Been to every home opener since 2011 and there was an energy and excitement in the building I've never seen before on an opening day. It was really striking. Fans are pumped for this team and with good reason. There was also not a doubt in my mind that we would win that game when we went down 4-3. Definitely not used to that feeling given this team's track record over the years. Usually it's the opposite and you're just waiting for the lead to get blown in spectacular fashion. But you could tell by the energy on the ice and in the stands that there was no way we were losing. THE GOOD Zibanejad is a star offensively and defensively. His skating is something that stood out to me. He's not the fastest guy but he has a powerful burst and knows when to use it. His vision is incredible and is never out of position. Purging the older players over the past couple of years has him playing with a new level of confidence. Panarin - Ive never seen a player that small be so difficult to knock off the puck. It's not just the elusiveness but his body position and leverage is unbelievable. He's a special player with the puck on his stick and he's going to be fun to watch. Him and Zib are a legitimate 1-2 punch that teams will need to account for. Kakko is an adult. Cool and collected. Had a few real good chances. We need to get him a real center. Trouba - as advertised. The most complete defenseman we've had in a long time. Physicality, vision, gap control, first pass, he did it all. If Skjei wasn't a dumpster fire out there he would have looked even better. The bottom 6 - they all had fairly decent games (minus Lias tripping over the camera cord during intros - come on dude). Fast never misses a chance to sit down in front of a slap shot. Howden looks stronger thank god because he was a marshmallow last year. Liked him going to the net where the game winner was sitting for him. Lemieux needs more ice time but until Names is gone not sure he's going to get it. Smith as a 4th line winger actually not bad (contract aside). THE BAD Every defenseman besides Trouba. Good lord. Skjei looked like a baby giraffe. Tony is great with the puck but loses gap control pretty much every time and got walked around the edge twice. Yes WPG has speed on the wings but he was way too late opening his hips both times. Staal is an ok player who can still make a good exist pass and probably had the best game of the 5. But he might be the slowest skater in the league. What's noticeable in person is how often he doesnt even try to go for a loose puck or pinch. At least he's self aware. Also takes him about 2 minutes to change direction. Fox and Hajek had a brutal game as a pairing. You pair two rookies together and this is what you get, but I also don't want Fox stuck with Staal either who will kill the temp Fox wants to play with. Fully confident they will both get better, but that was an ugly debut. Strome - seems like a decent guy but has absolutely no business in the top 6 much less centering our fastest skater and top rookie. He's slow and has no vision. He brought the whole line down and just to remind everyone how out of place he is took 2 penalties before I finished my first beer. Put him back in the bottom 6 or get him off the team. D zone exits - hard to tell how much of it was WPG being strong through the neutral zone, but we had a lot of trouble getting through. To me it seemed like a lot of unforced errors. To0 much passing to spots with our guy a step either a step behind or ahead. Timing was clearly off. Obviously something that happens with new faces but needs to get cleaned up ASAP Lias - how the hell do you trip over the camera cord?????? Dancing Larry - time to hang them up dude. This is going to be a fun season. Once this D gels and we get a real center for the second line, look out.
Get over the camera cord you asshat. Who cares. I care about his ability on the PK unit and to eventually become a 45-50 point guy. Quinn needs to stop screwing him over. He should be on the second or third line. Not the 4th.
Jesus christ dump lighten up, I was joking. Glad that's all you have to contribute but can't say I'm surprised.
Definitely noticeable that strome doesn’t belong centering kreids and kakko. Try howden or maybe even give lias a shot there who looks much better this year (tripping over the cord aside) until Gorton I think eventually trades some of our young surplus for a young 2nd center
Well Prod, I contribute more to this board than you. You barely post any longer. I see no point in analyzing the first game or few few to death. If this team can find a way to go 7-3, 6-3-1 in the first 10 I'll be happy. I'm more concerned about the deal Gorton will make to get this team a legit second line center. It's going to happen. They have too many prospects and not enough spots. Especially with their defenseman prospects. That being said most of what you said about the game was true.
This thread is exhibit A as to why there are 6 regular posters on this board. A thread gets started talking about the team and how they looked in game 1. The poster gets called an asshat and then told he doesn't contribute to the board...wonder why that is. Comical that this board gets killed by one guy. And now his new pet kid is Lias, who I like by the way, which means anyone who questions anything about him will get called names, and if Lias struggles it is because someone else is holding him back (just like McIlrath and other kids he liked before him). Good stuff.
As for the team, yeah they need a # 2 C and for the D to improve as the season moves on. Chytil and Kravtsov stepping up will be important if we want to be a playoff type team this season. And Skjei really needs to up his game. He was average last season, and needs to be much better. I like getting Georgiev in tonight. Let's not overwork Hank early. Good move to get Georgiev going.
Shutup you candy ass. This board is what it is because there is no mod and that is a wonderful thing. In other words, there are no political, milennials running this board who cry over any criticism. Thank God. Thus why with only a few posters it's by far the best board to post on. You are an example RangersFan of why Trump will win the election again and there won't be a democratic president for the next 30 years. Again, thank God. Much like a millenial, you love to make fun of people like Lias for something, they cry when you get made fun of in return. You wait for something bad to happen to somebody and then get your gay little kicks out of it. Like to dish it out but can't take it. You then rush to post about it anywhere on social media. Just like a millenial. In a few years Lias Andersson will be signing some multi million dollar contract, banging some supermodel, living in a huge house and driving an expensive car. Your fat ass will be on the coach drinking a beer eating a bag of pork rinds. Again, get ready for 4 more years of Trump. Thank God. Now my guess is your some 40 to 50 year old dude. However, as we know, the majority of people in that age group are pussies who don't have any ability to discipline their children. Thus why these kids are growing up to be fuckups who can't hold a job down. Much like a milennial, you're a sneaky little shit. This wasn't about me posting to Prod. This was about you being gutless and not being able to handle Chytil being in the minors because he sucks. You spread your buttcheeks all last year for Chytil and I told you he sucked and Andersson is better. Now he's in the minors where he belongs and you don't like it. Get over it. You cried like a woman about the Rangers not drafting Mittlestadt. Mittlestadt will get a ton of ice time this year because Buffalo sucks and they don't have more than 3 or 4 good forwards. When Andersson matures, he's the of player you win hard playoff games with.
We agree on Trump man, so yeah thank god for that...couldn't even imagine Warren or Biden as President. As for Andersson, I think he will be fine and be a complete player, the type of player you need on a winning team. And Chytil should be in the AHL right now, he has work to do in order to fulfill his potential and play up to his natural abilities. If we can find a # 2 C we'll be a real solid team this season. You have to figure disappearing Chris Kreider is due for a few good games after being invisible the first two games.
All good fun Al. I get sick of people just looking to pick on young players because they don't wow them from the beginning. This fan base has trashed our defenseman for over 10 years when it was the dumbass forwards lack of scoring which is why Hank doesn't have multiple cups by now. Andersson somehow because a whipping boy at 19. A large amount of our asshole fan base takes to social media to rip him because they are far too stupid to realize he's the kind of guy that is going to make the winning play in overtime playoff games. We had members here that kiss Chytil's ass because of a couple of nice goals he scores. He does absolutely nothing well other than skate and shoot. Thus why he's in the AHL. Long term he has a chance to be a good player. Right now, he's a total liability. Andersson can play on any line depending on how you want to use him. He's stuck on the 4th line but IMO, I would use him as the second or third line center. Strome sucks right now. He's done nothing to keep that spot.
If you’re not able to have a quick laugh when a guy trips over a mic cord then you take things way too seriously. Nobody’s using it as evidence that he cant play - I would have had the same reaction no matter who did it. Similarly, if Lias isnt able to handle some gentle ribbing about it (which rest assured he received from his teammates) then he is going to have a tough time playing in the New York spotlight. Looks to me like he’s handling it just fine and I expected nothing less. Lias is up because he has the intangibles, physicality and two-way play to play in the bottom six while Chytil does not. As I’ve said before Chytil is pretty much top 6 or bust and he isnt ready for that role right now which is disappointing. But at the same time, he just turned 20 a month ago. We’re expecting a lot out of him because it’s his third camp but dont lose sight of where he is maturity-wise. Lias is an entire year older. Chytil still has quite a bit of time to figure it out. Where was Zibanejad at 20? I dont understand the mentality of pulling for one over the other - Can’t we want both of them to succeed? I’m more impressed with Howden right now than either of them. Aside from Pionk he was the easiest player to knock off the puck last year. He clearly got stronger. I think he has better puck skills than Lias as well. Strome continues to be completely out of place on that second line and we need to figure that out asap. As fun as the first line is, we need the entire top 6 scoring to build sustainable success.
You have to admit this is funny. One hand saying anyone how can Andersson be a whipping boy at only 20. On the other hand knocking Chytil and saying he does nothing, when he is 20. Good stuff. The bottom line is both players are crazy young, and both still have a lot of growing and improving to do, which is to be expected from kids that age.
It's omly been a couple games but I think Chytil should be on this team over Strome who's 27 and seems to have reached his potential. Ryan's most attractive asset is his contractual status but he's been otherwise unimpressive. I think Quinn is sending Filip a message but he has skills that can't be taught, that's why I like him. Getting knocked around in the AHL might be the wakeup call he needs. I'm hoping Lias and Filip both work out as they are 1st rounders and the Rangers have mispicked too many in the past.
Nothing wrong with a kid being sent down to bulk up and get tons of playing time as a #1 center. Some players need a wakeup call.
