That could happen, again not good enough. The Rangers need to stop the nonsense and add a legit top-level LD to play with Fox. That top 4 is not good enough. Soucy/Schneider on the 3rd pair is good, even if Soucy would be overpaid a bit for a 3rd pair dman. That's where he belongs. If you tell me that's the 3rd pair, and they add a legit 1st pair LD I can get on board.
Didn't you declare the Rangers out of the playoffs a month before the All Star break? Honestly Chuck, we get it, you're down on Drury, the horse has been beaten into a dusty silhouette. Looks to me like Drury is remembering what brought him early success and adding more grit. I love the way the team has been playing since Drury acquired Miller for a mediocre, injury prone forward. Drury was also able to trade Lindgren for a better all around dman in de Haan with an $800k salary. The Debs just lost Hughes for the season, just like that the surety of a playoff spot can be thrown into jeopardy.
To recap it. Drury essentially turned 2nd and 5th round picks into a depth dman and a whatever prospect. And some of you guys think that is good asset management and good overall value. Would any of you trade a 2nd round pick for Soucy??? I know I wouldn't.
I did, and whether you like it or not Panzer I have been the most spot-on poster about this team for a long time. You can pretend that isn't the case, but it is. I said they would battle for 3rd/a WC before the season, after Drury's awful summer - I nailed it. I did say they weren't making the playoffs after the terrible Nov/Dec, and while I may be just right or just wrong, I think my overall point was spot-on again, this team is going nowhere this season. Whether they slip in as a WC or pass CBJ/NJ and get 3rd they are going nowhere, and unfortunately, I'll be right again. The ONLY way this team gets back near the top is bold moves, that means at least one of the guys I mentioned has to go. I don't believe Drury has the balls for it as I have said many many times. BTW - good discussion Panzer, I appreciate the back and forth.....
Right, I was thinking for the rest of the year if/when Fox gets back. They might set a record for the fewest hits by a D-pairing Definitely need a big FA/trade for a dman going into next year.
Miller and Borgen has been good a good pair. Like nyr94 said. They need a legitimate partner for Fox. I haven't seen Soucy play that much, since he has been in the western conference all his career. Lets how he looks in the east.
Sounds like they're trying to get Peterka from Buffalo. Nice player. I am wondering what they're offering if it's true.
These are the kind of bold moves Drury needs to swing for if we want to be back near the top next season and have a legit shot at winning the Cup. Until I see him pull off a trade for a guy like this, I don't think he has the strategic mindset or skillset to get it done.
He is horrific. He is afraid, he has no balls, he has zero creativity. He is in WAY over his head. He did the worst possible thing, which was play it safe as usual, and did essentially nothing. Please fire this useless guy already.
Let's take a step back here. I don't think it's fair to judge the entirety of this season's work on a 1 week period. - He traded away the team's captain (not a pending UFA), got back a guy that was buried but has proven to be serviceable on the bottom pair. Extended him for cheap. - He placed a team leader who wore an A (not a pending UFA) on waivers, and got out of a bad cap hit for free. - He traded away a stagnating former top prospect (not a pending UFA) and got back a guy none of us were very familiar with but has proven to be a very steady 2nd pairing guy that can skate, hold his own physically, and has puck skills. Extended him for a reasonable cap hit. - He traded away a young up-and-coming center (not a pending UFA) and got back a legit top of the line-up player that instantly changed the makeup of the forward group. - He combined two of the pending UFAs to maximize return and get back not just draft picks but also a young player at a position of need that, like Urho, can potentially turn into a useful piece. Time will tell. I have no gripes with any of these moves. All of these moves are definitely creative, and took some balls. To me, they are not the moves of a GM that is in over his head. You can call Drury lots of things (you have), but I dont think it's fair to say he is afraid, has no balls, and has no creativity. We were also never going to turn over the entire team during the season. Let's see what happens this summer.
The biggest concern for me is I see this becoming like the Hank prime years. Good to great goaltending, good overall team but not great and not good enough to win it all. Good enough to make the playoffs every year, good enough to win a round or two, but not win the Cup. And because of that our draft picks won’t ever be high enough to make a difference and we have too much money tied up in a goalie and aging players with NTC and NMC. Rangers recipe calls for rinse and repeat.
Here's how I see it. He traded away the captain AFTER he totally f'd things up by jerking him around last summer, which is a huge reason he sucked to start the season, and why the team has had a down year. Agreed the move he made dealing Trouba was a plus by subtraction, but Drury totally f'd up with how it was handled. I liked the Goodrow move. But he did essentially nothing else last summer outside of overpaying for Smith. I also liked the Miller trade as well as I have said many times. I have never said the guy hasn't made one good move since he's been here, but they are few and far between. And what about the fact that he kept this stale, old, broken down done core together as he did nothing last summer. I say this so respectfully Prod, so please don't come back fiery, I think this is a good discussion, but we seem to have this debate every trade DL or summer, and we are always on opposite sides. I knock Drury for his crap, you defend him for his 2nd rate moves. I think results and his overall pile of crap has clearly proven me right. He is bad at his job and needs to be fired immediately. I never said every single move he has made is bad, but a large % are, and most importantly the team has gotten worse and worse with him as Pres/GM.
I think you are being nice here. The team has gotten worse and worse. If they make the playoffs this season it will be barely, and they will be out early. His lack of doing anything last trade DL or during the summer was criminal, as was keeping the old, stale, done core together. He is a disgrace as a Pres/GM, and again I have been saying it since day one when he got the job.
I do 1000% agree with your last line Prod, let's see what he does this summer. The team needs an overhaul. If at least one of Fox, K. Miller, Panarin, Kreider, or Zibanejad aren't gone then Drury can go F himself. Now the can is kicked down the road yet again by Drury, let's look to next summer. I highly doubt anything changes with afraid to make big moves Chris Drury.
This is for sure a concern. There have been improvements, JTM was a huge step in the right direction in terms of talent and playing style to help us get over that hump. I guess if I'm looking for a positive, when you have the expensive goalie and the NMCs you need a constant supply of cheap youth to fill roles and you need to identify and secure reasonable role players. Bottom of the lineup guys like Carrick and Urho are way better than the trash we used to watch on the 4th line and 3rd pair, and guys like Edstrom and Berard (soon Skyora) can fill bottom 6 roles on ELCs. But if something bigger doesnt happen this summer to the core then I agree we could likely end up stuck int he limbo you identified.
