Said it was a year away. Maybe 2 at this point. DeAngelo is awful defensively again. Staal is done. He falls down more than he skates. No point in playing him any longer. They need to send him to the minors and bring up Lindgren. Quinn is still being a thickheaded moron with Kakko. He needs to be developed. He needs to be on the first line and PP unit. Buchnevich is insignificant to the future of this team. The amount of odd man rushes this team lets up is mind boggling. Either the system sucks or too many players on this team still sucks. Either way, if this is the level they play out, then just play more kids. It's a rebuild.
Quinn's handling of Andersson has been a joke. Strome and Howden have sucked ass all year and get more ice time.
It's not complicated. The team is a year away from being a legit playoff threat. There is zero scoring depth, and the D is young and inexperienced. This is what you get when that is the case. Kakko is a baby still. Chytil and Kravstov are in the minors. We have no # 2 C. 2 really young dmen, and a 3rd who is still trying to find himself in ADA. Again not a complicated formula for why we are what we are. After Pan and Zib there is not nearly enough. Kreider, Fast, Howden, McKegg, Smith, Lemieux, Haley, Strome, Andersson, Buch, Kakko is not good enough to fill 3-12. That list is littered with 4th line players. My guess is we'll get two more 1st round picks in the next draft (we should get a 1st for Kreider at the trade DL unless he sucks all season). And next year we can take another step forward. Then in two years when Staal, Hank, and the over 6 mill in dead space come off the cap, and the kids mature even more, we can really win a cup. That's reality I think.
The defense probably won't be good until Staal, DeAngelo and Skjei are out of here. Miller, Lundkvist, Lindgren replace them.
He's still getting his feet wet, but i thought Hajek would look a little better coming off a good 5-6g last March. Hopefully he can turn into a mainstay on our next good era of teams. Both he and Howden have looked a little overwhelmed at times.
This is not about Quinn. Every single coach we knock, enough please. We have ZERO forward depth. We have 6 or 7 fourth line players. Why is it so difficult to see that and call it what it is. Coach after coach after coach after coach have stunk right? Ridiculous now. Our D is young and struggles in their own end. We have zero forward depth after 4 or 5 guys (and Kreider and Buch have been bad as well). We need more forward depth. And we need another year of growth. Kreider should get us another 1st round pick. And we should get another top 10 pick of our own. Next season we have a ton of dead money, so we'll have kids here. And then hopefully in two years we'll be a legit cup threat.
I agree those guys shouldn't play, but either way we are not a good team right now. It is SIX games...SIX. The kids will get plenty of time to play in this rebuilding year. If you are talking about winning, we are not winning this year with this team and the utter lack of forward depth. If you are talking about growing the kids, then there are 76 games left for that. I have zero issues with that big picture with 93% of the season left, it will happen and there is plenty of time for that this year. This is not about Quinn....just isn't. This team isn't deep enough with mature talent to win hockey games right now, and Buch/Kreider stinking isn't helping either. That's reality.
It would also be nice if skjei who sucked the first 6 games and is supposed to be part of our shutdown D with trouba would get his head out of his ass and get in shape. Finally, quinn benched him today. Also d’angelo is just too small on the back line and can’t move anyone from the front of the net.
No real leader on the team either. Everyone's way too soft spoken and nice. Doesn't take a Messier type of vocalness but someone has to light a fire besides the coach.
To me, this is the ideal breakdown of our 13 forwards currently on the team: Pan - 1st line Zib - 1st line Kreider - 2nd line Buch - 2nd line Kakko - 2nd line Fast - 4th line Haley - 4th line McKegg - 4th line Smith - 4th line Andersson - 3rd/4th line Strome - 3rd line Lemieux - 4th line Howden - 3rd/4th line Seriously lacking depth and high end mature talent. Asking a 3rd line guy to play 2nd line. No # 2 C. Kreider and Buch struggling. Kakko a baby still. Asking 4th lines guys to complete the 3rd line. Playing many 4th lines guys. Not even close to good enough. And when you factor in a young learning D, we have no real shot to be a playoff team IMO.
Think it's premature to predict anything and relying on the assumption that Buch, CK , Howden, Kakko and Andersson will not score at all this season. The obvious problem is the prolonged length of time opponents spend in the Rangers zone due to repeated turnovers by the dmen except for Trouba who has been everything advertised, even leads the team in hits (17). Other than that Staal remains top 3 worst dman in the NHL Skeji unfortunately seems to have been mentored by Staal, Hajek, tiny Tony and wee Adam (17 hits combined). Their lack of physical play is what creates so many scoring opportunities when they turn the puck over - too many no look/predictable clearing passes to avoid a hit and their inability to clear the crease. I don't know that Quinn can do anything about that. Gorton needs to make a deal for a RH McQuaid type. Panarin was also a great signing, his playmaking is brilliant and Zibanejad remains one of the most lopsided trades in Sather history. I think the 2 week 2 game start affected them because they were not playing like this in the opener and it gave the other teams conditioning advantages. I think Chytil/Kravstov should be playing instead of Haley/McKegg, Quinn could always scratch one from the lineup but they need to be up here with the rebuild.
Here's the kicker, the team isn't fun to watch right now. Coming into the season everyone was like wow this team will be fun to watch at the very least. It has not panned out that way, and to me the reason is the crap at forward. Fast is with Panarin and Zib tonight...wow. Howden as your # 2 C. Lemieux on the 3rd line. A 4th line with the likes of Smith, Haley, McKegg. That is not good at all. Yes those guys will score, but it will be 10 goals +/- max. And less for many of them like Haley and McKegg and Smith. So yeah the D has issues, but when we are putting out a team of 3rd and many 4th liners after Pan, Zib, Kreider, Kakko, and Buch it is a major issue and not fun to watch when 1/2 your lines, and at times even the 2nd line, have little chance to score most nights.
