Either our defenseman are retarded or AV's system is

I swear on Montreal's goal I saw three guys 1 foot in front of Lundqvist wide open in front of the net. Somebody needs to get fired on our coaching staff.

 

Not able to see the game and only just turned it on the radio, but I see Shaw had a 10 minute misconduct and a 5 minute interference penalty for a hit on Fast. What happened and is everyone ok?

 

I'm leaning towards..well, i shouldn't think that. It's sad but i actually was upset HL had to come in the game. I don't think it's a big stretch saying Raanta is just as good now.

 

Let's hope Raantas not out long.

 

A typical rangers-montreal where the rangers never win and often lose in excruciating fashion like tonight. The defense blows and Hank looks like he's aged 7 years this offseason. And if the season ended today our first round opponent is you guessed it... the canadians. Hank looks worn out in the post game interview.

 

I'm tired of worrying. I leave that up to Ranger management. That's what they get paid for...........................

 

Been saying about upgrading this abysmal defense all season. Now Lundqvist looks like he is not the same goalie anymore, they are not going anywhere. That Vigneault guy has a lot of work to do.

 

Puzzy team. Shaw takes a run at Fast and cleans the ice with Miller.... No ballz

 

This isn't about toughness first Strud. This is about a team that has an old goalie that is playing old and 4 defenseman three defenseman that stink.

 

I've starting to lose interest in this team. Every time they faced one of the better teams they consistently up 4 or more goals. In other words, this team isn't going to do anything. Their goalie looks like an old man. Trading picks for go for it now moves has badly hurt the organization. Once again the team is abysmal on faceoffs. This continues to hurt them badly in games. The fact Graves isn't up here shows what a stubborn moron AV is with his vet defenseman who stink.

I think we are at the point now where Gorton really has to consider a deal around Stepan and Duchene. Duchene is not fitting in with the AV's. It's obvious. He also wins 61% of his draws. Time to move Stepan is now before his idiotic NTC clauses kicks in next season. Right now Stepan is a better player than Duchene all around. I would think you could get a second back with Duchene for Stepan.

Honestly, the next guy I move is Zucc. There can't be any emotion here. Zucc is 29 and he's 5'7. When his play falls off he's going to drop off the cliff like a rock. It's quite obvious Chicago is desperate for a wing to play with Toews. So, I ship Zucc to Chicago for their first, second , Kruger and Pokka. Chicago is desperate. Pokka is pretty much NHL ready and is a righty. Clendening just has no clue how to play defense. He's a good 7th guy. He should play a full year on our AHL team. Maybe he will learn how to play defense. If you can't play better D than Girardi or Klein at this point, it's not good.

I would move Kruger immediately to another team for some picks. Add Pokka and Duchene plus a first, second and some picks for Kruger. Take it from there. I really don't see the offense dropping off much subtracting Stepan and Zucc and adding Duchene if Buchnevich stays healthy and Zibanejad comes back.

 

Here's my take (and I think it differs from many):

1. We are in the spot we want to be in right now. 4th in the Met means you crossover and play Montreal round 1 and then Toronto/Boston/Ottawa in round 2. That is a better path than Wash/Pitt round 1 and Wash/Pitt round 2. We'd be the underdog against the Habs, and certainly could lose that series, but that is the better path. Need to get points to stay there of course, 7 up for 4th right now, but to me that is the desired spot. And home ice means zero to this team, I actually rather start on the road. Team has been better on the road for a while now IMO. The last 4 or 5 home playoff games have been a disaster for us.

2. Losing Staal hurts right now. Staal/Holden was our best D pair, and by far our most consistent pair. Losing Staal and breaking that pair up hurts. Injuries are part of the game though, so no excuses, but hope Staal is back soon.

3. We need another dman. This is not breaking news. We all know we cannot win or go far without another dman added (and Staal returning). That's reality. I'll leave the fantasy trades that never happen for others to makeup, I'll just say we need another dman...no doubt about it.

4. Z should be back against Dallas or worst case at Toronto. I for one am looking forward to having the full forward group back together next game or in two more games. I think it will be huge for us. Z is our best faceoff guy (we have really struggled there since he went out), he is a R shot we need for the PP, and he gives us great balance in the top 9 with him back at C. Should be a good bump from his return.

5. I actually think Raanta being out will help Hank. Sounds crazy, but Hank needs to play more I think, and with Raanta out he has to. I don't think it is reflexes or he is slower, I truly think it is mental. Playing goalie in the NHL is very much mental, and his reads have been off, his focus has been off, these are the things he has been struggling with in my opinion. Up to this point, he hasn't played this few of games since his rookie season, and it is showing in his focus and mental game. Now maybe it will prove to be age and he is done being a top level goalie, but until I see that happen for a full season I will continue to believe he will right the ship as he has always done. He may not and age has finally caught up to him, it will at some point, but he deserves the chance to prove that isn't the case, and there is still plenty of season left to prove it. Yes I am concerned, hard not to be, but I stay hopeful since I think it is mental right now, and I believe getting a good number of starts in a row will be exactly what Hank needs to right the ship as he usually does in season.

So that's my take. Concerned for sure. I don't like a lot of what I am seeing the past handful of games, even including the W's at Philly and at CBJ, and we have had way too many games we simply didn't show up for this season, but I stay hopeful that as we get healthy and Hank plays more we'll get moving in the right direction again.

If we don't though I think we'll see some changes in the offseason. We can do it now with Nash down to one year left, a Girardi buyout making financial sense now, and some youth upfront. This summer could be the make over if we stumble again this Spring.

 

Kovacs is a player the Rangers hope will replace Zucc but be a bigger version. He's very young for the AHL at 20. Which is part of the reason he hasn't done anything offensively there yet. Other reason is the coach is a moron there who has no clue how to coach up offensive forwards. Zucc didn't hit the AHL until he was 22 I believe. Zuccarello is obviously one of our most popular players with the fans. However, at the start of next season he'll be a 5'7 player who is 30. Sadly, this is not a contending team IMO and sometimes you have to sell popular players when their value is high. Stepan is a good NHL center who freakin sucks on faceoffs and always will. It's time to move on from him. On other team with a stronger faceoff supporting cast he would be fine.

As I said, Gorton needs to make sure the stupid AHL coach plays Halverson 80% of the games and somehow can get Shesterkin out of his contract because Hank is starting to stink.

 

I lost interest in this team beginning last year. I was a loyal fan for 10 years watching every game. Now I forget they are on sometimes. Hate to say it but I find them boring to watch most of the time.... Never ever thought I would say that

 

The problem with Hank is quite simple....AV's system. Look at AV's track record of DESTROYING good goalies and how they've rebounded after being away from him. AV is all gung ho for offense but pays no mind to the defensive side of the game, which has clearly shown the past season and a half. We give up a lot of shots from high shooting percentage areas and then yell and scream about Hank not making saves, but the reality is he is making saves (as seen by his save %) but he's facing a lot more shots than he has seen in his whole career the past 1.5 seasons and it's wearing him down. Shed AV and find a coach who can balance offense AND defense (which is what AV did his first year here when we went to the Cup finals) and we will be a much better team immediately. Keep AV here and watch us flounder as a middle of the pack team that is always good enough to make the playoffs, but never good enough to go deep.

That's just my opinion though and I will always root for this team and watch them/listen to them whenever I am able to.

 

Interesting point 94. I am starting to agree with that. Though, I don't want another Torts type. Would have loved to get Babcock in here. I would take a look at Clark Donatelli coaching for the Penguins AHL team. He's interesting. I know he's a nut but I wouldn't mind taking a chance on Roy. This team lacks the fire in big games now including the playoffs. Might actually help to have a goalie behind the bench who will tear the defenseman a new asshole when they leave the crease wide fucking open every game.

 

I do agree that the coaching change may be a good idea at this point. This is a one trick pony system that you can get by in some games but cant win in a long playoff runs. However Lundqvist is the most paid goalie in the league and should be able to make routine saves he at least used to make in his sleep.

 

We may just have to resign ourselves that this could be another one and done year until they get Shatt and overhaul half the defense who puts the team behind the 8-ball in alot of these games. HL is probably losing some but i agree that our lack of coverage puts him in bad spots. You almost really can't fault him for any goal last night. If they lose early we'll have the 16th pick or so which isn't bad. They absolutely have to buyout Girardi and waive Klein if LV dosen't take him.

 

I guess you can live with AV this season and see if you can revamp the defense in the offseason. I agree Girardi and Klein must be gone. Hopefully Staal decides to retire at the end of this season so he does not have to risk another concussion. Thats three spots right there. You bring up Graves and sign Shatt. Maybe make a trade at the draft for someone like Holden for cheap.

 

Klein can be dealt because he's cheap.