Lot of young players got really good experience. Buchnevich who was a dog forever might have finally gotten his crap together. He has looked like a player for weeks now. Hopefully, he can sustain it for years. DeAngelo made a ton of progress. He needs to be on the PP for all 2 minutes. If that happens he can be a 50-60 point offensive defenseman and his defensive game is getting better. Andersson to me finally looks like the game is slowing down for him. His faceoffs are better. He's starting to have one or two good shots or passes a game now. Points aren't there yet but you can see it coming. Hopefully, he'll pick up some quickness in the off-season. Howden will be a player. I think by 24, he'll be a 40-50 poing, 2 way guy. He gets it. Chytil is still so young but he needs to get stronger and work on his draws also. He has a lot of upside. Maybe still another year away. Hajek and Lindgren were very impressive in their debut. Not sure about Pionk. Could go either way. Strome really got it together under Quinn. To me, he is a guy that is in. Vesey will be gone during the off-season. The system is loaded beyond belief on D. I think for the first time that Hank may asked to be traded by Sather and Gorton. Looks like Georgiev in the eyes of many is the real deal. Shesterkin has huge upside. I love Hank. Love the guy. He saved this sorry ass organization after years of crap since 1994 and gave us unbelievable hockey for so many years when his team never scored for him in the playoffs. Honestly, I would love to see him win a cup elsewhere. He's going to have a hard time keeping a job here next season.
Hank has to go. Too much money tied up in a goalie whose best days are behind him. He’s a serviceable goalie now, and maybe on a Cup competing team he can find his game, but for how much money he is owed I would be shocked if Hank is traded and if we get much back for him other than salary relief.
I think we may see something happen with HL at next years DL. Not alot of goalie needs really on the top 10 teams but maybe somewhere like St.Louis depending on Binningtons progress or a Carolina type team. It'll be interesting going into next year to see how they handle the usage if Shest also enters the mix. Maybe he and Georgiev get shuttled through Hartford alot. Also a factor is needing a goalie to expose to Seattle, which would be Georgiev most likely.
Wonder who they would look to, Don Maloney or JD though i don't think he would leave Columbus right now. Maybe they make Jeffy boy Pres and GM..haha. Not sure if Graves is the right fit for something like that.
I would've given Lundqvist the last game to wrap up the season and see if he could've hit 450. A little lame by Quinn imo.
Thank God that season is over. I better see all these vet dumbass defenseman out the door next year. No more Smith. No more Staal. No more Shattenkirk. Eat half their salaries or buy them out if you have to.
Staal is awful. Shattenkirk we could probably trade and maybe get a late round pick for to avoid having to buy him out. But our salary cap anchor is, and has been Hank. No one is going to trade for him with that cap hit and he’s not going to retire and leave all that money behind so we are screwed in that regard. If we somehow did trade Hank, the return would be nothing at all of value. $8.5M cap hit for a goalie on the wrong side of his career is not what a Cup contending team is looking for. Especially since that team likely won’t have very much cap space. We are gonna have to let him run his course and understand that this team is going to struggle for the next 3-5 years regardless. Too much money tied up in bad contracts with no trade/movement clauses. Some of the young guys looked good this year, most looked lost though and were making mistakes that, even as a rookie are inexcusable. I think it’s important that we get Staal out of here ASAP as he is teaching these kids his specialty...reaching with the stick and not playing the body.
They could get a 2nd and a prospect for Lundqvist if they eat a few mill. Despite his numbers he still has a fair amount in the tank. Staal will likely be here through next year and then maybe they deal him in his last, but Smith is likely gone this summer either way. Shatt next deadline. CK they should look to extend this summer.
Hank has to go to a very strong team with a very solid system. Winnipeg come to mind. Their goalies suck ass.
I would be shocked if any team showed interest in Hank unless it was to move a similarly overpriced player to the Rangers. Maybe the Rangers can steal a move from the Islanders playbook and put Hank in the front office. Hank's contract was a classic case of poor timing for the Rangers since their unexpected run to the Cup came during his contract year. Always has bothered me that he never took the time to be somewhat serviceable with the stick instead opting for adventures behind the net creating golden scoring chances for the opponent. Staal should have been cut loose last year, bad business decision but good for the luckiest guy in hockey to be named Staal. Having Hossa's brother didn't work out for the Rangers either. I agree with putting Gorton in charge, the Rangers finished the season as the youngest team in the NHL, the rebuild officially starts now.
Something occurred to me. Maybe Sather is stepping down now because he doesn't want to get involved emotionally letting go or trading Hank. I'm sure Sather loves him. Gorton on the other hand doesn't seem to me to be a guy that has any emotion moving guys out no matter who they are. Honestly, I think if the retain half of Hank's salary a team out there would take him. He on the other hand would probably retire.
Sather's biggest problem was he resigned guys based on what they had done or worse, heart and soul nonsense instead of their future potential, winning organizations don't do that. While Chicago and Pitt tanked to sign marquis rookies they still cut top playoff performers every year instead of overpaying. Gorton has cleaned house in a few years and seems to have hit on most draft picks and has 1 RFAs making under $1 mil per year - Pionk, DeAngelo, Lemieux, Howden, Zborovsky, Buchnevich, Nell, Lettieri, Pedrie, Gropp and Halverson.
