Derek Stepan Sucks (UPDATE: Does Not Suck - 03/07/18)

[TheLegend]

I wish he would be Rucchin. We all said he had a terrible year last year, now you are saying he is okay yet is playing no better than last year. Stepan gets more TOI than any forward on this team. For me, it's one of the most baffling things occurring here. Stepan is suppose to be one of the leaders, but he sure isn't showing it. You guys are complaining about OEL, Kessel, who both are outplaying Stepan by a wide margin, yet you give Stepan a pass. Stepan is not playing up to his contract. I'm done talking about Stepan.

Currently.... OEL is not playing up to his contract either.

But I’ve held off saying anything because he’s seems to be getting constantly worked on on the bench in recent games. Which makes me wonder if he’s trying to play through something?

But even a 50% OEL is better off for us than a 150% Ness or Lyubushkin.

 

[cobra427]

I wish he would be Rucchin. We all said he had a terrible year last year, now you are saying he is okay yet is playing no better than last year. Stepan gets more TOI than any forward on this team. For me, it's one of the most baffling things occurring here. Stepan is suppose to be one of the leaders, but he sure isn't showing it. You guys are complaining about OEL, Kessel, who both are outplaying Stepan by a wide margin, yet you give Stepan a pass. Stepan is not playing up to his contract. I'm done talking about Stepan.

Stepan is out playing Kessel right now for sure. He gets more of a pass than OEL because he is the leader and expected to score more. Kessel has to score or he isn't effective, below average player along with Keller other wise. Stepan contributes way more than Keller/Kessel right now.

 

[Jakey53]

Stepan is still our best C on D, that is why he gets TOI,.

Ok, I thought you said he was our best overall C, now he is our best C on D. You are still wrong. DVO is better in every area than Stepan.

Stepan is like the Swiss-army knife of players. He's a center who can penalty kill, play on the power play, play a defensive shut-down role, and puts up some offense, and can take face-offs. Granted some of these roles he might be more of the toothpick or tweezer level of contraptions on the knife, but the point is that if Tocchet needs some one for just about anything, he can fit Stepan into that line and it'll be more cohesive than many other options. It's what's allowing him to play up and down the entire lineup whereas some guys need to be top 6, or others who are absolute black-holes on offense, he at least can fill in until you find a more dedicated tool.

The plan has always been for him to mentor the young guys as they attempt to hone their skills on the top lines while he corkscrews his way down the line-up, yet remains a fixture. It makes sense that some one who fill in so many roles would get more ice-time, and it's probably less about him getting the ice-time versus some one else taking that time away from him. I assume he'll be a more permanent fixture in the bottom 6 once Dvorak, Schmaltz, and Hayton have fully ensconced themselves in the top 6 as viable centers.

Good post. On a good team Stepan is no better than a third C, maybe could play 2C in a pinch, but all our C's are average. They all play the same game. Schmaltz is of course different, but he hasn't proven he can handle the C position. Still, right now, today, there are two C's that are playing better than Stepan, and there is no way he deserves the TOI he is getting. I was really hoping Stepan and Fischer would or could have a bounce back year but both have disappointed.

 

[Jakey53]

Currently.... OEL is not playing up to his contract either.

But I’ve held off saying anything because he’s seems to be getting constantly worked on on the bench in recent games. Which makes me wonder if he’s trying to play through something?

But even a 50% OEL is better off for us than a 150% Ness or Lyubushkin.

I have been waiting for someone to say that. OEL has had a couple of bad games, but he is so under rated under appreciated by our fans it's ridiculous. He plays against other teams top players game in game out, who target and hit him at every chance they get, and he gives it right back. He is a complete Dman and if we wanted to trade him teams would be lining up.

 

[Jakey53]

Stepan is out playing Kessel right now for sure. He gets more of a pass than OEL because he is the leader and expected to score more. Kessel has to score or he isn't effective, below average player along with Keller other wise. Stepan contributes way more than Keller/Kessel right now.

Are you saying RT is not getting the most from his stars?

 

[cobra427]

Are you saying RT is not getting the most from his stars?

What I am saying is that Stepan contributes in ways you don't see in a box score or even analytics. Keller/Kessel seem like they aren't effective unless they have the puck, are in open ice, and can score. Garland/Schmaltz are effective in corners without the puck, always on the hunt making it tougher on the other team. They can both be effective players in other areas as can Stepan. I am not sure it is Tocc's fault at this point, I know he is searching for answers. Maybe he should play Keller or Kessel with Soda and Crouse or Fischer, see if they can create turnovers and more scoring chances for Keller/Kessel.

 

[rt]

Stepan’s production has gone from 0.68 in Y1 to 0.49 in Y2 and he’s now at a mere 0.35 in Y3. He’s been a pretty solid defensive center, and media coverage suggests he’s a good leader. So he’s not without value.

But boy oh boy did New York ever sell at exactly the right time. Good job Rangers. They saw a guy who’s not very big, not very fast, and not very dedicated off-ice, who was staring down the barrel of 30, and they got top-end value for him at just the right time.

They blew the draft pick. They drafted with their hearts and not their heads. Swan Song picks should not be made in the top 10.

Nonetheless, really good trade by them, in terms of assets, even if the drafting part kind of dashed it.

 

[Jakey53]

Stepan’s production has gone from 0.68 in Y1 to 0.49 in Y2 and he’s now at a mere 0.35 in Y3. He’s been a pretty solid defensive center, and media coverage suggests he’s a good leader. So he’s not without value.

But boy oh boy did New York ever sell at exactly the right time. Good job Rangers. They saw a guy who’s not very big, not very fast, and not very dedicated off-ice, who was staring down the barrel of 30, and they got top-end value for him at just the right time.

They blew the draft pick. They drafted with their hearts and not their heads. Swan Song picks should not be made in the top 10.

Nonetheless, really good trade by them, in terms of assets, even if the drafting part kind of dashed it.

I don't think anyone is saying Stepan doesn't have value, but when you consider his play and salary cap his value is no where near what it was. For the Coyotes sake, I was really hoping last year was just a bad year and he would have a rebound year, but I guess that hope is dashed. I guess, looking back, when a team trades their captain in their prime should have been somewhat of a red flag. Like you said, NY knew exactly what was happening, and were a team desperate for C's.

 

[rt]

Stepan was never the captain in New York.

 

[Jakey53]

Stepan was never the captain in New York.

My bad, I thought he was.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

12 points in 41 games, 24 point pace. not even top-10 in points on the team.

Jeez, this really sucks to see him struggle so bad.

 

[Name Nameless]

12 points in 41 games, 24 point pace. not even top-10 in points on the team.

Jeez, this really sucks to see him struggle so bad.

He has a stabilizing effect on the team. One of the reasons why the last two games has gone so bad, is the bad guys has managed to throw Stepan out injured.

 

[Jakey53]

He has a stabilizing effect on the team. One of the reasons why the last two games has gone so bad, is the bad guys has managed to throw Stepan out injured.

Yup, we lost the last two games because we didn't have Stepan to stabilize the team.

 

[Name Nameless]

Yup, we lost the last two games because we didn't have Stepan to stabilize the team.

A good thing we can agree on this.

 

[XX]

He has a stabilizing effect on the team. One of the reasons why the last two games has gone so bad, is the bad guys has managed to throw Stepan out injured.

He is not a liability at ES but he is not providing any push either. The team would be better off with Hayton full time.

I appreciate Derek's grit but the bud lights have gotten the best of him. It's over.

 

[WrinkledPossum]

He would be a great player at like 2M. I checked to see if we could buy him out after this season and then bring him back cheap, but it's impossible. A buyout would still keep his cap hit at just over 5 million next year because of his 3M signing bonus. What a horrible contract for us.

 

[87turbobuick]

What a horrible contract for us.

Chayka at his best. Tony DeAngelo was said to be a loose canon by the team, do not want a Dman with a mean streak.

 

[Name Nameless]

He would be a great player at like 2M. I checked to see if we could buy him out after this season and then bring him back cheap, but it's impossible. A buyout would still keep his cap hit at just over 5 million next year because of his 3M signing bonus. What a horrible contract for us.

Yeah, you don't buy out and re-sign, I think I read it's not even legal. But there is almost never a point in that anyways.

His base salary next year is 2 mill. This means if the owner wants to spend money, it's possible to trade him the day after the signing bonus is paid, and the trading-partner gets a player who is worth what they pay him. That means a team with plenty of cap-space, but only a limited interest in spending money, could be interested. So, something like Ottawa.

 

[rt]

I could see Ottawa being interested in buying him out, maybe. We pay the bonus, trade him there, they buy him out for pennies, and get some nice long, dead cap to enjoy.

 

[hbk]

Chayka at his best. Tony DeAngelo was said to be a loose canon by the team, do not want a Dman with a mean streak.

He was thought to be a disaster in his own zone and had a history of racial impropriety.

 

[Jamieh]

I could see Ottawa being interested in buying him out, maybe. We pay the bonus, trade him there, they buy him out for pennies, and get some nice long, dead cap to enjoy.

Ottawa's owner does not scream "spend money for nothing" to me.

 

[WrinkledPossum]

I could see Ottawa being interested in buying him out, maybe. We pay the bonus, trade him there, they buy him out for pennies, and get some nice long, dead cap to enjoy.

Capfriendly shows that a buyout would only last two years with the second having a caphit of only ~600k, I think they'd be better off paying him 2M to get the 6.5 cap hit for a year. Good deal for em if we pay that bonus.

 

[rt]

He was thought to be a disaster in his own zone and had a history of racial impropriety.

Never any confirmation that it was racial. In fact, I think it was confirmed that it wasn’t. More likely he called someone a or something like that.

 

[rt]

Haha. Wow. I figured it’d get the first word but not the whole phrase including the space.

Rooster lollipop.

 

[XX]

Tony DeAngelo was a gamer and hated losing. Domi too. I would have tried to mend those relationships/keep the player. Strome, Perlini, Duclair are more of what the Coyotes already have, so I'm not too upset they are gone.

Stepan says all the right things but he could only muster about 20 games of good play before reverting to his bad form.