Player Discussion Eric Staal Part II

[Chaels Arms]

This trade was much, much worse than the MSL and Yandle trades.

The only way to defend this trade is if you are someone who believes Saarela and the two 2nds weren't worth anything. If you believe those pieces had any value at all then this trade was a disaster.

Despite what many people said at the time, this team was a legitimate contender when we traded for MSL. We went to the finals and he was a big part of that. The way this team is looking right now that may have been the most fun we'll enjoy for a long time because I don't think we're going to get close to the finals again any time soon. That's important and I personally enjoyed that run despite falling short.

Anyone who watched the Rangers this season could tell we weren't a contender. Even people on both sides of the analytics fence can agree on that. Whether you were going by advanced stats or just watching games, it should have been obvious that this team was vulnerable to a beat down in the playoffs.

Whenever a trade is made and the proponents of that trade are relying on soft factors like a "change of scenery" to make the player better than he was before alarms should start going off in everybody's head. This team didn't need to save MSL when we traded for him - he was performing just fine on the ice in Tampa. Same thing with Yandle. Yet we were sold a bill of goods with E. Staal premised on ideas like:

1. he'll be better because he's playing with his brother
2. he'll get to play with better linemates
3. he's on a contender now so he'll be motivated

Players are who they are. Yet this team's management, like so many other times before, convinced themselves that they have the keys to the fountain of youth.

I'm tired of these trades. No more. Keep the picks and trade for more picks. We've done well in the draft, keep using that as a strength moving forward.

 

[member 116805]

B'bye

 

[Ori]

Yeah, I was sceptical about this trade - and he didn`t help us much in playoffs.

 

[DelZottoHitTheNetJK]

Ripped this trade the minute it happened, many here fought me because "he's good on faceoffs"


I hate being right sometimes. This team is mind boggling

 

[MacTruck27]

I hope he signs somewhere that Marc would be willing to go as well...

 

[nevesis]

E. Staal is now entering that phase of his career where there's no noticeable difference between him and players like Kevin Hayes or Oscar Lindberg but hipster hockey fans will pretend he's doing tons of cool stuff that regular hockey fans just aren't astute enough to notice.

Love this, and twitter is most definitely full with way too many in this demographic.

 

[LeetchisGod]

I never want to see him in the uniform again.

 

[Draft Guru]

Don't let these boxscores fool you, Eric Staal still hasn't appeared in a postseason game since 2009.

Really interested to see what team hands him a Vincent Lecavalier-type contract this summer. He'll get it from someone. Teams can not help themselves on July 1.

 

[NYRFAN218]

I still think he can be a good 3rd line center for someone. He may not have the speed he used to have but he's still pretty quick at points. He's good on draws, pretty decent along the boards. He's just a black hole of offense at this point almost the same way Jesper Fast is. They can be pretty good at generating and maintaining possession but don't produce off of it.

 

[LeetchisGod]

I still think he can be a good 3rd line center for someone. He may not have the speed he used to have but he's still pretty quick at points. He's good on draws, pretty decent along the boards. He's just a black hole of offense at this point almost the same way Jesper Fast is. They can be pretty good at generating and maintaining possession but don't produce off of it.

As long as it's not for us.

 

[Draft Guru]

I still think he can be a good 3rd line center for someone. He may not have the speed he used to have but he's still pretty quick at points. He's good on draws, pretty decent along the boards. He's just a black hole of offense at this point almost the same way Jesper Fast is. They can be pretty good at generating and maintaining possession but don't produce off of it.

Yep, at 3.5M. But some team out there is going to give him 5 or 6.

 

[*Bob Richards*]

At least they were able to utilize Erixon to help land Nash.

Ryane Clowe deal was pretty horrible but that first night where he scored twice after not scoring the entire season was hilarious at least. Can't tell you a damn thing Eric Staal did that was notable.

At least in Ryane Clowe's defense he produced in his limited time before getting hurt.

I was against bringing Staal to us in a trade, warmed up to it eventually and made to look dumb at the conclusion of this season for it.

Nobody wins!

 

[OverTheCap]

Eric Staal is on the decline, and being traded to the Rangers wasn't going to turn back the hands of time or energize him in to being what he once was.

Instead of trading for Staal, the Rangers could have traded for a run-of-the-mill 3rd liner without giving up as much as they did for Staal. But acquiring a big name player based on his past accomplishments is a Rangers tradition that shows no sign of slowing down.

 

[Draft Guru]

My only gripe about the Staal situation - and perhaps its entirely his fault, if he plays better/produces he gets more minutes/opportunities - is that AV pigeon-holed him into that 3C spot awfully fast with underwhelming linemates. The Staal-Nash experiment lasted one game (with Stalberg on the other wing). Don't think we ever saw him with Stepan.

 

[Pizza]

Your best Player for a decade can't be your goalie. They were never able to add an elite skater/scorer to compliment what Hank gave them in net. They could not draft, trade or acquire that player thru free agency. In Ten Years. Hapless. The failure begins and ends there.

A Marquee Player has to be able sack up, handle the pressure and carry the team if necessary. For example: Richie all but melted. Nasher classically under whelmed and Staal "became a shadow of himself" and disappeared as too many have. Classically bad Ranger moves.

Get back to basics. Hold onto picks. Cut the dead wood. Rebuild.

 

[Calad]

Don't let the door hit you on the way out. It's too bad, there was potential there

 

[Jim Morrison]

Saarela

 

[Hi ImHFNYR]

Your best Player for a decade can't be your goalie. They were never able to add an elite skater/scorer to compliment what Hank gave them in net. They could not draft, trade or acquire that player thru free agency. In Ten Years. Hapless. The failure begins and ends there.

A Marquee Player has to be able sack up, handle the pressure and carry the team if necessary. For example: Richie all but melted. Nasher classically under whelmed and Staal "became a shadow of himself" and disappeared as too many have. Classically bad Ranger moves.

Get back to basics. Hold onto picks. Cut the dead wood. Rebuild.

Except for the fact that they made 3 ECF's and 1 SCF and were Pres trophy winners

All of that completely invalidates the bolded analysis.

Now if you'd like to say that they have since made a combination of terrible moves that hurt the franchise both when they were made and will hurt the franchise going forward (like this move which I like more than the MSL trade and like much more than the yandle trade) that's another story. But the team was good enough to win. It just didn't. It happens to one or two teams every single year. More than one team can be capable of winning each year and the rangers were that capable team that didn't go all the way

 

[NYR Viper]

Just a stupid trade from the start. This team was not dominant. Staal was not going to make them dominant. Giving up (3) assets was stupid. It's black and white.

 

[True Blue]

This trade was much, much worse than the MSL and Yandle trades.

The only way to defend this trade is if you are someone who believes Saarela and the two 2nds weren't worth anything. If you believe those pieces had any value at all then this trade was a disaster.

Not sure it was much worse than the other trades, but it was far from mediocre. This team had no business throwing away even more draft picks.

 

[bathgate]

Not sure it was much worse than the other trades, but it was far from mediocre. This team had no business throwing away even more draft picks.

Each trade hurt our future. Four first rounders, two second rounders, Duclair and Saarela will set the club back from three to five years. Hank will never see a Cup as a Ranger. For both his and the club's sake, a trade of our franchise goalie makes sense

 

[Levitate]

Pretty obvious that it was a crap trade. I get why they went for it but a more realistic look at the roster and season was probably needed rather than the optimistic look.

If the team was overall better, Staal probably is more useful and performs better. But ultimately the same mistakes and weaknesses doomed them and throwing in another struggling guy on top of it wasn't good.

Not going to cry over Saarela until we see him in the NHL

 

[True Blue]

Pretty obvious that it was a crap trade. I get why they went for it but a more realistic look at the roster and season was probably needed rather than the optimistic look.

I think that is the most damming thing of all. How could anyone have looked at this team and come up with the need for an E. Staal to get them over the hump?

Were it not for Henke's brilliance, this team may not even be in the playoffs. He covered up A LOT of wards.

 

[Igor Shestyorkin]

I remember that some people actually liked this trade while I thought it was an abomination. Good times.

 

[True Blue]

I remember that some people actually liked this trade while I thought it was an abomination. Good times.

The 4 missing first round picks and two second round picks is going to be a painful pill for a while.