Post-Game Talk: Capitals @ Rangers 3/24/13

[Saitama]

Yeah. Let's put the team in a precarious position just so we can bench our star center. Makes perfect sense.

You want blood and you're willing to put the team in a position to lose in order to justify your disdain for Richards' and his play. That's something fans want, but thankfully the people in charge never do.

We have a star center? I hope I get to see him play next game!

 

[Pugs35]

It will be for ONE GAME. No one is saying "Put Brian Boyle on the 1st line forever."


I am assuming he's gone, either this summer or next. But that doesn't change the fact that right now, this season, he is bringing the team down. I don't know what it is; motivation issues, lack of effort, or just age catching up faster than usual. One thing I do know for sure, is that he can play hockey better than what we are seeing. If it's age, then there's really not much you can do. If it's motivation, perhaps giving him a night to reassess his game in the pressbox isn't the worst way to go. Can't the team just lie and say that he's "banged up"? No one told us what was wrong with Nash. Make him unavailable to the media and that's that. No one has to go embarrass anyone.

Fine, if it's motivation, bench him. The problem is you aren't in that room, on that bench, or on the ice and don't have any idea if it's motivation or effort, to assume so isn't fair or accurate, especially for a player who's worn a letter at 3 different places in his career.

I don't think it's motivation, I don't think it's effort. The dude cares and is trying, benching him isn't going to help that, and I think Tortorella knows that and that's part of why he has no choice but to keep running him out there in the best possible situation (with Nash).

I guess I'm just giving know-nothing Tortorella and the "Beaver" way more credit than they've earned though.

 

[*Bob Richards*]

I don't care for all the hate Richards gets. He completely deserves all the criticism coming his way but I've seen that spill over into malicious hatred which is unnecessary.

The guy had a brilliant 2nd half last season and helped carry us far in the postseason. Far enough that it was amazing given the lame history of this franchise. I don't want to dismiss all of that because he looks bad, albeit real ******, in a shortened season.

 

[JohnC]

I like our GDT's. I think we're funny

 

[The Gloaming]

Fine, if it's motivation, bench him. The problem is you aren't in that room, on that bench, or on the ice and don't have any idea if it's motivation or effort, to assume so isn't fair or accurate, especially for a player who's worn a letter at 3 different places in his career.

I don't think it's motivation, I don't think it's effort. The dude cares and is trying, benching him isn't going to help that, and I think Tortorella knows that and that's part of why he has no choice but to keep running him out there in the best possible situation (with Nash).

I guess I'm just giving know-nothing Tortorella and the "Beaver" way more credit than they've earned though.

I don't think it's motivation either. This isn't Wojtek Wolski we're talking about. However, watching him, I don't think he's trying very hard either. I've seen plenty of stupid no-look passes from him. I've seen plenty of lazy backchecks from him. As a center, that's unacceptable.

The problem is that putting him with Nash seems to have made Nash's game 10X worse. We can't keep trying new linemates for him if his line is always struggling. Meanwhile, Stepan's line is always the best one.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

It will be for ONE GAME. No one is saying "Put Brian Boyle on the 1st line forever."]

We don't have the luxury of wasting games right now.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

I like our GDT's. I think we're funny

They aren't funny. They are unbearable. It's a bunch of people making nasty statements and agreeing with others making nasty statements. The GDTs used to be fantastic when people, you know, talked about the game.

 

[The Gloaming]

We don't have the luxury of wasting games right now.

And what exactly are we doing right now? Because with 1 out of 4 possible points against the Panthers and Capitals, we aren't exactly winning games left and right.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

And what exactly are we doing right now? Because with 1 out of 4 possible points against the Panthers and Capitals, we aren't exactly winning games left and right.

You're missing the point. We don't have the luxury of making our team worse. We can't bench the "star" players because we have no one to replace them with.

 

[Pugs35]

They aren't funny. They are unbearable. It's a bunch of people making nasty statements and agreeing with others making nasty statements. The GDTs used to be fantastic when people, you know, talked about the game.

Yep. Used to follow along with the GDTs 2-3 years ago. Now I don't even consider looking in there.

 

[16 To Stanley*]

You're missing the point. We don't have the luxury of making our team worse. We can't bench the "star" players because we have no one to replace them with.

We obviously want the same thing, for the team to be the best they can be. Grind and I think that sacrificing one game, to possibly get Richards going is the best move. You think that letting him work through it and hopefully finding his game is the way to go.

It's just different strategies. Obviously we need Richards because no one can replace him. but he's been a huge reason we can't win games right now.

 

[The Gloaming]

You're missing the point. We don't have the luxury of making our team worse. We can't bench the "star" players because we have no one to replace them with.

But our "star" players are playing like crap. Has Richards actually won a game for us?

But fine, let's just keep giving Richards buckets of ice time, PP time, and our best wingers, hoping that he maybe, possibly, somehow, awakes from his pre-lockout slumber.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

You're missing the point. We don't have the luxury of making our team worse. We can't bench the "star" players because we have no one to replace them with.

That may be true. Whats also true is that we lost to the worst team in the league quite handily and that our "star center" didn't look like he gave two flying ****s about it.

He's not a part of our victories. He's not huge on the face off circle, he's not making great plays and passes, he's not scoring goals... So, I don't see what we're risking by benching him a few games.

Boyle was benched for similar reasons. He was skating uninspired, he wasn't strong along the boards, he wasn't physical. That's his role on the team and he wasn't fulfilling it. Richards is in the same boat.

No one to replace him with? We can still shift Miller to 2nd line center. We did when Richards was injured and we still had similar results in the standings. Only difference is this is Brads wake up call, that was Brad trying to recoup.

1 period benching? That's not enough. This guy hasn't been performing for his entire tenure here. The fact of the manner is this guy is being paid the most out of any of our players and he's not reflecting that contract. He's not performing to standards, he's not leading, he's not doing much of anything. Benching him shouldn't even be a topic of discussion, ever. Yet it is and he should be. He's not performing. He's been benched a period, had players placed on his line for the purpose of waking him up EVEN when those players were thriving on a different line, continuously been put in situations of high importance, what else is there to try with this guy man?

What you're proposing is to continue sending him out there and hoping that at one point he'll finally "get it". They've been doing that... no results yet. I'm tired of waiting, as are many other fans, justifiably. No other job medium allows underperformance for such a duration of time without some sort of repercussion. The mentality of "we have no one else to put out there in his place" is ridiculous. Let me put it this way. We're not taking anything off of the table if we bench him because he's not bringing anything to the table to begin with. That's the purpose of this wake up call. We'll continue to float around the 8 seed with or without him. The point is getting out of the 8 seed and finally starting to perform up to expectations, and that starts when our "star players" start earning their salaries.

 

[Trxjw]

They aren't funny. They are unbearable. It's a bunch of people making nasty statements and agreeing with others making nasty statements. The GDTs used to be fantastic when people, you know, talked about the game.

At least you aren't required to keep an eye on them.

 

[*Bob Richards*]

The GDT's have some hilarious jokes in them that give me but a few seconds of peace before I remember that I'm a Rangers fan.

 

[Riverdale]

Bench Richards and put Boyle on the second line.

He scores a hat trick and leads us to the playoffs.


Problem solved.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

Bench Richards and put Boyle on the second line.

He scores a hat trick and leads us to the playoffs.


Problem solved.

I think Boyle should be a permanent fixture on the 4th line by seasons end.

 

[Zamboner]

The guy had a brilliant 2nd half last season and helped carry us far in the postseason.

I think this is a huge overstatement, and a common one. He was the guy the Rangers thought they were getting for like 30 of 100 games (including playoffs). The Rangers were pretty much the 1 seed since January, before Brad got his **** together last year, so he carried nothing. Helped maintain after 50 mediocre games is closer to reality.

Even his playoffs, 15 points in 20 games (-2). Good to very good, but not close to "brilliant." Hell Gomez put up 11 points in 10 games his first year with the Rangers. We're not waxing poetic about that. That was over a point per game. Funnily enough, Gomez put up 14 points in 19 games his first playoffs with the Habs, almost identical to Brad's playoffs last year. Nobody called that spectacular. Because it wasn't.

I don't get into the Beaver stuff. Or bomb his twitter. But I'll be the first to admit, he's been a disappointment since day one, and downright terrible this year. And his effort -- he's earned no apologists with that effort. Honestly, **** him with that effort. **** his whole family with that effort.

 

[*Bob Richards*]

I think this is a huge overstatement, and a common one. He was the guy the Rangers thought they were getting for like 30 of 100 games (including playoffs). The Rangers were pretty much the 1 seed since January, before Brad got his **** together last year, so he carried nothing. Helped maintain after 50 mediocre games is closer to reality.

Even his playoffs, 15 points in 20 games (-2). Good to very good, but not close to "brilliant." Hell Gomez put up 11 points in 10 games his first year with the Rangers. We're not waxing poetic about that. That was over a point per game. Funnily enough, Gomez put up 14 points in 19 games his first playoffs with the Habs, almost identical to Brad's playoffs last year. Nobody called that spectacular. Because it wasn't.

I don't get into the Beaver stuff. Or bomb his twitter. But I'll be the first to admit, he's been a disappointment since day one, and downright terrible this year. And his effort -- he's earned no apologists with that effort. Honestly, **** him with that effort. **** his whole family with that effort.

Brilliant was admittedly a bit hyperbolic, but I thought he was our best forward in the post season and considering this teams history, I pimp him out a bit for it. He was also clutch as hell even with the under .PPG stats.

Edit-I'm also trying my best to find some parity here because I don't consider myself a Richards apologist. I like the guy a lot and I want him succeed so freaking badly, but his play has been disastrous this year.

 

[Zamboner]

He was pretty close to great against Washington, I'll give you that. I remember thinking, oh here he is. But then he pretty much did nothing against the Debs.

Boyle was probably the best forward against the Sens (frightening), Brad against Washington, and I can't even nominate somebody for the Devils series. I don't really remember any of our goals at the moment.

 

[Garv23]

Boyle was great against OTT until Carkner and Neil beat him senseless. He was non-existant after that.

I thought Boyle last night played a great game.

 

[Vickers8]

Gabby? What game were you watching?

OK I'm being too hard on him and you're being to kind to him, not much he could do with Boyle...but softer than a Mister Softee's ice cream cone

 

[Vickers8]

fo sho, gabby was hot last night. couldn't believe that gaborik wasn't used in the shootout after he got robbed on the breakaway.

Should have been, instead of Richards, who needs to find the 4th line

 

[16 To Stanley*]

He was pretty close to great against Washington, I'll give you that. I remember thinking, oh here he is. But then he pretty much did nothing against the Debs.

Boyle was probably the best forward against the Sens (frightening), Brad against Washington, and I can't even nominate somebody for the Devils series. I don't really remember any of our goals at the moment.

Kreider was probably the best against the debs

 

[Fanned On It]

I actually don't think he has.

And he was one of the best shoot out players in the league before coming here.

We're definitely not cursed.

Yes he did... last season against (I think) Toronto. He and Cally took the exact same shot one after another - top left corner. Both went in and we won.