Pre-Game Talk: 2021-22 Season Predictions

[leetch99]

I just hope we are not gut punched as often as we were last season . Another season like that and it might be time to move on to another team to root for . It was a F'n CIRCUS !!! DeAngelo....Panarin hiding for a month.....the Caps debacle ......and the fall out from all the above . The only Silver lining from all of it and something to look forward to is the added toughness and the new coaching staff and moves in the front office . I really think we will be the better for it and I honestly think we can finish at least in 2nd in the division and if we can handle the Isles and Caps....we win the division in the regular season and finish 2nd OA in the conference . We just need a couple of breakouts by a couple of guys and we are on the way .

In saying all of that...a couple of bad breaks and we could see ourselves missing the playoffs once again . I have faith in Gallant . Go Rangers Go !!!

 

[will1066]

Zibanejad misses 2 games with concussion symptoms but rushes back because it's his contract year and wants to dispel the notion that he's injury prone. During the All Star break he takes a wild vacation to Thailand where he pulls his groin when with one of his many women, missing 1 game after the break.

The NHL introduces "The Kravtsov rule" because he starts the season too dominant, putting up 10 goals in the first 10 games, to go along with 12 assists. Opposing teams front offices are livid with his unexplainable production, fans of other teams are calling for him to be thrown out of the NHL. The league suspends him for 4 games to cool him off of the hot streak while they make him undergo an investigation to determine whether he's taking performance enhancing drugs.

Kakko starts the season with 0 points through his first 16 games, the Rangers send him down on a conditioning stint because they determine he came into camp too fat. They tell him to lose 10lbs in a week, he tries an experimental supplement that ends up containing gluten that triggers a celiac episode where he bloats up like a balloon and misses a 3rd game. He nearly misses a 4th game but the training staff were able to tailor new "Kakko-cut" shoulder pads & hockey pants for him. Kakko ends up landing a deal with Bauer to introduce a new body positive line of equipment named after him; ushering in a new era where plus sized hockey players become in vogue again after the league started embracing unrealistic beauty standards with rail thin models like Jack Hughes & Elias Pettersson.

 

[Vitto79]

1st change is PP1. Move Strome to The 2nd unit

Kreider , Zib , Laf, Panarin , Fox

Chytil or Kravtsov , Strome , Kakko, Lundkvist , Trouba or Miller

play Kakko on pk to replace Buch

 

[Crease]

I don’t have any predictions, but I really REALLY hope Laf and Kakko break 50 points.

 

[EdJovanovski]

I don’t have any predictions, but I really REALLY hope Laf and Kakko break 50 points.

If they don’t they are both busts, but I know a lot of people would try to cope and make excuses. But go back and read threads about Kakko and Laf around the time of the draft, they were expected to both easily surpass 50 in their rookie seasons.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

46-29-7
4th in Metro
Make it to 2nd Round

Name	GP	G	A	PTS
Artemi Panarin	82	39	75	114
Mika Zibanejad	79	41	43	84
Vitali Kravtsov	78	34	36	70
Alexis Lafreniere	82	33	32	65
Adam Fox	81	7	54	61
Filip Chytil	80	24	28	52
Kaapo Kakko	79	18	30	48
Chris Kreider	76	22	22	44
Ryan Strome	78	12	28	40
Barclay Goodrow	82	14	17	31
Nils Lundkvist	65	6	23	29
Jacob Trouba	80	5	19	24
Sammy Blais	59	9	14	23
Morgan Barron	63	9	12	21
K'Andre Miller	80	4	16	20
Julien Gauthier	49	9	9	18
Ryan Lindgren	76	1	16	17
Zac Jones	44	2	14	16
Ryan Reaves	70	3	5	8
Patrik Nemeth	54	0	7	7
Kevin Rooney	19	0	1	1
Jared Tinordi	13	0	0	0
Justin Richards	5	0	1	1
Dryden Hunt	1	0	0	0

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Name	GP	W	L	OTL	SV%	GAA	SO	G	A	PTS
Igor Shesterkin	65	39	21	3	.926	2.91	5	1	3	4
Keith Kinkaid	17	6	5	2	.902	3.49	0	0	0	0
Alexander Georgiev	7	1	3	2	.856	4.83	1	0	0	0

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

No idea what your lines are, but I don't see how Panarin and Lafreniere put up those numbers and Chytl or Strome only score 52 & 40.....

 

[EdJovanovski]

No idea what your lines are, but I don't see how Panarin and Lafreniere put up those numbers and Chytl or Strome only score 52 & 40.....

I have Kravtsov emerging as 1C
Or Chytil leapfrogs Strome, but neither Chytil or Strome are on PP1 (which is quite likely)

 

[Blais to Win]

…he tried jumping out of a pool again but this time developed a hernia.

A hernia? Great! I understand that makes him worth three firsts and a roster player.

 

[Fitzy]

OP prediction would have us scoring 3.5 goals per game, which would be top in the league.

With the new focus on two way hockey from Gallant, I don't see it.

 

[Fitzy]

I'll take a stab at it but I'm only doing starters because I'm not gonna try to guess how many games non-starters play.

Panarin - 82/32/69/101
Zibanejad - 55/36/31/67
Lafreniere - 82/26/34/60
Fox - 82/7/52/59
Strome - 70/19/33/52
Kreider - 68/24/20/44
Kakko - 75/22/21/43
Kravtsov - 82/15/23/38
Chytil - 77/19/19/38
Trouba - 79/7/28/35
Lindgren - 82/2/32/34
Goodrow - 82 14/15/29
Lundkvist - 65/4/22/26
Blais - 70/12/13/25
Miller - 65/7/6/23
Rooney - 82/9/12/21
Nemeth - 75/1/10/11
Reaves - 58/4/3/7

46-27-9, 101 points - 2nd in Metro

I see Barron in the AHL getting significant time rather than spot duty but he could easily end up playing a lot depending on how things go. Like I said, that's something I didn't wanna just guess. Lafreniere will eventually wrestle a PP1 spot away from Strome but not to start the year, so he has a big second half. If Zibanejad misses less than 25 games, I'll fart in a sock and put the sock on my nose. Reaves scores in the home opener -- just a hunch.

The Caps are gonna fall off, Columbus is rebuilding, Carolina lost key pieces, New Jersey lol, and the Islanders don't try in the regular season, so I think we have a chance to win some games.

Everything here looks pretty good except the bolded- I really don't think Lindgren ever breaks 25 points in any season.

 

[eco's bones]

Kravtsov has literally no experience at playing center. A handful of games at a WJC two/three years back does not make him a center. He covers ground well and seems to have a pretty decent sense of defensive responsibility but a center has more responsibility than a wing and his offensive capabilities are also still a question even if he skates and handles the puck extremely well. So does Sonny Milano. And then there is the face off question. For what that’s worth I expect more from him than Milano but changing his position to center and expecting huge numbers is IMO a major reach. I’m not expecting he will get a huge amount of power play time either.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Kravtsov has literally no experience at playing center. A handful of games at a WJC two/three years back does not make him a center. He covers ground well and seems to have a pretty decent sense of defensive responsibility but a center has more responsibility than a wing and his offensive capabilities are also still a question even if he skates and handles the puck extremely well. So does Sonny Milano. And then there is the face off question. For what that’s worth I expect more from him than Milano but changing his position to center and expecting huge numbers is IMO a major reach. I’m not expecting he will get a huge amount of power play time either.

I've wrote some pretty long explanations before as to why I see him as a center. TLDR: He already plays like a center, if you start watching the game after the face-off you would assume he was playing center. He is the first forward back every single shift, and half the time is back before the second dman even is. He always cheats to the center of the ice too. He is the best all around skater on the team, has the best reach of any of our forwards. And his player comparable is Elias Pettersson who was also a winger who moved to center once he came to the NHL. If he doesn't get a huge amount of PP time I question our coaching staffs judgement, he has the best shot on our entire team

 

[Harbour Dog]

I've wrote some pretty long explanations before as to why I see him as a center. TLDR: He already plays like a center, if you start watching the game after the face-off you would assume he was playing center. He is the first forward back every single shift, and half the time is back before the second dman even is. He always cheats to the center of the ice too. He is the best all around skater on the team, has the best reach of any of our forwards. And his player comparable is Elias Pettersson who was also a winger who moved to center once he came to the NHL. If he doesn't get a huge amount of PP time I question our coaching staffs judgement, he has the best shot on our entire team

Who needs coffee, when I can just come in here and read some EdJovo.

 

[will1066]

Can I get a prediction on Ryan Reaves PIMs?

 

[LOFIN]

I've wrote some pretty long explanations before as to why I see him as a center. TLDR: He already plays like a center, if you start watching the game after the face-off you would assume he was playing center. He is the first forward back every single shift, and half the time is back before the second dman even is. He always cheats to the center of the ice too. He is the best all around skater on the team, has the best reach of any of our forwards. And his player comparable is Elias Pettersson who was also a winger who moved to center once he came to the NHL. If he doesn't get a huge amount of PP time I question our coaching staffs judgement, he has the best shot on our entire team

For a guy who has the best shot he sure as hell doesn't use it ever, and never has used it in the KHL or international games either. But good to know he has that thing in reserve.

 

[EdJovanovski]

For a guy who has the best shot he sure as hell doesn't use it ever, and never has used it in the KHL or international games either. But good to know he has that thing in reserve.

Pretty impressive to think he led his KHL team in goals at age 21 missing almost 25% of the season without using his shot!

 

[LOFIN]

Pretty impressive to think he led his KHL team in goals at age 21 missing almost 25% of the season without using his shot!

There are plenty of great goal scorers in the game that don't have a great shot. It's more about being in the right place at the right time. The shot certainly helps, but is not everything. Matthews has a great wrister, but he also knows where to be to score some goals. Laine has a great shot (one of the best there has been in the game), and it hasn't been that good lately.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Kravtsov doesn't have a good shot. But he doesn't shoot all that much. You watch some of those KHL goals, pretty much none of them give you a "what a great shot!" wibe. Redirections, onetimers on the PP, rebounds etc. Typical stuff for a top goal scorer.

 

[EdJovanovski]

There are plenty of great goal scorers in the game that don't have a great shot. It's more about being in the right place at the right time. The shot certainly helps, but is not everything. Matthews has a great wrister, but he also knows where to be to score some goals. Laine has a great shot (one of the best there has been in the game), and it hasn't been that good lately.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Kravtsov doesn't have a good shot. But he doesn't shoot all that much. You watch some of those KHL goals, pretty much none of them give you a "what a great shot!" wibe. Redirections, onetimers on the PP, rebounds etc. Typical stuff for a top goal scorer.

Basically every single goal he scored in 18-19 was a one timer from the top of the right circle my friend. He also hit 100mph in a skills comp at age 17. You will see I promise you! 70pt season

 

[LOFIN]

Basically every single goal he scored in 18-19 was a one timer from the top of the right circle my friend. He also hit 100mph in a skills comp at age 17. You will see I promise you! 70pt season

We still haven't seen this referenced anywhere since you brought it up lol.

And I can certainly see Kravtsov hitting 50 points if he gets to play with Panarin and Strome. Still doubt he has room on #PP1, which will drop his point totals but we should focus on ES points anyway. Same with Kakko and Laf.

 

[eco's bones]

I've wrote some pretty long explanations before as to why I see him as a center. TLDR: He already plays like a center, if you start watching the game after the face-off you would assume he was playing center. He is the first forward back every single shift, and half the time is back before the second dman even is. He always cheats to the center of the ice too. He is the best all around skater on the team, has the best reach of any of our forwards. And his player comparable is Elias Pettersson who was also a winger who moved to center once he came to the NHL. If he doesn't get a huge amount of PP time I question our coaching staffs judgement, he has the best shot on our entire team

Kravtsov has excellent skills but I’m not convinced he’s going to be a big producer. Quite often the kind of skills he has come with good production but not always. Two years ago his production underwhelmed in Hartford. This past season in the KHL—a lesser league than the NHL for sure he was was scoring at a 0.50 clip or a point every other game. So there are questions at least for me of what production exactly is he going to be able to bring. I would hope he would put up the numbers you suggest but I wouldn’t bank on it.

As for moving him to center that’s a fantasy AFAIC. Let him prove himself at his natural position at least before f***ing around with that.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Kravtsov has excellent skills but I’m not convinced he’s going to be a big producer. Quite often the kind of skills he has come with good production but not always. Two years ago his production underwhelmed in Hartford. This past season in the KHL—a lesser league than the NHL for sure he was was scoring at a 0.50 clip or a point every other game. So there are questions at least for me of what production exactly is he going to be able to bring. I would hope he would put up the numbers you suggest but I wouldn’t bank on it.

As for moving him to center that’s a fantasy AFAIC. Let him prove himself at his natural position at least before f***ing around with that.

The KHL is significantly lower scoring than the NHL, and he led his team in goals. The AHL is too much of a bush league for Kravtsov to play in, it’s like having an honor roll student and putting him in special ed. Kravtsov rises to the occasion or plays down to the occasion. Look at his playoff numbers, greatest of all time in the KHL. I’ll bet big money on him becoming one of the best players in the league, Kravtsov is going to make me a very wealthy man. To the moon

 

[frozenrubber]

The KHL is significantly lower scoring than the NHL, and he led his team in goals. The AHL is too much of a bush league for Kravtsov to play in, it’s like having an honor roll student and putting him in special ed. Kravtsov rises to the occasion or plays down to the occasion. Look at his playoff numbers, greatest of all time in the KHL. I’ll bet big money on him becoming one of the best players in the league, Kravtsov is going to make me a very wealthy man. To the moon

Stop trying to sell KravCoin, you already mortgaged your house for BuchScript

 

[Machinehead]

Everything here looks pretty good except the bolded- I really don't think Lindgren ever breaks 25 points in any season.

He was on pace for 26 last year and while I don't ever see him scoring more than like 3 goals, he picks up a lot of "oh shit I was just being good at defense" accidental assists.

9 of his 16 points came after 3/1 after Fox broke out and I don't think the "Fox being elite" thing is ever going back in the can.

 

[EdJovanovski]

He was on pace for 26 last year and while I don't ever see him scoring more than like 3 goals, he picks up a lot of "oh shit I was just being good at defense" accidental assists.

9 of his 16 points came after 3/1 after Fox broke out and I don't think the "Fox being elite" thing is ever going back in the can.

I love Lindgren but he really has next to zero offensive skill, his only redeeming quality offensively is that he’s a decent skater

 

[Machinehead]

I love Lindgren but he really has next to zero offensive skill, his only redeeming quality offensively is that he’s a decent skater

I don't disagree but I think he'll accumulate points being effective defensively and playing with Fox.