Rangers is the only team in the league that does this stupid ass cycling on the perimeter that always results to nothing.
Honestly I am not even going to bother with this season any longer. Drury is a fucking moron. I don't trust him that he will sell off some of the dead weight and get young guys in here and try a mini rebuild.
0 shots on goal in a must win period says it all. It’s baseball season. Get Othmann and sykora up here already and get rid of Vesey and brodshitski who do nothing
Another game with Lav on autopilot overplaying the top lines. Softsherskin played more like $7.5 mil tonight when the Rangers need points. Igor has typically started slow then improved to become a brick wall, he's nowhere close to that guy 2/3 of the way into the season. Laf has been such a disappointment with the lazy play, most #1 overall picks seek to become a Captain, Alexis just wanted to get paid. The Wolfpack really stink this year, not going to hurt their playoff ambitions by bringing up a few players but if they can't dominate at the AHL level don't know how much they will help.
Season is officially over. Dolan is too stupid to fire Drury the coaching staff and bring in a real GM to do a proper rebuild. There will be some dark years ahead starting now. The season officially ended last night losing to a bunch of nobodies.
If they lose tonight, I'll agree the season is over. It's as close to a must win as you can get in early/mid-Feb. Currently there are 5 teams ahead of them, and they must pass 4 to make the playoffs. If they lose to CBJ tonight they'll be 6 behind them, and it would be very difficult to make that up, despite having 27 games remaining. Have to win this game, and they'll have to do it with Quick in goal, we'll see if they show up for the second game of a back-to-back on the road. As for next season, I don't agree. If they can add a LD, bring in a solid middle 6 forward, and give a few kids a chance, I think the Rangers will be back near the top. There is a lot of precedence in the NHL where a team has a down struggling underachieving season out of nowhere, only to bounce back very strong the following season. Sometimes unexpectedly a season gets away from you, and I think that's this season for the Rangers.
Despite all the doom and gloom for what seems like most of the season on the board the Rangers are still only 4 points out playing average hockey. Regardless of the outcome against Columbus I hope Lav has some kind of team unity building event planned perhaps leading into the second half of the season. So far only Mika and Fox are playing in the Face Off. I think this team is more than talented enough to make the playoffs, Drury did things to disrupt the chemistry and leadership on the team, hopefully Lav has a trick up his sleeve to restore it. To me Drury has been a huge improvement over Gorton who had a unique opportunity with a flurry of #1s including the #1 overall and #2 and he failed miserably choosing players who were not even NHL caliber. Then to compound matters he hired a coach with no experience/credibility to develop Laf and Kakko, When Quinn called out their laziness and failing to show up to camp in shape he was vilified in the press since he was considered a temporary solution and eventually fired. Quinn had asked management for more grit and even Dolan woke up and ordered protection for the talent but JD and Gorton knew better so we got to watch scorers try to defend themselves from goons. I loved JD in the press box, he's a great Ranger but he and Gorton did irreparable damage to the success of the franchise.
What the fuck are you talking about? Did you actually look at the one draft JD was in charge of? It’s the only reason our team doesn’t completely suck.
The Rangers are 5 points out of a playoff spot behind the Wings, who currently sit as the 2nd WC. I know one might say oh they're only 5 or 6 points back with 27 games remaining, that's no big deal. The issue becomes math, the 5 teams ahead of you will win games as well, so that means in order to make up the 5 or 6 points, your team needs to play much better than their current results indicate they can, MUCH better. And you need to pass 4 teams. If the Rangers lose tonight, they'll be minimum 6 behind Ottawa and 5 behind Detroit, who both play today, and they'll be 6 behind CBJ. That doesn't even count the Isles and Bruins who are also ahead of them, or the Habs who could pass them with a win today. Again, I know that sounds like no biggie, but it is when you look at math and %'s. If the Rangers lose tonight, they are in huge trouble to make the playoffs, that's the unfortunate reality.
I'm guessing it's the blocker hand he hurt last night. With the team off for two weeks after tonight, I would think it will be a non-issue, but we'll see. He wasn't going to start tonight anyway. Which BTW, was another mistake by Lav, Quick should have played last night, and Igor should have played the "bigger game" tonight against a team you are chasing, CBJ.
Look at the draft Dump - 8 #1s for Gorton in 5 years, 1 used on no brainer Laf who is NHL caliber, along with picks used for Krappo, K'Andre, Chytil, Schneider, 1 on Othmann who has potential and 3 swings and misses in Lias. Kravstov and Lundqvist. Cuylle was a great 2nd round pick but I'm not impressed with Gorton's drafting at all, most of his picks didn't even make Hartford.
You name Laf, Kakko (who every single GM would have taken # 2), Miller, Schneider, Othmann, and Cuylle. I would tell you those are some good to very good picks, and most were later 1st round or beyond. He also made the Zibanejad steal deal for Brass, the Spooner steal deal for Strome, and the Lindgren steal deal for Nash. Gorton was not perfect, but he was much better than some of you guys in here want to admit. His big downfall was not drafting/adding more gritty North South type players. That is a big knock on him, and you cannot downplay it, but he also did a lot of good here.
Every GM has dead wood to clear when they take over a team and Gorton did make some nice deals to clear space and turn the team in the right direction but his drafting brought everything to a grinding halt. The first round picks he missed on were not can't miss types, they were out of left field, Jeff reminded me of Gettelman from the NYG with his I know better than the experts bs. It's not just the top picks, it's the ones in the lower rounds too, other then Morgan Barron his late rounders from his first 3 years should have been pulled from a hat, they would have had as much of a chance as the undersized wonders Jeff favored. It didn't help that when they signed Kakko and Laf they didn't have a competent coach to develop them which falls on Gorton and JD. The biggest crime was failing to sign any enforcer types, Mc Quaid was probably the closest so naturally Gorton traded him away. That's why Drury had immediate success, by simply signing Reaves who just had to say boo to most teams, Mika and the mild bunch could focus on their game and not have to look over their shoulder. Drury screwed up firing GG, he would have made things uncomfortable enough for the pampered NTC crowd to consider a move.
the biggest problem was not a coach developing them, the problem was the depth at left wing. you dont sit a mvp type player (Bread) and a 50 goal scorer (Krieder) to spoon feed kids...
