Post-Game Talk: New Jersey Devils at New York Rangers - 10/14/17

[Doctyl]

Where did he say that?

Larry defended Girardi and bashed Shattenkirk all last season. Then this

It appears as if everyone underestimated what the loss of Derek Stepan and Dan Girardi, two pillars of Vigneault’s who matched up against the opposition’s top guns from Day 1 through the final bitter moments of last year’s elimination by Ottawa before being sent away, would mean to the coach.

Followed by

Perhaps Shattenkirk has been even a bit shakier in his own end than anticipated.


Really sounds like he’s attributing making the playoff series last year and the mess that this year has been at least partially to Girardi being better defensively than Shattenkirk.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Larry defended Girardi and bashed Shattenkirk all last season. Then this

It appears as if everyone underestimated what the loss of Derek Stepan and Dan Girardi, two pillars of Vigneault’s who matched up against the opposition’s top guns from Day 1 through the final bitter moments of last year’s elimination by Ottawa before being sent away, would mean to the coach.

Followed by

Perhaps Shattenkirk has been even a bit shakier in his own end than anticipated.


Really sounds like he’s attributing making the playoff series last year and the mess that this year has been at least partially to Girardi being better defensively than Shattenkirk.

Eh, he's just calling it like he sees it, but I don't think he is implying by any means we should have kept Girardi over signing Shatt.

 

[will1066]

Eh, he's just calling it like he sees it, but I don't think he is implying by any means we should have kept Girardi over signing Shatt.

Plenty of people here have, though lol

People are crying over Girardi and Stepan. Unreal.

 

[Mac n Gs]

Always fun watching people rip that idiot AV to shreds. His horrible, ill-fitting defensive system has always taken 10+ games in order for guys to adjust so none of this is surprising. A good coach would adjust the system to optimize his players but AV is a terrible coach so it is what it is.

As for all the Stepan lamentations? Trading Stepan was the right move to make overall when you look at
A) This team now
B) Stepan now
C) Both going forward

It's not even a question that it was the right move. Maybe the team wins 4 or 5 more games this season with him. Maybe they go one round further this year. But honestly, at his current production and skill level I hesitate to say he'd even help the team win a single round. At that contract, with his already steadily declining play, getting rid of him was so brilliantly done.

Ah yes, Stepan’s declining play AKA worst shooting% of his career while still posting 50+ points and positive metrics everywhere else. Bang up analysis.

 

[will1066]

I don't want to get into the metrics debate. I know he went through the longest goal scoring slump of his career, and he did almost nothing in the playoffs while looking very slow.

 

[Siddi]

Dude it's October lol

Personally I'm not even sure the Rangers have been playing much differently than last year so far. Things look a lot worse when pucks are going in, and vice versa.

Agreed and lost in the discussion is that Hank is actually off to a decent start. Allowed 2 or less goals in his last 3 games. Early last season we scored at will while Hank was doing his best impression of swiss cheese. At least this season it seems that Hank is ready to play from the get go.

 

[Ori]

Yeah that`s true even though Stepan was a slow starter - he usually put up 50 pts. average each season, and unless we recall Chytil to let him play on the 3rd line, we`ve no one at the moment of our new signings to replace that production as a forward.

 

[NYR Viper]

I think the people who thought Stepan was a bad player were probably being overly dramatic. The team decided that they were obviously concerned with 4 more years of Stepan @ $6.5m with the amount of games played, injuries (that they really only know about) and skating style. They found a trade partner willing to give up a couple of prime assets and decided to pull the trigger. Why people thought this would be a smooth transition from losing this teams #1C was probably where the disconnect occurred. The trade wasn't made for this season, it was made for the long haul.

People clamor for the organization to make the smart moves and begin thinking long term. They make a trade which clearly indicates that is what they are doing. People complain.