News Article: "Back" to the Future!

[Larrybiv]

Has anyone "just for the hell of it" ever clicked "way back" to the oldest archive (page 225) and lurked around? Well, I did and ran into an article that I KNOW I read some 8 years ago. Surely some may get angry with me for wasting their time, but some may not. Check out this article in which they sized up many of our "futures", especially revealing were the Boo Nieves, (size, FO prowess and driving to the net) sums it up, with no mentioning of the really good stuff, like scoring........and Jesper Fasth's "finishing" capabilities.

I simply have to laugh at the lack of "real offensive talent" that this team has lacked for so many years. The FUTURE is lightyears brighter than yesteryear!
Here. Wing and defense strong points for New York Rangers prospect pool - Hockey's Future

Click to read more...

 

[eco's bones]

Has anyone "just for the hell of it" ever clicked "way back" to the oldest archive (page 225) and lurked around? Well, I did and ran into an article that I KNOW I read some 8 years ago. Surely some may get angry with me for wasting their time, but some may not. Check out this article in which they sized up many of our "futures", especially revealing were the Boo Nieves, (size, FO prowess and driving to the net) sums it up, with no mentioning of the really good stuff, like scoring........and Jesper Fasth's "finishing" capabilities.

I simply have to laugh at the lack of "real offensive talent" that this team has lacked for so many years. The FUTURE is lightyears brighter than yesteryear!
Here. Wing and defense strong points for New York Rangers prospect pool - Hockey's Future

FWIW when you're writing about your favorite team's prospects there's a lot of expectation involved and even if it's a more than less mediocre group you're writing about so I wouldn't blame Leslie for that. She'd talk to the Rangers brass and the Rangers brass would tell her this and they would tell her that and she'd go from there. Kreider, Zuccarello, Talbot, Fast, Miller and Skjei were guys from that group that turned out pretty well so it wasn't like there was nothing there.

As far as Nieves--he has the size, strength, skating and enough defensive awareness that I think he's capable of holding down a 4th line NHL job for somebody. He is actually a really good skater and his puck skills are good too. His offensive awareness and creativity are what is subpar. I've always liked him just not nearly as much as Bernmeister.

 

[Edge]

It's actually not a bad list.

You have a 21 year old Kreider, a 19 year old Miller, a 25 year old Talbot, 21 year old Fast, and an 18 year old Skjei in the system.

And that's on top of a 23 year old McD, a 22 year old Del Zotto, and even a pair of 25 year olds in Staal and Sauer.

 

[NYR Viper]

It's actually not a bad list.

You have a 21 year old Kreider, a 19 year old Miller, a 25 year old Talbot, 21 year old Fast, and an 18 year old Skjei in the system.

And that's on top of a 23 year old McD, a 22 year old Del Zotto, and even a pair of 25 year olds in Staal and Sauer.

The Sauer injury is still upsetting

 

[RosensRug]

The Sauer injury is still upsetting

Having Sauer in the lineup changes the 2012 playoff run. They might still lose to NJ but I think that series is different because the Ottawa and Washington series both don't go 7 games.

 

[True Blue]

The Sauer injury is still upsetting

Yes, it is. When you think of the amount of poor luck that NYR had. Really makes me believe that they were overdue for some good vibes in the last several years.

I am still upset by the Kloucek knee injury as he was never the same after that.

 

[East Coast Bias]

The Sauer injury is still upsetting

It was bad enough from a fan perspective.

But the few articles that were written years later painted a really sad picture. I know we get periodic updates. I hope he's doing well, and able to live a good life.

 

[JCProdigy]

The Sauer injury is still upsetting

Honestly, so is Staal's (x2).

 

[Edge]

Sauer, Staal, Kloucek, Cherneski, Blackburn, Cherepanov. All between 1998 and 2012. All careers derailed or ended between the ages 19-25.

Obviously, it's not the same management, but you can start to see why there's a hesitation to draft someone who is already coming to you with a major injury red flag. Careers go off the track easy enough on their own, without starting out in a vulnerable position.

 

[ElLeetch]

Sauer, Staal, Kloucek, Cherneski, Blackburn, Cherepanov. All between 1998 and 2012. All careers derailed or ended between the ages 19-25.

Obviously, it's not the same management, but you can start to see why there's a hesitation to draft someone who is already coming to you with a major injury red flag. Careers go off the track easy enough on their own, without starting out in a vulnerable position.

Cherepanov and Sauer instead of Dorsett and Moore, and we likely take the cup vs. the Kings.

 

[eco's bones]

Sauer, Staal, Kloucek, Cherneski, Blackburn, Cherepanov. All between 1998 and 2012. All careers derailed or ended between the ages 19-25.

Obviously, it's not the same management, but you can start to see why there's a hesitation to draft someone who is already coming to you with a major injury red flag. Careers go off the track easy enough on their own, without starting out in a vulnerable position.

Sauer had an extensive injury history going back to his days in the WHL. Still with him and Kloucek, Cherneski, Blackburn and Cherepanov it was like one day they were on their way to becoming something and the next day their chances at a career were done. McIlrath was another.

We also took on a number of former superstars with significant injury or other issues--Lindros, Fleury, Bure, Lafontaine. Whatever we got out of any of them was just a short term gain. Ryane Clowe cost us two fairly high draft picks.

 

[The New Russian Five]

Sauer, Staal, Kloucek, Cherneski, Blackburn, Cherepanov. All between 1998 and 2012. All careers derailed or ended between the ages 19-25.

Obviously, it's not the same management, but you can start to see why there's a hesitation to draft someone who is already coming to you with a major injury red flag. Careers go off the track easy enough on their own, without starting out in a vulnerable position.

Did all those players have red flags before being drafted?

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Having Sauer in the lineup changes the 2012 playoff run. They might still lose to NJ but I think that series is different because the Ottawa and Washington series both don't go 7 games.

Was Sauer going help the team score more than 1.5 goals per game? Because that was the issue, not missing another defensive dman

 

[JCProdigy]

Did all those players have red flags before being drafted?

Unless I'm misremembering, none except for Sauer. Also can add that Sauer's injury history didn't even play into ending his career.

Most of the injuries to those guys that effectively ended their productive careers were freaky too.
Kloucek - Bad ligament damage in the knee (not uncommon)
Cherneski - Patella exploded (a little more rare)
Sauer - Concussion but if his helmet didn't fly off allowing his bare head to hit the dasher he might have been ok. (awful luck and dumb not to snap the strap)
Staal - deflected puck into the eye (even more awful luck)
Blackburn - Nerve damage to shoulder while lifting weights (wtf!?!?)
Chere - We all sadly know. (seriously, wtf!?!?)

 

[007]

Was Sauer going help the team score more than 1.5 goals per game? Because that was the issue, not missing another defensive dman

Fair point, but as someone else pointed out, Cherepanov very well could have.

 

[NYR]

Holy shit..I was literally here before any of this happened.
I joined this site when it was still just an idea.
Feeling old lol

 

[Edge]

Did all those players have red flags before being drafted?

The only one who did was Sauer, a player originally pegged for the first who slid into the second in part due to those concerns.

 

[RosensRug]

Was Sauer going help the team score more than 1.5 goals per game? Because that was the issue, not missing another defensive dman

Having Sauer in the lineup removes Bickel who Torts obviously didn't want to play. The whole backend wouldn't have been totally gassed by the game 4 of the Capitals series. Not to mention that caps series was essentially an 8 game series. For the entire run they averaged 2.15 goals per game, not great yes. But in the Jersey series the wheels totally fell off as nobody had the energy to play the style Torts wanted. Henrik laid an egg in game 5 but theres nothing that can be done about that since he had posted 2 shutouts for the teams two wins.

 

[Larrybiv]

Why do I have this GUT feeling that Cerepanov would have changed MUCH of what we now know as "Rangers history"?

Probably because he would have. That kid was electric, and what was EXACTLY what the Rangers needed. So sad.