Post-Game Talk: Lightning at Rangers - October 30

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Zibanejad just destroying them at 55%. God I love this roster; really excited to see what Gorton gets up to between now and the TDL.

Best off-season in years.

We replaced Boyle, Yandle, Moore, Stalberg, Brassard and Glass with Holden, Skjei, Pirri, Vesey, Buchnevich, Zibanejad, Grabner and Jooris.

Amazing change in philosophy

 

[Rangerfan4life90]

I had mentioned this previously, but this is really the best forward depth the Rangers have had in a long time (since the 04-05 lockout at least).

Something will have to give. It's almost like a perfect storm of trading for a top RHD like Trouba, lol.

 

[True Blue]

yeah was thinking the same thing regarding hayes and grabner. they looked great.

honestly though JT Miller had a really really good game tonight...makes me want to trade him less and less.

Grabner looks much better than he did in pre-season.

Have been saying it for a while, while no one is untradeable, Krieder, Hayes & Miller should not be dealt.

I still worry about the level of play when more and more teams start to take away the neutral zone from them. But playing it along the board the way that they did was good to see.

I still see opposing forward being way too comfortable in front of the goalie.

 

[Irishguy42]

I'm fine with this lineup. No reason to break up Vesey-Stepan-Nash/Grabner-Hayes-Miller.

Since Kreider just came back, let him get back into the lineup with ZBad-Zucc before adjusting that line.

So Buch moving down to the fourth line isn't an issue. Him setting up Pirri is an exciting idea.

 

[aufheben]

This, this is what I'm talkin about. Great stuff. [ES/All]

 

[Captain Lindy]

Stat wise they look amazing except the goals. The eye test has them lacking something at the moment. Maybe kreids back will jump start it. But i feel Zbad is not playing his best and its dragging the line down at the moment.

I haven't seen all of the games but what I have seen is light years better than last year. It's like a night-and-day comparison, seriously. This team is playing as if they'll get even better with time. I feel good about this year so far.

 

[Levitate]

Grabner looks much better than he did in pre-season.

Have been saying it for a while, while no one is untradeable, Krieder, Hayes & Miller should not be dealt.

I still worry about the level of play when more and more teams start to take away the neutral zone from them. But playing it along the board the way that they did was good to see.

The trick is always how to adjust and force teams to make mistakes or open up the ice. If a team is playing perfectly disciplined hockey and not giving you anything, then it doesn't matter what kind of system you play it's going to be tough to score.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Best off-season in years.

We replaced Boyle, Yandle, Moore, Stalberg, Brassard and Glass with Holden, Skjei, Pirri, Vesey, Buchnevich, Zibanejad, Grabner and Jooris.

Amazing change in philosophy

If I had time (I don't), I would love to pull about 100 posts starting with draft day and up until the Brassard trade and show all the unbelievable overreactions about how our GM is an idiot, he is doing nothing, this roster will be the same, the world is ending, blah blah blah.

There is that word... I believe it is patience?

 

[True Blue]

The trick is always how to adjust and force teams to make mistakes or open up the ice. If a team is playing perfectly disciplined hockey and not giving you anything, then it doesn't matter what kind of system you play it's going to be tough to score.

Part of what has me worried. AV's strength has not been in-game adjustments.

 

[New York RKY]

My favorite part of last night's game wasn't an offensive or defensive play.

[spoil]
It was a Joe Micheletti calling Nick Holden steady[/spoil]

 

[Raspewtin]

Grabner looks much better than he did in pre-season.

Have been saying it for a while, while no one is untradeable, Krieder, Hayes & Miller should not be dealt.

I still worry about the level of play when more and more teams start to take away the neutral zone from them. But playing it along the board the way that they did was good to see.

Teams have been trying this though. Detroit tried it, Boston tried it, Tampa tried it last night. All of them failed. I mean they aren't particularly good teams, but this strategy was much more successful against the Rangers last year against any team that tried it. This Rangers team enter the zone with a lot more support than last year and it's really helping establish forechecks. If you notice, the Rangers D do a lot less cross-zone passing than last year. Somebody recognized this defense has no talent, because the forwards back pressure like crazy and are responsible for at least 70% of the defensive puck battles won. How often do you see d-men make out-of-zone passes now? Almost never, sometimes McDonagh will try it but that's fine. Which is the right move.

I still see opposing forward being way too comfortable in front of the goalie.

It doesn't help that Holden and Staal take naps in the crease every other shift. Seriously, they are so bad in front of their own nets. Klein isn't much better either.

 

[Rangerfan4life90]

If I had time (I don't), I would love to pull about 100 posts starting with draft day and up until the Brassard trade and show all the unbelievable overreactions about how our GM is an idiot, he is doing nothing, this roster will be the same, the world is ending, blah blah blah.

There is that word... I believe it is patience?

Trust me, I absolutely hated losing Brassard, but said it at the time that getting Mika was a great move. Younger player with a more shoot first mentality, which was needed.

 

[JohnC]

My favorite part of last night's game wasn't an offensive or defensive play.

[spoil]
It was a Joe Micheletti calling Nick Holden steady[/spoil]

Sounds pretty offensive to me.

 

[Inferno]

If I had time (I don't), I would love to pull about 100 posts starting with draft day and up until the Brassard trade and show all the unbelievable overreactions about how our GM is an idiot, he is doing nothing, this roster will be the same, the world is ending, blah blah blah.

There is that word... I believe it is patience?

you cannot put into words how unbelievably important 2 things are for this Rangers team.

1)The emergence of Chris Kreider...when hes playing the way he played prior to his injury, hes a legit star. not just a good player..not just a top line player..a frikkin star.

2)The signing of Vesey. I know I said it before we signed him, that if JG signed Vesey i'd call it an absolute grand slam of an offseason.

Vesey was the key IMHO..hes allowed you to have a second line player play on your 4th line.

Signing Pirri was huge.

JG had one of the best offseasons ive ever seen a GM have. I'll gladly eat crow on what i thoguht this team would be...i wanted a complete gut job. JG decided to revamp.

he was right.

but, there is still a lot of work to do...particularly on the defense.

the question is...how do you add a top pair RH defenseman without gutting the area of this team that's carrying the dead weight...our forwards. its tough.

ive not been in favor of trading first rounders..but im looking at this team right now, and id really rather move a first rounder for a guy like Trouba...Vatanen, etc...than move one of our forwards...

its a precarious situation right now.

the defense CLEARLY needs to be addressed..but man, its tough to imagine trading one or more of these forwards.

 

[Igor Shestyorkin]

Nick Holden leads the team in +/- with a +8

Another thing to prove why +/- is such a useless stat.

 

[Inferno]

Another thing to prove why +/- is such a useless stat.

i want to start a kickstarter program..with all proceeds going to the NHL to simply stop counting the plus minus stat...its so damn worthless.

 

[NYR Viper]

This, this is what I'm talkin about. Great stuff. [ES/All]

This team needs to find a way to start to limit some of McDonagh's minutes. 82 games + playoffs + World Cup is a lot of minutes.

 

[Igor Shestyorkin]

If I had time (I don't), I would love to pull about 100 posts starting with draft day and up until the Brassard trade and show all the unbelievable overreactions about how our GM is an idiot, he is doing nothing, this roster will be the same, the world is ending, blah blah blah.

There is that word... I believe it is patience?

We've already waited more than 20 years for another cup. How much longer do we need? Our fan base had to wait 54 years before that.

Plus, despite the great offseason by Gorton with fixing the offense, i'm still mightily concerned about the defense.

 

[Igor Shestyorkin]

This team needs to find a way to start to limit some of McDonagh's minutes. 82 games + playoffs + World Cup is a lot of minutes.

But realistically, what else can they do? They NEED him to log those minutes if they want a guy who can consistently move the puck on the back-end. Holden can't do it. Staal and Girardi sure as hell can't. Klein and Skjei really aren't the greatest at it. They took out Clendening who CAN do it, but you know they won't ever play him again.

 

[Inferno]

This team needs to find a way to start to limit some of McDonagh's minutes. 82 games + playoffs + World Cup is a lot of minutes.

ugh no...no no no no no.

play your best players...you can sit them in blowouts like last night...but other than that...your horses need to play.

 

[Igor Shestyorkin]

i want to start a kickstarter program..with all proceeds going to the NHL to simply stop counting the plus minus stat...its so damn worthless.

Honestly. I don't know how people actually believe it's a reliable stat. All of the NHL Network people seem to like it(as well as many NHL fans) besides Mike Johnson who uses advanced stats. Johnson is my favorite NHL Network guy. Good analyst.

 

[NYR Viper]

But realistically, what else can they do? They NEED him to log those minutes if they want a guy who can consistently move the puck on the back-end. Holden can't do it. Staal and Girardi sure as hell can't. Klein and Skjei really aren't the greatest at it. They took out Clendening who CAN do it, but you know they won't ever play him again.

That's the problem. They NEED him to do it.

ugh no...no no no no no.

play your best players...you can sit them in blowouts like last night...but other than that...your horses need to play.

As of right now, that's the only choice. But they need Skjei to step up and start playing a bit more so they can settle McDonagh back into the 22-23 minutes a night range. Let him ramp it up in the playoffs but they need to keep him healthy until then.

 

[Inferno]

That's the problem. They NEED him to do it.



As of right now, that's the only choice. But they need Skjei to step up and start playing a bit more so they can settle McDonagh back into the 22-23 minutes a night range. Let him ramp it up in the playoffs but they need to keep him healthy until then.

gotta be honest..Skjei has slowly and steadily improved this entire season...ive been happy with his progress....hes still adventurous in his own zone..but hes been getting better and better on his reads.

 

[Kovalev27]

Oh lord no

The best dmen in the league play 25 plus Mcdonagh should be doing the same and plays better when he does.

 

[Igor Shestyorkin]

That's the problem. They NEED him to do it.



As of right now, that's the only choice. But they need Skjei to step up and start playing a bit more so they can settle McDonagh back into the 22-23 minutes a night range. Let him ramp it up in the playoffs but they need to keep him healthy until then.

I know. Getting him a good partner or even just a guy that can log a lot of minutes on the 2nd pair efficiently, it would help him a lot. I don't see them dealing any of the forwards this early though. Trading a 1st for a D-man seems actually like the better option anyways.

Would love to get another good PMD somehow.