What Happened Between the Rangers and McIlrath

[Leslie Treff]

Here is a link to my NY Sportsday article on the rise and fall of McIlrath

https://www.nysportsday.com/2016/10...-mcilrath-was-waived-by-the-new-york-rangers/

Click to read more...

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Thanks, Leslie. Interesting take, laying out a lot of what has been suspected, but not confirmed.

Re: waiving him. So, your belief is that they sent him down in order to a) help accumulate cap space and b) move him as a minor leaguer the acquiring team would not have to worry about exposing?

If so, that makes sense, but why would the acquiring team not simply snatch him up? Unless perhaps the parameters are already in place, and this move was part of making it all work? Or was the cap space simply more important?

 

[Hockeyplayer99]

what happened between him and the Rangers is that his head coach rather play guys who are terrible over him. He played adequately last year, he actually played pretty good, better then Girardi and Staall, but that writer is probably and AV lover. The guy who wrote the article probably thinks Holden is playing great this year.

 

[eco's bones]

I thought McIlrath was actually quite good in a number of his games last year--considering as well that he would sit for periods and then sometimes play fairly well. There has been reluctance by AV and staff to put him in certain situations like on the penalty kill. He can be turned by quicker, faster forwards. He's a 6-7 guy right now in my eyes but I think an issue here is how much upside he has left and looking at him objectively I don't see him as a future top 4 defenseman. Not in the NHL anyway.

Another organization might benefit him.

Anyway---Miller, Skjei + McIlrath for Trouba and maybe a 2nd/3rd. Trouba would be a big deal.

 

[Mac n Gs]

I really wish this narrative that he's a horrible puck mover would die. Rag on the kid for his very poor lateral agility and mobility, but the kid can separate people from the puck and make smart outlet passes to his partner and near side forward. This was a huge reason why he and Yandle worked so well together: he did the grunt work to create space, and then Yandle took care of the rest.

 

[BBKers]

Miller, Mac and something more
For Troubadour then. Sounds about right. Halloween? Troubadour comes to La Guqrdia in Jason mask and all? Epic

 

[Beacon]

He can't defend 1 on 1. It's that simple. You can't have a defenseman out there whom you can't trust not to allow regular breakaways because the other team made a sudden line change and he can't stop first line offensive stickhandlers.

Mcilrath should practice 1 on 1 against skilled forwards every day. Even in Hartford, have Nieves, Kovacs or someone else with speed charge at him for an hour after practice. He should've asked MZA, Nash, Mika, Butcher, some other skilled guys to do at least a little of this every day with him. In Hartford it wouldn't even be a favor, the prospects there could use the time trying to go around a big defenseman with some NHL experience, and Mcilrath woud benefit big by learning to stop them consistently.

If you're not an offense guy, and Dylan is not, then you need to learn to be a shutdown guy. This means you shut down the forwards coming at you with speed and skill every single time.

 

[Ail]

I really wish this narrative that he's a horrible puck mover would die. Rag on the kid for his very poor lateral agility and mobility, but the kid can separate people from the puck and make smart outlet passes to his partner and near side forward. This was a huge reason why he and Yandle worked so well together: he did the grunt work to create space, and then Yandle took care of the rest.

Agreed, I think this is ********. Also "adequate" is not a fair description of his play last year. Yeah he rode shotgun with Keith Yandle, but unlike Girardi tethered to McDonagh absolutely wasting some of his best years, Wrath was complimentary rather than a hindrance. I don't think he was as good as some were proclaiming but he was definitely an NHL defensemen.

The biggest problem I have with all of this was the leash he was given versus other players, and people speculating about what when on in practices or camps that we were not privy to, is no better than the speculation that AV just doesn't like the kid, yet the proponents of the former are quick to criticize the latter. Whether it was because AV just didn't like him, or didn't trust his game, the fact remains he was not given the same graces as other defensemen who were playing far, far worse. Only because those are veteran guys that AV "trusted." Something he is well known for.

With Holden and Girardi and to some degree Staal, still playing like absolute ****ing trash, there is no reason they could not have given this kid a long stretch of games to try and work on some things. AV's handling of the defense is a hypocritical double standard and as much as people say we here see what we want to see, this guy is the Zeus of player performance tunnel vision. It's a joke.

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

He can't defend 1 on 1. It's that simple....

It's not really that simple when Girardi and Holden can't defend either.

 

[BBKers]

It's not really that simple when Girardi and Holden can't defend either.

Even the Carolina announcers said Girardi was misplaced playing on the first pairing last night. The obvious becomes oblivious at times

 

[Ail]

You know, and the other part of this that is comical, and the underlying factor that makes this entire debate truly absurd, is that if management was able to ice a competent right side defense corp that didn't look like a skunk carcass rotting in sewage every single night, we wouldn't even care nearly as much to get upset over the handling of McIlrath. Even being drafted at 10, if they had a solid right side already this would be all be water under the bridge. Hell, they may have even been able to move McIlrath in years prior for another asset knowing they didn't think he was going to be a fit on this AV squad.

There's not even a argument you can make to defend management's lack of options for the right side seeing as they let Stralman walk, but we're not going to go there. The point is, everything about this situation that makes it so unpalatable falls squarely on the shoulders of poor management and AVs insistence on choosing inferior defensemen over actually good ones.

 

[Ail]

Even the Carolina announcers said Girardi was misplaced playing on the first pairing last night. The obvious becomes oblivious at times

Yeah but, Joe Michelletti said he had a great game/shift/life is a hero/warrior/tremendous individual so therefore John Forslund and Tripp Tracy, one of the best tandems in the entire league, are a couple of know nothing idiots. Just like most of us here.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

1) Even if you are going with the argument that he was "no worse" than Holden or Girardi, the veteran is always going to win out in that situation for damn near EVERY coach. For a kid to win that battle, he has to play markedly better than his competition.

2) He is NOT good at outlet passes to start the rush. He IS good at passes to obtain possession out of the scrum, but anything longer than 15' is not his thing. (At least not yet.)

3) He IS worse 1-on-1 than Girardi and Holden. He gets flat-out beaten more than anyone who's suited up for the NHL squad in the last two years. He did show some improvement during his longer run last year, but has since regressed, while Girardi has improved.

4) Also, when Girardi and Holden do get beat, they usually manage to at least hamper the other player. Dylan is phenomenal at laying guys out, but when he misses, he misses completely way too often, and lands on his ass/knees way too often while doing it. (Though to be fair, Holden when playing his off side does get himself out of position far too often, which while not technically "getting beat", does lead to open players.)

5) Barring a string of 2-3 injuries on D and no trades (which we all think will happen), he isn't going to get into enough games to remain an RFA, so odds are he'll be gone at year's end any way you slice it.

If he wasn't a fighter and/or former 10th OA pick, no one would be as fussed as they are about a player like this. I really do hope he is included in a trade, because I hate losing assets for nothing, but as Leslie said, this is hardly mismanagement.

 

[kovazub94]

Agreed, I think this is ********. Also "adequate" is not a fair description of his play last year. Yeah he rode shotgun with Keith Yandle, but unlike Girardi tethered to McDonagh absolutely wasting some of his best years, Wrath was complimentary rather than a hindrance. I don't think he was as good as some were proclaiming but he was definitely an NHL defensemen.

The biggest problem I have with all of this was the leash he was given versus other players, and people speculating about what when on in practices or camps that we were not privy to, is no better than the speculation that AV just doesn't like the kid, yet the proponents of the former are quick to criticize the latter. Whether it was because AV just didn't like him, or didn't trust his game, the fact remains he was not given the same graces as other defensemen who were playing far, far worse. Only because those are veteran guys that AV "trusted." Something he is well known for.

With Holden and Girardi and to some degree Staal, still playing like absolute ****ing trash, there is no reason they could not have given this kid a long stretch of games to try and work on some things. AV's handling of the defense is a hypocritical double standard and as much as people say we here see what we want to see, this guy is the Zeus of player performance tunnel vision. It's a joke.

Don't know if we can generalize here. I think it is specifically McIlrath that AV has a problem with - Skjei with even less pro experience is a regular, Fast, Vesey, Butch (so far) have been treated differently.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Don't know if we can generalize here. I think it is specifically McIlrath that AV has a problem with - Skjei with even less pro experience is a regular, Fast, Vesey, Butch (so far) have been treated differently.

Yup. The "AV hates rookies" narrative doesn't hold up at all if you aren't trying to defend a specific player.

Players playing in at least half the team's games at ages 23 or under (i.e. YOUNGER than McIlrath is currently) by year during AV's tenure:

2013-2014:
Derek Stepan
Michael Del Zotto
John Moore
Chris Krieder

2014-2015:
JT Miller
Kevin Hayes
Jesper Fast
Chris Kreider

2015-2016:
JT Miller
Kevin Hayes

2016-2017:
Pavel Buchnevich (included because he's only missed time due to injury)
Brady Skjei
Jimmy Vesey
JT Miller
Mika Zibanejad

And there are PLENTY of guys who've gotten cups of coffee, including McIlrath.

 

[BBKers]

Yeah but, Joe Michelletti said he had a great game/shift/life is a hero/warrior/tremendous individual so therefore John Forslund and Tripp Tracy, one of the best tandems in the entire league, are a couple of know nothing idiots. Just like most of us here.

Joe is a homer tool plug. Knowledgable but totally a company man. About as objective as a lurking shill on an alternative forum. Or a foil hatter just about anywhere.

The bolded part I had forgotten about entirely. Have Marcy on us imbeciles...

 

[eco's bones]

If the Rangers can get Trouba out of this--without giving up way too much, I'm okay. Trouba's the real deal.

 

[Raspewtin]

1) Even if you are going with the argument that he was "no worse" than Holden or Girardi, the veteran is always going to win out in that situation for damn near EVERY coach. For a kid to win that battle, he has to play markedly better than his competition.

He played "markedly better" than his competition for almost 20 games when given a chance, but got scratched anyway so this is false.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

He played "markedly better" than his competition for almost 20 games when given a chance, but got scratched anyway so this is false.

I agree that he was good then. Didn't like the decision to take him out at the time.

This was the right move now, however.

 

[Raspewtin]

I agree that he was good then. Didn't like the decision to take him out at the time.

This was the right move now, however.

But that's not what you said. You said the key to a rookie stealing a vets job is doing it markedly better than him. He did. And still didn't get rewarded. Girardi came back in and sucked it up for a good 50 games while McIlrath got rewarded with minutes on the 4th line or on his offside with Dan Boyle.

No matter what you think about McIlrath's upside, absolving Clowneault of blame is being willfully ignorant.

 

[Jaromir Jagr]

It's not really that simple when Girardi and Holden can't defend either.

Girardi and Holden can't defend 1 on 2. We saw that perfectly last night in the last 2 minutes when brainless AV decided to put them out there when we desperately needed a goal. Predictably proceeded to get pinned in their zone for a full minute.

 

[Raspewtin]

This league won't get anywhere until coaches and GMs catch up to the fact that loyalty is a dying art in sports. In the wild, slow and weak animals get killed off relatively quickly for quicker and more useful animals. The Rangers have something great going on right now at forward and will willfully piss it away letting our weak and dying animals try to become strong again. Let them die (metaphorically). The young and restless can't hone their claws forever.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

But that's not what you said. You said the key to a rookie stealing a vets job is doing it markedly better than him. He did. And still didn't get rewarded. Girardi came back in and sucked it up for a good 50 games while McIlrath got rewarded with minutes on the 4th line or on his offside with Dan Boyle.

No matter what you think about McIlrath's upside, absolving Clowneault of blame is being willfully ignorant.

I can disagree with individual moves while still thinking he is on the whole a good coach.

Also, McIlrath was set up to succeed this offseason - likely, I would imagine because of his good showing last year - and he blew an opportunity left wide open for him.

I hope he can get back to where he was and to have a productive NHL career. I don't see it with the Rangers, based on all the water under the bridge, but perhaps I'm wrong. If I'm right, I hope it's in part because he goes in a deal to get a Trouba or someone similar.

 

[we want cup]

I really don't see any reason why he couldn't, with a capable partner, be a trustworthy second pair guy. He fell flat on his face to start the year, but also didn't get much of a leash, which young players need to have. The difference between how he played when he got regular minutes and how he's played while coming in and out of the lineup at least suggests that he should have had more opportunity this season. Playing a dime a dozen guy like Holden over a young guy with room to improve is just baffling to me.

 

[Raspewtin]

I can disagree with individual moves while still thinking he is on the whole a good coach.

Also, McIlrath was set up to succeed this offseason - likely, I would imagine because of his good showing last year - and he blew an opportunity left wide open for him.

That's weird because Skjei was ******** himself all pre-season and got in anyway.

Do you realize where I'm going with this now?