help. And did you see his post-game comments? Gross (twitter): Stepan - "We’ve got to find a way to get ourselves hungry and make sure we compete the right way in the third period." Are you fucking kidding me Stepan? You wear a letter for this team, get paid 6.5m and need to "find a way to get yourself hungry"? Somebody send this guy a value pack of 5 hour energy or something.
For my money I hope gorton is looking to see what he can get for stepan especially before his mmc comes into play and he becomes another anchor we can't move.
One thing I can say without question. I hate this team. I don't like the way they play. They have no identity. They aren't big. They have actually gone from one of the fastest teams to a team that is made to look slow on occasion. I don't care about losing Hagelin. However, playing Glass who is slow, D. Moore who looks slow now, Stepan who is slow as molasses, so is Hayes, Girardi who is slow, Boyle who is slow, Staal who is slowing, is a problem. Skjei will be a great addition to a slow defense with his speed. McIlrath isn't swift but his long reach makes up for a lack of speed. Either way, the team needs major changes like I said. Not one. Not minor changes. I hope Gorton can finally see this team isn't going anywhere. For the first time, I'd deal Stepan in the right trade. Especially, before his dumbass NTC kicks in. If St. Louis would send Shattenkirk in a Stepan deal and work out the cap money, do it. Then use Yandle and Hayes and trade for a center to replace center.
There is no reason to keep Yandle because Graves is slowly turning to a monster left handed defenseman prospect. Skjei will be a top 4 pairing. With McDonagh, the left side is set for years. Getting Shattenkirk with McIlrath will solidify the right side for a long time.
AV also deserves criticism for playing Tanner Glass every game, indefensible. With Klein out Megna got the call up so hopefully Tanner sits. Fractured thumb for Klein, looked like he was slashed before he went down but either way he's out indefinitely. Paille was a nice pickup by Gorton.
Stepan is a paycheck player if I ever saw one. This greedy tool has held out twice already in his short career to get more money. Dickless Gorton or the old fart should go to stepan and tell his ass. You either play like a 6 million dollar center or we are gonna trade your ass before your NTC kicks in. Too many guys from the core feel way too comfortable having long term deals right now.
They should deal Stepan and a 2nd for Eric Staal and a 1st. Then aim to re-sign Staal for basically what Stepan is making.
Yeah tell Stepan he better play like a $6 million player or we're magically going to find a team willing to take his contract. Seems like a legit threat.
So whats your plan? Mess. Please enlighten us. According to you, all our core guys have terrible contracts and no other teams would want them. There is nothing can be done. Gorton should just sit on his ass and collect his paycheck.
Never said nothing can be done. Stop throwing your usual stomp your feet tantrum whenever you don't agree with something. The core guys have been resigned to long term big cap deals so they're very difficult and unlikely to move. The point is that making up video game fantasy trades because you somehow don't want the player or his contract anymore is silly. Stepan has four years left and comes with a cap hit of $6.5 million. How many teams do you think could possibly be in play to take that on? And if he's that bad and underachieving that you want to just give up on him why in the world would they take it on? It's the typical one sided fan view of things instead of being objective. You want to snap your fingers and have somebody take care of all your headaches and cap issues just like that. The guys more likely to be able to be moved are expiring deals like Yandle and Boyle if anyone wants him. On the forward side you would have to take a risk in moving a Hayes or Kreider. Now stomp your feet all your want and insist somebody is going to be falling over themselves to take Rick Nash off the Rangers hands or look at it with some common sense and how sports and the cap game works.
Why don't you stop acting like a know it all and telling people what to do. Perhaps then you won't get everybody on your case. We all disagree but your arrogance lately is absurd. Not to mention speaking in absolutes. Stating Stepan won't get traded. How the fuck do you know? You aren't the GM and you don't work for the team. You have as much knowledge on who will get traded as we do. Jack shit. There wasn't anybody on this board who saw the Yandle deal coming. Nobody talked about it. We sure as hell didn't think Duclair would get dealt. Anybody with a clue would be intrigued as to why the team didn't put the no trade clause in the first year of Stepan's contract. That is very odd and not something you normally see. To me that signifies that they were not sure about signing this player to a long term contract. So, I think there is a 50-50 chance he gets dealt. It's pretty obvious Brassard is the much better player at this point.
I think your eligibility for a NTC is linked to when you would be eligible for unrestricted free agency. Knowing Sather I'm sure he would have given him a full clause if it was allowed.
