Post-Game Talk: Kitten

[leetch99]

Except Blais literally flipped a switch THE SECOND he got traded there, lol. It might just be a matter of him being comfortable in one spot and with one team.

He is putting up points but I wonder how his physical game is since the trade ? Is he timid or is he playing like he did in the Calgary game ....without fear and hitting everything ? I don't care about a few goals he might score ....it's the other part of his game he was brought to NY for and if he scored a few...it would have been gravy . Unfortunately because of Subban...he failed to do either .

 

[Kovalev27]

Lindgren gets bounced all over the rink. On a third pair sure but I’ll take a guy with this size and skating ability next to fox all day. Love his game.

All without lindgren

 

[duhmetreE]

All without lindgren

If there's a bigger mobile PMD available, I'm all for making that move.

Mikkola has been more than solid. It goes to show you what another mobile defender can bring

 

[Kovalev27]

If there's a bigger mobile PMD available, I'm all for making that move.

Mikkola has been more than solid. It goes to show you what another mobile defender can bring

Mikkola is the perfect partner for Fox. The beuke to Leetch. And he mean. And actually pushes guys back. No one is scared of lindgren which is why he gets abused out there all day long.

Love the kid but for me he’s a 4 5 guy at best. He really should be partnered with Schneider the rest of the way

 

[duhmetreE]

Mikkola is the perfect partner for Fox. The beuke to Leetch. And he mean. And actually pushes guys back. No one is scared of lindgren which is why he gets abused out there all day long.

Love the kid but for me he’s a 4 5 guy at best. He really should be partnered with Schneider the rest of the way

I like Mikkola... dont know if I want him on a top pairing long term.

Need to get creative... would Kakko for Byram make sense? Byram needs new contract and has health concerns but has all the tools. Dont even know how close that would be for Colorado

 

[Kovalev27]

I will stand by the fact u dont need a star player next to a Norris winner. Just dont. Not in a cap league.

And they’re proving it. This is plenty of a sample size to see it in action. After a bit of an adjustment period it’s pretty clear Fox does not need lindgren.

 

[duhmetreE]

I will stand by the fact u dont need a star player next to a Norris winner. Just dont. Not in a cap league.

And they’re proving it. This is plenty of a sample size to see it in action. After a bit of an adjustment period it’s pretty clear Fox does not need lindgren.

I was thinking more longish term with

KAM Fox
Byram Trouba

that type of top4 mix. Mikkola can work, I guess. There needs to be a plan B on the roster

 

[Boris Zubov]

More like Lemieux because he's French Canadian.

He actually resembles a young Claude Lemieux.

I was thinking more longish term with

KAM Fox
Byram Trouba

that type of top4 mix. Mikkola can work, I guess. There needs to be a plan B on the roster

Byram would need to prove he can stay healthy before I give up assets for him. That seems to be a big ask at this point.

 

[AlaBlueShirt]

I was thinking more longish term with

KAM Fox
Byram Trouba

that type of top4 mix. Mikkola can work, I guess. There needs to be a plan B on the roster

I'd rather balance the top-4. After Trouba is gone.

Big guy - Fox
KAM - Schneider

 

[Larrybiv]

Yeah want to emphasize this. Also, you are on your own there, dudes. lol

Main forum is a different animal. Would just ignore it. I’m actually happy for Blais. Just didn’t work here. Mikkola has been good, so has Tarasenko. Call it a win win trade.

I'd call it that as well. I think Sammy had enough supporters here, enough understood that he and the Rangers got screwed by Suppan, and enough understood it was a long road back. What I cannot understand is force feeding him PT, when they could have done what they eventually did. Send him for conditioning.
The timing of all of this looks VERY bad for Sammy. Maybe bad timing, maybe a lot of things combined. But can see that many may be questioning his play with us, when clearly he is capable of more, at least more than crushing GOAT. Nobody wanted him to fail in St. Louis, but nobody expected him to do this well. Like said......just looks really bad.

 

[rangersfansince08]

Byram is a stud when healthy but he is almost never healthy

 

[TopShelfSnipes]

I'd call it that as well. I think Sammy had enough supporters here, enough understood that he and the Rangers got screwed by Suppan, and enough understood it was a long road back. What I cannot understand is force feeding him PT, when they could have done what they eventually did. Send him for conditioning.
The timing of all of this looks VERY bad for Sammy. Maybe bad timing, maybe a lot of things combined. But can see that many may be questioning his play with us, when clearly he is capable of more, at least more than crushing GOAT. Nobody wanted him to fail in St. Louis, but nobody expected him to do this well. Like said......just looks really bad.

I put some of his performance on him because he was constantly on the wrong side of the ice in games, which is why he ran into Gauthier. Knee injury aside, that's strictly a consistent mental error, and an inability to read what his teammates were doing, and to be me it is indicative of someone who routinely looked disengaged as a Ranger and wasn't difficult to play against at all. He hit the slowest player in the league hard, and some on this board acted like it was the second coming of, I don't know, Michael Peca or Raffi Torres.

Meanwhile on this thread, he's being compared to Claude Lemieux, when in reality, his skill is probably closer to Matt Cookie (without the dirty hits) or Max Lapierre.

Just never understood the hype with this guy. He's a grinder who got on a hot streak, who underperformed like hell here even considering he was coming off knee surgery. We got a legitimate topline player for him and Mikkola, which was an absolute steal.

I just hope they can find a way to keep Tarasenko and the kids somehow. I was playing around on capfriendly and it's not going to be easy. This just barely worked, and I took some liberties in assuming contracts for 2023-24:

Panarin-Zibanejad-Tarasenko
Kids
Kreider-Trocheck-Othmann
Cuylle-Brodzinski-Vesey

Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Robertson/Jones-Schneider

Shesterkin
Halak

But I think that would be a fun, deep roster other than 6D, hoping Cuylle can get it done on the 4th, and the downgrade from Goodrow to Brodz (but that 3.6M cap savings is crucial).

 

[will1066]

 

[bhamill]

Sammy Blais has the potential to be an excellent 4th liner or very good 3rd liner. He can be top five in hits, impactful hits, and score 30 points. Or more. We were impatient with him here on his rehab. Hey. Maybe we will sign him in the off-season! Hahaha.
That being said, f*** the main boards, and yes that was a good trade for us, getting Tarasanko AND Mikkola. Gigantic.

 

[Cmox]

Yeah want to emphasize this. Also, you are on your own there, dudes. lol

Main forum is a different animal. Would just ignore it. I’m actually happy for Blais. Just didn’t work here. Mikkola has been good, so has Tarasenko. Call it a win win trade.

I haven’t posted let alone read mainboards since that big photoshop collaboration. Don’t even know if they still do that.
I don’t remember what was the reason for stopping but I assume it’s the constant barrage of anti Rangers takes? And I don’t regret one bit.

 

[will1066]

We got the "x" next to our name, y'all