wondering if you guys are level headed or looking through team filtered glasses. like i know the devils have a ton of issues still and at their best case situation will be fighting for 8th place. even making the playoffs at #8 would require schinder to steal the series himself. rangers? i personally dont think they are much more then a 1st round team if lundqvist stands on his head but not really deeper then that.
I have been accused of homerism and blind optimism, so my opinion I guess needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The fate of the team this season is going to come down to the dmen. Last year Henrik faced the highest amount of high quality chances of any goalie in the league. The fact that he had the season he did (subpar for his standards towards the end but still very good overall) and kept them competitive for so long is nothing short of remarkable. People can rip on Keith Yandle all they want, the fact is that he was the best puck mover, play maker and distributor this team has had on the blue line probably since Leetch. Of course he had his turnovers, every single offensive defenseman has high turnover numbers because they hold the puck and look to make plays. Now the only two defenseman we have who are above average at moving the puck are McDonagh and Clendening, the latter of which has shown promise but is very green and has already been passed around the league. I am confident Staal will have a much better year. I am less confident in Girardi. I am very confident in neither of them being effective in a man scheme chasing wingers out by the blue line. If AV and Beuk don't adjust that scheme, we will struggle. We dont have the personnel back there to play it. I am also very confident in them continuing to handle the puck like a live grenade. I hope Gorton finds a way to bring in another offensive guy back there, preferrably a righty (Shattenkirk or Trouba would be huge for this team). Offensively I am less concerned. I really like our forward group and the youth and speed we added. Kreider had the best camp of his career and is poised for a huge year, and he has looked great with Buchnevich. Zibanejad is going to be an exciting player and brings a righty shot which was badly needed for the PP. Vesey was a huge get. The PK will be much better and faster with Grabner and Jooris than with slugs like Dom Moore (still love the guy) and Glass. And Henrik will be Henrik. Overall I like where we sit. Expectations, for the first time in a few years, are low heading into the season. I am not impressed with the Metro right now. Isles took a step back in my opinion and looked DREADFUL in preseason. They will struggle to score. Devs are up and coming but that's a big loss on your blueline and in my opinion the kids back there arent progressing that impressively. I see it Caps-Pens-Rangers as the 3 in, with the Devs fighting for a wild card with some teams in the Atlantic. Isles and Flyers will be a tier above the Canes and Jackets, but still not good enough to grab a spot.
Keith Yandle fucking sucked defensively. His pathetic defense didn't come close to making up for his offense. His shot also sucked from the point as he barely ever scored goals. Florida will be crying over the stupid contract they gave him. Our defense is soft, has no physical intimidation other than McIlrath who our pussy, French Canadian coach wants to get rid of so he can eventually bring Glass back up when our guys get run each game. I have lost almost all confidence in our coach. Like Prod, I like the forwards. I hated on Nieves forever. However, I have to admit, he looked like he had some very good upside and he wins draws. That's big as a 4th line center. Though, I like Jooris. I wouldn't cut him. Trading McIlrath would be one of the worst decision this team ever made. This is the first season in a long time I don't know what to expect. You have Buchnevich who I didn't think would make the team, make it. Vesey made it. Who knows how quickly they will come on. Our pig headed coach still is going with Girardi. I praying Clendening does a Stralman. He has big time skill on the PP. We need that. Especially a righty. Glass can never play for this team again. If he does, the season will start to deteriorate. This McIlrath bullshit is Av's scumbag way of trying to bring Glass back. Sum this team up. Gudas ran Vesey. McIlrath immediately jumped in to beat the shit out of him. His teammate saved his ass. However, you know McIlrath would have got him next game. Av just doesn't get it. He doesn't. He is a pansy coach. Our team is soft. Soft teams still don't win the playoffs. They just don't. Only thing I can see going forward that is a big positive is Zibanejad. He looks like he has number 1 center talent. Hank is getting old. He can't save this teams ass like he always has. Bottom line is the Rangers need to trade Nash, Staal and perhaps Klein at some point this year and they need to keep McIlrath. Then start looking at another run with another goalie or Hank at an old age.
Agree with most of your points but disagree here. Of course he wasnt great defensively, most puck carriers arent, but if you think his defense was "pathetic" I dont know what to tell you. Him and McIlrath were the best defensive pairing the team had all season. A bunch of people rip on him because of what we gave up and thats fine. Yeah Im glad we didnt pay him that but there is no way this defense is better off without him.
I'll keep it simple. I think offense potentially can be pretty good. Problem will be our defense will suck again and be softer than ever playing man to man with the puck never coming out of our end. Hank will stand on his head for awhile but like dump said he's getting older and will eventually wear out. With klein out it sounds like holden who stinks will play on his off side so AV can keep big mac off the ice. Coach needs to be fired immediately. Hope Gorton both 1)doesn't wait too long and 2) finds a way to avoid giving away dylan till av is gone. Agree with prod team has enough talent to be somewhere in top 3 in metro. After that it will come down to which team gets the wrong injuries to their stars. Team could really use a trouba who is a stud rd at 22 yrs old. I don't know if ski and one of our forwards does it but if it did I would be all in especially with graves looking like he's about ready to step in on the left side. Very down on how our clown coach is mishandling Big Mac.
I think Lundqvist is still a very good goalie in the top 5-8 range but if he is hung out to dry with defensive lapses he will be made to look just average. I don't think he's lost all that much off his game even at 33 though you can see a bit of decline happening. He's still got 2-3 real good years left in him but they have to fix the defensive zone bs. Gonna be difficult with #18/5 around to be honest if they're playing big minutes. Even Klein is starting to slow and McIlrath is not an answer as his mobility and thinking of the game is not great.
As usual you're lost on McIlrath 71. I love how you talk about his mobility when Staal and Girardi have been beat to the outside on a consistent basis for two fucking years straight. Not to mention how our mental midget defenseman haven't covered anybody in front of their crease for over a year. Sorry, you sould like AV making excuses to play his asslicking, favorites. Not buying his bullshit any longer as many in our fan base aren't.
I don't know Dump, I guess in some ways I may be too hard on DMc but perhaps I haven't seen enough of a sample size to say whether he's a long term option. For whatever reason the staff isn't comfortable endorsing him as a F/T option. Is that based on not wanting to sit Girardi's $6m? Is he not quite 'getting it'? This is why signing Girardi a few years ago is still perhaps the biggest mistake they've made in the last 10y.
The Metro Division is Washington & Pittsburgh and then everybody else. Rangers have an exciting hockey club; one that shows promise, but not yet on the level with the Caps & Pens. The Rangers are on the right road and will be in the battle for a playoff spot. They are basically a young team that will experience many ups and downs this season. I'm enjoying their play and will root for them throughout the year. Core fans must show patience. Consistent winning will come. Maybe not this year, but the future looks better today than it did last year.
I think as a forward group we are as good as pitt and washington with a lot of forward depth. The D is where we are lacking at the moment but I would expect some kind of trade shortly that will upgrade this area. Would love to see Gorton go get us trouba sooner than later and just a matter of how much we have to give to get him. Right now they want a young left D in any deal. Don't see Mcd going but Skjei who I would trade in this deal is doable imo especially with graves looking close. Just a matter of what else has to go with him. This is where I could possibly see Dylan thrown into the deal ( yeah it kills me to say that) but with AV playing him less than 10 minutes the once a month he's not in the press box despite AV being quoted that he likes the way Dylan plays ( yeah right Bwahahahahahahahahah) he's full of shit. Would expect a decent forward to go (would like it to be nash but suspect zucc or miller could be the one involved. Should be a fun season though.
^^^^^If this comes to pass, Mel, Gorton had better not give up a #1.......this team needs to hold on to their top picks. Also, AV never really says as much as his actions. He's one sly dude.
