Injury Report: Dylan McIlrath (1/6: Skated without problem )

[HatTrick Swayze]

Really just depressing. Again.

Hopefully the MRI shows no major damage.

 

[Thirty One]

Hopefully the MRI shows no major damage.

Bet AV is real nervous right now.

 

[Beacon]

Thought Cherneski had shattered his kneecap--not his knee. In any case that was a huge blow to the organization as was Dan Blackburn a few years later

Yes, Cherneski did blow out his knee cap.

You never know with Blackburn because goalies are a total crapshoot. This organization thought Corey Hirsch was a huge prospect, particularly after his performance in the 1992 Olympics for Canada (the famous Forsberg goal was against Hirsch after he put in a monstrous 40-save performance), only to see him become a career minor leaguer.

Then just as the team began to sour on Hirsch, Neil Smith found a new savior - Dan Cloutier. He had agreed to trade our first rounder in 1994 (last overall) for a pair of second round picks, but backed out of the trade when he realized Cloutier was still available. Neil admitted to this himself in a radio interview right after that draft. He was supposed to be our next franchise goalie, with the Blueshirt Bulletin once comparing him to Ken Dryden, but went on to be have a career as a borderline starter/backup.

Then we had a bunch of goalie prospects like Holmqvist and Asplund that were briefly seen as our saviors.

Other teams have had the same thing. Ryabchikov had a great start for Boston as an 18 year old, only to fade away immediately. Jamie Storr turned into nothing. The Isles drafted Eric The Fish and promoted him as their franchise goalie, but he became garbage. A few years later, they picked up Dipstick with the first overall pick and he never became a star, just a solid goalie for a few years before completely collapsing.

You never know with goalies. Just because Blackburn looked good for an 18 year old, doesn't mean he would've looked good when he was 25. His was a borderline NHLer when he played and that's great for a teenage boy, but who knows how he'd have progressed.

 

[Beacon]

RIP McIlrath

LOL. The reaction here makes me suspect that if someone's nail broke, people would declare genocide and demand military intervention for humanitarian reasons.

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

He'll be fine, and he isn't ready for the NHL.

 

[eco's bones]

Mcilrath is a kid. He's gonna make mistakes but at least he brings it. I wasn't a fan of the pick at all, but he's here and he's nasty and big and that cannot hurt this sorry as team right now.

Del zotto is a 5 yr pro who plays like a rookie and a soft one at that. Dude is slow and dumb.

I'll say it again, the least productive offensive dman that I can think of. Just dreadful.

Last year I made the statement that I thought Del Zotto had plateaued. A lot of posters here didn't like it but I have seen only negligible improvement in his overall game since his rookie year. His contributions on the pwp have been going downward since his first year. Those complaining about our pwp have always found other reasons to blame but DZ's shot from the point sucks and every other team knows he can't blow it by a decent goaltender so they can cheat every time he's out there. He's a major reason why our pwp was ******.

Really I don't see the drive in the player to get better. He needs a change of scenery.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

You never know with goalies. Just because Blackburn looked good for an 18 year old, doesn't mean he would've looked good when he was 25. His was a borderline NHLer when he played and that's great for a teenage boy, but who knows how he'd have progressed.

Blackburn was a sure bet to be an ELITE NHLer.

I've said for years that I would have traded Hank in favor of him and I still maintain that.

 

[Dagoon44]

Blackburn was a sure bet to be an ELITE NHLer.

I've said for years that I would have traded Hank in favor of him and I still maintain that.

Dead on 100%. kid had a huge future..

 

[Barnaby]

Blackburn was not Hirsch.

He was going to be a great goalie. Top 3? Top 5? Top 10? We can't answer that, but he was going to be the backbone for the future. I felt horrible when he went down.

 

[mike14]

Blackburn was a sure bet to be an ELITE NHLer.

I've said for years that I would have traded Hank in favor of him and I still maintain that.

Agreed, still my favourite Ranger pick

Everything was tracking right with that kid until a freak injury. It makes an interesting "what if" though; if he stays healthy, the Rangers most likely don't draft Montoya (although that draft was pretty crap anyway), don't throw in the towel to the same extent at the end of 04 and who knows what happens with Lundy

 

[Cassano]

Blackburn was a sure bet to be an ELITE NHLer.

I've said for years that I would have traded Hank in favor of him and I still maintain that.

That's quite odd since no goalie has been better than Lundqvist since he's entered the league. No prospect is a guarantee, especially goaltenders. To say one would've made the the best NHL goalie over the past 8 yrs expendable is just... odd.

 

[Dagoon44]

Of course it is because Hank is a God in your eyes.. he is your countrymen and will never not be great.. it's not odd the kid was going to be a star.. Hank better? We will never know but Blackburn was special

 

[Cassano]

Of course it is because Hank is a God in your eyes.. he is your countrymen and will never not be great.. it's not odd the kid was going to be a star.. Hank better? We will never know but Blackburn was special

Of course he's a god. He's been the best goalie in the world since entering the league. Any player who's consistently top at their position attains god-worthy status.

Sure he (Blackburn) could've been a star, but it's far from a guarantee. To say any prospect (especially a non-generational hyped one) can compete with the best in the business is a joke.

 

[Thirty One]

Of course he's a god. He's been the best goalie in the world since entering the league. Any player who's consistently top at their position attains god-worthy status.

Sure he (Blackburn) could've been a star, but it's far from a guarantee. To say any prospect (especially a non-generational hyped one) can compete with the best in the business is a joke.

Pretty much this.

 

[RangersHank*]

Of course he's a god. He's been the best goalie in the world since entering the league. Any player who's consistently top at their position attains god-worthy status.

Sure he (Blackburn) could've been a star, but it's far from a guarantee. To say any prospect (especially a non-generational hyped one) can compete with the best in the business is a joke.

Great post, put that to rest

 

[Beacon]

Mcilrath is a kid. He's gonna make mistakes but at least he brings it. I wasn't a fan of the pick at all, but he's here and he's nasty and big and that cannot hurt this sorry as team right now.

I must be the only person who was a fan of picking MCI in 2010. I wanted him before we drafted him and was very happy to hear his name announced.

 

[Beacon]

Like I said, I see it as an apt comparison, to use your words. Fair enough if other people don't.

I just don't see how you can argue against someone saying that a player got injured here, but wouldn't be injured there. And then say that it's a good thing the player got injured there, assuming he'd be injured here too.

It's not a good argument.

Gaborik was always (FAR) more likely to get injured than Brass/Moore/Door. So when Gabby gets injured, people who wanted him gone due to his high injury risk feel justified.

MCI wasn't more likely to get injured in the AHL than the NHL. The odds were exactly the same. He went for a routine hit along the boards and his foot looked like it got stuck in the ice or just twisted a little. That can happen anywhere.

 

[Dagoon44]

I must be the only person who was a fan of picking MCI in 2010. I wanted him before we drafted him and was very happy to hear his name announced.

i was on mouths show the night before and predicted the pick.. i love the kid and really hope he is given a fair shot to make the team down the road.. If Staal was healthy i wouldn't care he was sent down.. As far as the Blackburn Hank ramblings Yes Hank has been a top regular season goalie for yrs. Blackburn was for sure going to be special any don't down play it because of a man crush on Hank,

 

[Hunter Gathers]

That's quite odd since no goalie has been better than Lundqvist since he's entered the league. No prospect is a guarantee, especially goaltenders. To say one would've made the the best NHL goalie over the past 8 yrs expendable is just... odd.

I watched him as a kid and watched him as a pro. I stand by what I say and I'm not the only one who has said it.

 

[Pizza]

Blackburn was an exceptionally talented goal tender. There is no way I can say he would have been better than Hank, but I'll tell ya it's not inconceivable. The guy was that good. Damn shame among many for this franchise.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Blackburn was an exceptionally talented goal tender. There is no way I can say he would have been better than Hank, but I'll tell ya it's not inconceivable. The guy was that good. Damn shame among many for this franchise.

Yep. Imagine if we had both of them. Man alive. We could have gotten a king's ransom for one of the two.

 

[RangerBoy]

The Rangers haven't released any information regarding the MRI. Its been 4 days since the injury. With the Rangers,its hard to tell if that's good or bad because they don't like to discuss injuries.

 

[aufheben]

Yep. Imagine if we had both of them. Man alive. We could have gotten a king's ransom for one of the two.

Was Blackburn really that good? I didn't really follow hockey back then.

 

[broadwayblue]

Yep. Imagine if we had both of them. Man alive. We could have gotten a king's ransom for one of the two.

Hard to get a King's ransom for a goalie. We've seen again and again that it's very difficult, if not impossible, to maximize value when dealing one.

 

[Pizza]

Yep. Imagine if we had both of them. Man alive. We could have gotten a king's ransom for one of the two.

Good goalies don't grow on trees. Potentially great ones (and Blackburn was every bit of that) are rare. I'd say we could have put some deal together for a very high draft pick at minimum.

Teams rebuild form the goal tender out most of the time so I think that's not a stretch.

The thing is Blackburn was wowing so many of the commentators, pundits and vets. I can't be sure Hank would not have been the one delt.

It just goes to show that even a franchise as pathetic as the Rangers can draft and develop top end top talent.