I'm not convinced they could make a deep run. Not with Stepan being useless most of the time. If they could find a way to dump him for Duchene, that would be a huge upgrade simply because Duchene fits the style of this team better.
I'm not convinced either. In the NHL playoffs you really never know. In the NBA you know the top teams win in round 1...period. In the NHL that is no lock. Double so when you factor in the ridiculous playoff seeding system the NHL uses where 4 of the top 6 teams in the whole NHL will be in the same half of the East bracket, 2 will play in round 1. The Rangers could very easily play the Pens in round 1 again. That is why I wouldn't mind at all if the BJ's beat the Rangers tonight. No doubt to me getting into the weaker Atlantic bracket and playing Montreal or Ottawa in round 1, and Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, or Boston in round 2 is a much better path than Pitt/Wash in rounds 1 and 2. Not that it would be an easy series in round 1 against Montreal let's say, but there are no easy series in the NHL playoffs, so you just hope for the best road, and the Atlantic is by far that. With that said with 21 games left it is still way early to get too hung up on it yet. A win or loss tonight doesn't lock anything in, but this is one game I wouldn't mind an L in. As for the team, I do truly believe if the Rangers got an upgrade on D they would be a legit SC contender. Right now they are a top 5 or so team, so if they upgrade the D they clearly would be a top team. It comes back to price you'd need to pay (no 1st should be dealt), and path you draw to go on a long run (good luck to any team having to play the Pens and Caps in rounds 1 and 2). I am a big believer that scoring depth is huge in the NHL playoffs unless you have total studs all over your top 6. And we have maybe more scoring depth than any team in the NHL this season. Look at the SCF run in 2014...a big part of our special sauce that season was a 3rd line that had Pouliot/Brass/Zucc on it. This season we have Grabner/Hayes/Miller on the 3rd line. Same sort of awesome depth. And a 4th line that can contribute as well. That is huge come playoff time. If we can upgrade our D to go with that depth, and Hank in goal there is no reason a long run can't happen. And oh BTW we could still lose in round 1 no doubt, Met or Atlantic bracket, again there are no guarantees in the NHL playoffs. The beauty and curse of it. If we upgrade on D my concerns would be: Special Teams. The PK has improved, but still is ranked 14th, which is not good enough. Need to improve there as the playoffs get closer. And the PP has fallen off a cliff again. To me one of those units needs to be very good in order to go far in the SC playoffs, OR they both need to be solid. If both struggle you have virtually no shot to go far. I have some hope here we can play well, especially on the PK, and it needs to happen. We have good PK players, just need to be consistent and clear the puck when given the chance. Recently we have been a little caught up in making plays to try and score SH goals. Get it out. Face-offs. It is an issue. You cannot lose faceoff after faceoff, especially in your own zone (especially on the PK) and expect to win playoff games against the best teams. Your possession #'s get crushed, and the more the other team has the puck the more bad things can happen to you. We need to be better on face-offs, but at this point I have almost no hope this happens, we sort of are what we are there, and we need to hope Ziban can win a lot of draws for this team during the playoff run. He is by far our best FO guy, followed by Lindberg who may be counted on more come playoff time. So to me the opportunity is there if we can improve this D. No reason we cannot make a long run, especially if we get into the Atlantic bracket (we'd be the favorite I think). But, as I said above, we could also easily lose in round 1. Welcome to the NHL playoffs I guess. I would look to upgrade on D (for the right price which means no 1st), and then let the chips fall where they may.
Duchene is one of the best faceoff guys in the league. He has his faults but he brings more of what the Rangers need. They need a top faceoff guy and fast, explosive center more than the defense and right handed shot of Stepan. I would not give up more for Duchene. He's no better of a player than Stepan. He's just a better fit. In fact, I might ask for a second in return along with Duchene. Shattenkirk told the Blues what the world knows. He wants to come to NY. Hopefully, Gorton will not do what moron Sather did and give up picks to a team that has no leverage. I think Gorton is looking at dealing Klein in a deal for Shattenkirk which is why they have been rumored for Smith on Detroit who can play the right side. Wouldn't offer any more than Klein, Pirri and Huska in a deal for Shattenkirk. That's it.
We all know things happen that no one had a clue about, see the Yandle deal, but I haven't seen anywhere really that Stepan could be dealt or that the Avs are looking to deal Duchene. Unlikely that happens now, unless you are just saying man that would be a good deal for us, I haven't heard either of those names mentioned. My best guess is we trade for some help on D and go from there. Will it be Shatty 100% depends on will the Blues lower their demands/will some other team say F it and pay the larger price even though they know he will be a true rental and sign with the NYR next season. The only other possible team I see him being dealt to where he may resign with is the Bruins, so to me that would be the last place we want him to go.
Hank is playing great hockey now, the Rangers can't wait until next year to get Shattenkirk. I think this team can be very tough in the playoffs with a RD upgrade and he's . Shat has a $4.25 cap hit, Rangers have $2.375 space and the Blues only have $1.32 so I don't see how Step could work. Klein's $2.9 is more cap friendly. Nash is the anchor that has to go - his intangibles and close calls are not worth $7.8.
Good post but dont forget the prorated nature of cap hits. Given we're about 3/4 of the way through the season, Shatty would only come with a hit of about $1m or so. We dont need to dump any salary to take him on for this year (signing him for next year is another matter). Also disagree about Nash...while his "intangibles" may not be worth $7.8, the return we get for him at this deadline wouldnt be worth making the trade. If we want to make a run this year we need to keep him. He's also skating incredibly well this year; that breakaway goal he scored against Carey Price was a thing of beauty. Trading him would create a huge hole in the top 6 in terms of size, offensive threat and defensive capability.
I really like Duchene as well. But there's a thread right below this one that you started called "Derek Stepan Sucks Ass," now you're saying Duchene is no better than Stepan and we should in fact ask for the Avs to add. Not sure I follow the logic here. Duchene-Zbad-Hayes down the middle sounds nice but defensively it would be a troubling liability. I still think Stepan is too important to give up on as a 26 year old.
I'm sure someone will panic at the last minute and offer a 1st in a deal for him. Toronto maybe since they really want the playoffs badly up there. I have heard rumors of teams looking at Duchene but not the Rangers. Montreal and Pitt i believe were looking into him. I have feeling Shatt ends up in Pittsburgh as they'll give up a late late 1st and a Pouliot type dman.
I agree Prod. Nash is someone who would be dealt with in the summer, if he is dealt with at all going into the final year of his deal. My guess right now is he plays out next year and we go from there. But he could be flipped this summer I guess. Not happening now...no way. And we have good cap space this trade DL, which is rare for us. That won't preclude us from making the right deal if it is there. As for looking forward, the only real raise worthy RFA we have to deal with this summer is Ziban. The others, Fast and Pirri and Puempel and Lindberg, are all relatively cheap/we would let walk. NEXT summer of 2018 we have RFA's to resign. Miller and Vesey and Hayes and Skjei. So I will say it's a good thing Nash's money will be off the books, and Klein's will as well. Plus the cap will rise two more times prior to the summer of 2018. And at least some of Girardi's hit will be gone also via buyout or maybe even a trade. So we have moves to make to be ready for summer of 2018. As for this trade DL, we'll add a dman...we'll see which one in 3 days.
The logic is quite simple if you read what I wrote. Stepan sucks ass here. He sucks ass because he is far too slow to play this system. The players on this team aren't a match for him. The Av's suck ass defensively and Stepan can help them tremendously. Here, he is not a fit. Period.
Girardi actually is playing respectable hockey now. However, let's see what he does when he plays Pitt or Columbus when they are hot.
This team is more than just one d man away from being legit. They need a d man and a forward that can crash the net, neither of which will come cheap. It's why I think the Rangers need to pass on trading for Shattenkirk and instead focus on a forward. Shatty will be here for only cash this offseason. Stupid as hell to give up ANTHING for him. Also, can this team fuckig fire Arneil already. For the love of god. He's fucking useless. PP and PK are his responsibility and both are mediocre at best. If this is as good as we can be on special teams then tank the friggin season because we really must suck (note I'm not saying we suck, because we are better than this horseshit Arneil keeps putting out, I'm saying Arneil is a fucking useless piece of shit and needs to be canned like yesterday).
Girardi is still useless and that PK showed it. Out of position the entire time. He looks like he's never played hockey and has no idea where to be ever. Hank was even yelling at him about it. He's gotta be bought out this offseason.
Even Oduya would work for what they need, and would raise the pp higher. McD and Skjei are decent on it but don't move things quick enough.
Tonight played out perfectly. Back and forth kind of game, CBJ finished their chances. This was a perfect game to lose. If ever there was a good L, this was it. Hopefully they'll settle nicely into the Atlantic bracket as the Pens and CBJ gets some wins. As I said yesterday the issue with the PK right now is they are trying to score SH goals and getting out of position because of it. Sam said it after CBJ's PPG in the 1st period. Make the play and clear the puck, stop worrying about SHG's unless it is clearly there. I would believe they'll do that in the playoffs. They have the players to be a good PK team. Tonight's L puts them in a better spot to be in the Atlantic bracket. 1 point behind CBJ, but CBJ has 2 games in hand (tied in ROW's). And 2 behind the Pens, but the Pens also have 2 games in hand (Pens have 1 less ROW). Next couple of days will be fun to see which dman they add. Good stuff.
Really? They beat the Caps 2-1 last week. They beat CBJ 3-2 the week before that. Beat the Ducks 4-1 the week before that. Wait...the Rangers must have lost a game tonight...pretty easy to tell when that happens on this board. Funny.
Once again...not sure who chuck is, but a loss is a loss. The game is over, and now we can say hey it is fine they lost tonight. Not going to win every game, although when they do lose a game you guys whine and everyone sucks, but if ever there is a good L, tonight was it as I said. I simply understand that you will lose games sometimes, and the other teams are paid to win games as well. We would be the favorite in the Atlantic bracket, but of course could still lose in round 1 as every team can in the NHL playoffs.
You did not point out how many games they got blown out by good teams this season especially on home ice. It's alarming how mediocre they've been at home this season. The d has sucked ass pretty much all year except for some games there and there. It's been a trend all year.
