Official off-season thread 2024

Perreault was taken 23 and is a huge piece of our future. It's who you pick. Not where you pick unless you get a top 5 pick and a can't miss stud is there. Even a top pick can bust. Last year people wanted Lafreniere dealt. This year they want Kakko gone. The reality is one team wins a cup a year. A ton of our dumb fuck fan base thinks go all in every year because that's what Smith did in 94. This team doesn't have Messier one of the best players and leaders of all time. Or Leetch a Hall of Famer. Without Messier and Leetch the Rangers don't win the cup no matter what moves they made at the deadline. Panarin and Fox aren't Messier and Leetch. Accept that, stop whining and shut the fuck up. You should be looking at what young players can we draft or steal from another team that can potentially develop into a clutch playoff type of guy. Zibanejad is a playoff pussy and has sucked at even strength for over 2 years now. Panarin is not a clutch playoff player. You're most likely stuck with them. Cap space is always an issue. Anybody who doesn't think so is a moron on hockey.

 

I think the answer is both, you should look at what players you can draft and steal, and also improve at the trade DL. Even if we apply your logic, Drury failed at the trade DL because he traded away picks, and the two players he brought in added almost no value. There is literally no other way you can slice it; Drury failed the trade DL. Either by not adding better players and taking a real shot as some of us feel, or by trading away picks anyway and adding guys who did almost nothing. Either way he failed. He half-a**ed it, and I said that at the time, and that is a losing scared recipe for failure.

I do agree with your point regarding either your best players step up, or it all doesn't matter. That I agree with 100%, which is why big core top player changes are needed, these top guys have shown they are not good enough as is. That is not open for debate anymore as far as I see it.

I don't think anyone is upset or bothered by one specific season they didn't win the Cup, as you said only one team wins it each season. But when you have one Cup in 84 years, that is a joke, that is not one specific season, that is a legacy of failure. Even the past 13 seasons, 5 ECF's and only 1 SCF appearance is really hard to do. To go 1-4 in the ECF tells you a very clear story. It is years and decades of failure that have a lot of us fed up, and this season's failure was the last straw, core top guy changes are needed, enough is enough.

 

The season is over. Move on. Blaming Drury day after day is pointless. He's not going anywhere. He's not out on the ice. He inherited Panarin, Zibanejad and Trouba. He's the guy who brought in Trochek.

 

If they can at least significantly upgrade one top six and a few bottom six guys, plus maybe one D spot, perhaps they can get it done even with Panarin and Z still around. The cap will be steadily rising but that will help other teams too. Kakko being basically a bust is really what set the team back alot.

 

You literally spew bullshit from both sides man. You trash so many of our players and say they suck, yet you think we can trade them and get other teams players because they have a need at that position. Well we had a need at RW and C. We took other teams crap. How’s that work out for us? You are always the first one to say we can’t trade picks, but then also say we need to get all these other players who would require us trading picks and prospects. So which is it? Do our players suck but are good enough to get great players from other teams? Do we not trade picks and prospects to try and win now, but then piss and moan when the team is incomplete and the windows keep closing on our chances to win because we don’t make the moves? You can’t be half in and half out. THAT is why this team hasn’t won shit since 1994. You are either looking to win a Cup within the next 3-5 years and go all in and then realize you’ll have to rebuild after the run, or you rebuild now looking for a run in the future. You can’t do both. Seriously. For years you have spewed this bullshit about this prospect being can’t miss and that prospect being can’t miss, you say this guy on our team is trash and that guy on our team is trash, and then you say we need player X from this team but we can’t give up our prospects (who seem to rarely ever pan out like you claim they will) because that will affect our future but the team that has player X would be more than happy to have our trash guys. I just laugh at your posts because they are typically so insanely hypocritical that one MUST laugh at them and you because if we don’t then we may be forced to take you serious and realize how clueless you are in this salary cap era.

you mention the salary cap as if we all don’t know how it works. Due to the salary cap windows close MUCH quicker now than ever before and unless the NHL does something similar to the NBA which allows you to go over the cap to resign your own guys, a winning team is going to have to go all in and mortgage the future if they are only a few pieces away, or they can just blow it up and rebuild. That is the ONLY way you can do it in today’s NHL with this salary cap. But please, tell us more about how great of a move Wennberg and Roslovic (who missed a WIDE open net) are. Oh and let’s not forget the ever important 8th dman that Drury traded for.

Oh, and that Edmonton argument might be the DUMBEST argument ever. They have had HOW MANY top picks? How many guys on the roster are top 10 picks? That is not a team that has to build and wait and wait and wait for guys to come up. They underperformed for YEARS with that group.

 

Then we should move on from blaming Panarin and Z and Trouba too since the season is over.

 

Which is why moving Fox is almost a necessity before his NMC kicks in. Igor is going to want a boatload of money and/or a NMC also, so that would be yet another player with that. Have to move pieces while you can get a good return on them. If we could trade McDonagh, and Jesus we traded Leetch, than Fox can be traded as well.

 

Dump is who he is. Whatever argument makes the point he is trying to make that specific day is what he goes with. For literally years he has talked about prospects, and kids, yet where are they? Lafreniere was a # 1 overall pick, who else? Miller is very good. We have busts all over the place, as do most teams when they are drafting lower in the 1st round. Where are all the kids in the prospects threads we read about year after year.

You cannot go half in and half out and build a team with picks in the mid 20's and lower. And not only does Edmonton have a ton of top high picks, they also were lucky enough to draft # 1 in the year of an all-time generational player, and even still they hadn't made the SCF until this season, despite all those top picks and an all-time great.

I'll tell you something else, what the Rangers did a few years back after the letter is another reason to truly go for it. They were able to turn around players who had their moment, into picks and prospects for the future. We got Lindgren in the Nash trade for example.

The salary cap in the NHL is so restrictive, you need to take you shot when you can. The Rangers are in their window right now. What do you think happens when Igor wants $12M after next season? Or Lafreniere wants a big raise? This is the time; this summer we have to take our shot. Take a risk, shake it up. If you cannot get Zibanejad or East West to waive their NMC (preferably Zibanejad), then I would absolutely look at dealing Fox for a haul of the type of players we need, gritty, tough, hard to play against, not all finesse and pretty and soft in big spots. You lose skill and finesse, but gain what the team needs to win, and it isn't more skill and finesse.

Is it a risk, sure is, but one that has to be taken because bringing back all the top core players is a waste of time for everyone, because it has been proven they aren't good enough. There is no other choice if you want to win a Cup. At least one, if not two of the top core guys have got to go this summer. Trade skill and finesse for strength, grit, and size is what is needed this summer. If not, we'll be right back here next year saying the same thing. We can bump all our posts again and save time.

 

It's definitely time to change the core if it makes sense and can be done.

 

The dumbass go for it all now trades fucking don’t work. Certain people just can’t seem to get that through their heads. Florida made timely moves not at the deadline. They set things up before or after the season that were well thought out. That’s the way you have to do it.

If I had to guess I think they’re going to roll back to defenseman core for one more year. I think they’ll bring Buchnevich back to play with those two morons. Trade Kakko for a young center to put with Othmann and Cuylle who has a physical element. As much as Florida outplayed them, the Rangers still could have of won the series if the fucking PP was working. They also need to build an elite forechecking fourth line.

I’m not saying next year will be a throwaway year, but I do believe they’re going to commit to two or three rookies at the forward position. I think Othmann is a lock. I also like Sykora as a 4th line guy.

 

Despite how you want to spin it NO ONE is saying trade everything to go for it NO ONE. That is a narrative you have created in your head to spin your talking points. I have seen people say we should have traded the 27th or 28th pick, which turned out to be the 30th pick, for a real improvement. The Rangers had clear needs and cap space and did nothing to address those needs. That is dereliction of duty by Drury.

I find it funny you say they'll bring Buch back into play, when we potentially could have traded for him at the trade DL to help this year's team. Why didn't Drury make that trade in March, had to hold onto the 30th pick, I guess.

Just like all the other kids who didn't pan out or at best turned out to be middle of the road bottom level guys, most of the kids we have now will be the same. Maybe Othmann, and Sykora, and Perreault will be something, we'll see. But based on law of averages and %'s, most of these kids will not be NHL regulars, or will be bottom level whatever type guys. To be clear, you need those guys to finish off your team, and stay within the cap, but any one specific pick in the mid to late 20's, or any one specific whatever prospect can be dealt to help improve in the now for a shot to win a Cup.

I have zero issue layering in another kid or two next season. Let's give Othmann a shot, we know Cuylle will be there, maybe there is another kid that will be ready, nothing wrong with that. But it doesn't change the fact that to win a Cup, which should be the ONLY goal, we need to move core top players and replace them with players who don't wilt in big playoff spots. Trade skill and finesse for size, toughness, and grit.

 

I don't see Rempe as much of a factor going forward. More of a just a circus attraction.

 

I like what Brooks, Lav, and Kakko all said today about Kakko.

Brooks said they should move him, but only at the right price. To me, if you cannot get good value alone or in a package, you bring him back around $2.5M and see if he can gain confidence and break through next season. Smart moves are not made when you deal for pennies on the dollar.

Lav said he owns responsibility along with Kakko for not getting there with him this season. Lav needs to do a better job on that as well as Kakko.

Kakko owned it and said he was given a chance. He had opportunities in the top 6 with Kreider and Zibanejad more than once and didn't get it done. Also said if he played well, it wouldn't matter who he plays with.

I think these are all good points and good to hear said. There is a part of me that doesn't want to give up on a Kakko at this young age, especially if you can re-sign him for $2.5M +/-, but I am just not sure it will work here. I think the bar should be what Brooks wrote, deal him if you get good value, if not you hold, I think.

 

I don't think Drury was anticipating a total collapse by the top line postseason when he was making depth moves at the deadline with the Rangers rolling in 1st place and in contention for the President's trophy. If he made a drastic move and went for it at the expense of disrupting the chemistry he'd be getting hammered for upsetting a good thing since Lav would still be outcoached. Fox is the only guy who can be traded and he'll bring back a haul, wishing the other guys with NTC's will waive them is optimistic but not realistic. I still put the brunt of the blame on Lav, he was the established future HOF coach who has the gravitas that grunt GG lacked, the reality of the situation is he's 1-4 now in Conference finals with 4 different teams. He made no adjustment to the PP, he had Rempe in the lineup and played him for a handful of minutes because he's clueless about the physical aspect of postseason hockey. I disagree with the Rempe haters, he has skill other then crushing players and I think with all the roster spots opening up he'll be on the 4th line.

 

I don't see Rempe as a factor either. Sykora is the type of prospect that was built for the 4th line and PK unit. He's a winner. Goodrow we know is that type. I'd love to see the Rangers go out and get Crouse. He's wasting his career in Arizona. He's in his prime. He would have been a huge plus in a series with Florida. He would be a major target for me. Tkachuk, obviously first priority but you have to empty the farm to get him. It might take one more year for him to give Ottawa the finger. Gourde as I said before is another guy I would pursue.

 

I was watching highlights of Laba last night and yeah he looks like a promising prospect, I guess we'll see how he a McCB progress. Korczak has kind of fallen off the radar but he's in that group too. They need a top 20 draft pick type C in the system so maybe they trade up a little. Starting to get to the point again where they need defensemen too, even though Fortescue holds promise. Not sure how they view Robertson these days.

 

I get it why Laba stayed another year. I was disappointed though he didn't go to the Pack. I don't think he's far from the NHL. Kid has a knack. He just always seems to make plays. He's big too with top faceoff skills.