Is right on the money about the rangers play, their lack of protection for Igor, the effect of gallant and the lack of control and letting the stars do what they want. Hope gallant reads this and looks in the mirror.
He wrote another article today. For the first time in a long time he sounds like Brooks from 2 decades ago. Tells me two things. One, he doesn't like the way the coach interacts with him. Two, he thinks Dolan is fucking the team up again.
The Rangers are 4th in the NHL in hits and 5th in blocks so I'm not surprised Brooks doesn't see it. The Rangers have never had a player like Reaves, he hits clean and ridiculously hard. The problem with this team is the scorers have been invisible - aside from CK on the PP absolute garbage. 4 goals for Mika, 3 for Laf, 2 for Strome and Panarin. Eve at the end of the Florida game ater playing 58 1/2 minutes of excellent hockey CK and Mika fail to clear the puck and it's a nail biter. If Dolan truly gave a crap about this team then wouldn't it stand to reason that he'd want the young guns playing all the minutes?
Not necessarily. Dolan doesn't know shit about hockey. He injected himself into the hockey operations at the end of last season when Wilson wasn't suspended and his fingerprints are all over the Davidson/Gorton firings. It stands to reason he gave pretty specific instructions for Drury in the off-season regarding roster construction, which has some pretty major flaws. They struggle to generate offense at even strength, are a poor puck possession team, can't protect leads unless Igor makes multiple incredible saves and despite being 2nd in the division they have a -4 goal differential, good for 3rd worst in the conference. I forget where I read the quote but I have a feeling it is going to be spot-on before too long "This is what happens when you let Tom Wilson build your roster"
That quote was stupid because it wasn't Wilson who built the roster. It was the three asswhippings down the stretch vs. the Islanders when they were trying to make the playoffs. They weren't even competitive because they had zero ability to play north-south hockey. Right now the biggest problem is they have shown NO commitment to developing Kakko and Lafreniere. If the 1st and 2nd overall picks in the draft at 20-21 are going to give you this offense and not play on the 1st PP unit, this team will never contend. Ever. Sadly, the dumb fucks running this team can't grasp that. Along with not playing Barron over scrubs. Barron is exactly the type of player the Islanders have all over their roster. The Islanders would already be developing Barron. This dumb fuck organization is letting him rot in the minors and playing rejects. Honestly, I'm not ruling out because Barron is a really smart college guy that a guy with little education in Gallant hates him for it.
Right, because Blais, Reaves, Tinordi, Nemeth, McKegg and Goodrow are all talented north-south hockey style players. Those guys have combined for 3 goals and 7 assists of north-south hockey and a -14 rating. 4 of those 6 were brought in for their physical play....maybe just two as no one really knows for sure why Tinordi or Nemeth were acquired. Either way, the issue that was the primary focus this past off-season was clearly to get tougher, more intimidating to discourage other teams from taking liberties and it was because of the Tom Wilson incident. They may have wanted to also bring in guys who could play a successful and effective north-south style but they certainly did not succeed there. Im on your side though, if they aren't going to give the #2 and #1 overall draft picks premium ice-time they are fucking up big time. If they don't develop their draft capital this team will be going nowhere for a long time. Read an article about Kyle Shanahan on some website this morning and there was a statement that immediately made me think of the Rangers: (Shanahan) has a player development problem. It’s impossible to pin down the exact cause of the issue from outside the building, but it’s easy to see the symptoms. Rookies aren’t given long leashes, especially on offense, and the messaging they get from their head coach doesn’t seem to elicit improvements. Impatience and high expectations magnify little mistakes and thrust veterans over young players in an effort to quickly heal those minor problems. But without rookie development, those minor problems fester, becoming issues that cannot be overcome.
I also think that Mollie Walker is Brooks understudy. Gallant crapped all over her about Lafreniere. So I'm thinking that Brooks will pick on Gallant for a long time now. That's the way he is.
