I know a lot of Ranger fans had written this guy off but he is having a one of his best seasons as a pro. Step now has 53 points on the worst team in hockey. He has 8 points in his last 4 games recording 2 points in 4 straight games. I sure hope this trade does not come back to haunt us. I am not sold on Deangelo and time will tell is Anderson works out. Step was a great Ranger for us and more than anything I think they miss him in that locker room.
Please explain how he would fit in the ongoing rebuild?
Stepan was what he was, no more no less.
For the umpteenth time, I got it right.
He was productive but ordinary, not spectacular.
He was never gonna be spectacular.
If, whether it was on a team's need to overpay to get a borderline pivot, or for some other reason, it is a fact that a team would pay well to acquire, NYR should have considered moving him earlier very seriously as valuable but flawed and limited player.
I did not/do not hate Stepan, and good for him his game hasn't yet faded, remaining proximate to what it was with us. Like I said early on, he plateaued -- not yet declined, but is holding steady, no more no less.
My position that is now confirmed to have been true is that he always was more valuable to us in returned assets than in player production.
The mistake was not to moving him earlier, because the same production at an earlier [lesser] salary is obviously worth more.
We were lucky AZ paid when nobody else would at that late stage, and like I said, to much derision then, was we should have moved him and the wonder twins before they morphed into wonder twins for Taylor Hall +.
Good luck to DS going forward.
But no ?, we not only do that deal 100/100, we do better deals earlier if there were any do-overs.
