I guess I'm feeling optimistic, since, after all, it's December and I'm under the impression that it's way too early to be this doom and gloom about a team's fortune.
It's not just this team. This team's issues have been the same issues that the previous Ranger teams have had.
A trade for a player that provides energy and sets an example of never quitting would do wonders for this team. They need more of those type of players. As I said in my last post, there's an attitude problem on this team. It has improved since the beginning of the season but it's still not where it needs to be.
Agreed. And those are players you typically need to draft and develop yourself as those players are usually young, cheap and controllable — three great qualities in a salary cap world
There are some black holes in this team that really hurt us. Del Zotto. I find he is nearly almost always on the ice when some sort of terribly deflating goal happens.
Del Zotto is simply this year's whipping boy. The biggest black hole is with the GM is unable to properly construct a hockey team.
Richards. Talk about the amount of wide open nets he's missed that could have affected our games this season. He's one of our top paid players, and he's supposed to lead. Lead by example. He's supposed to be one who comes up big when the team needs him. He's missing wide open nets. Wide. Open. Nets. Also, he also seems to quit on plays relatively easily nowadays, which have led to several goals themselves.
Yes. He's been bad. And the role he was supposed to play is very hard to fill. The "brain trust" at the top decided to give him one more year. I wonder if they even bothered to ask their new coach what his thoughts were?
Pyatt/Pouloit. No explanation needed.
I'm still not sure why you're surprised when these players do nothing here. They're both journeymen who don't do anything particularly well. They have been inconsistent throughout their careers, is it really so surprising that they're inconsistent now? When you don't develop third liners you need to buy them. And that's what you get.
Those are the immediate changes that need to happen to have some sort of effect on this team. Richards is still providing useful, but needs to be bought out by the end of the year.
Del Zotto needs out of this team immediately. We need an energy guy to replace Poo/Pyatt.
Easier said than done.
We need a top 6 winger. A top 9 winger. And to call up McIlrath. 2 trades, 1 involving the immediate removal of DZ. 1 call up.
They need more than that. They need an defenseman who can contribute offensively. They need a legit #1 or #2 center. They need young, aggressive players to populate the third fourth lines. They need their #1 goalie to be more consistent. These are not small holes to fill. Any notion that they are a player or two away is ridiculous — unless those two players are Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr in their primes.
Not my morning.
