Did you read the guy I was replying to?I literally cannot believe that you are here trying to tell us that we thought too highly of Staal
Like, f***ing speechless.
The only player I've thought was worse for the Rangers in the last two decades was Tanner Glass. And if we factored in TOI and importance of that ice time, Staal wins by a country mile.
Where have you even come up with this ideaComedy gold is what it is.
Confirmed with Link: Marc Staal TRADED.
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motopanekeku
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You can't ignore his golden era though. Without the hyperbole of calling him a #1 or insinuating he ever had an offensive side to his game you have to have seen (with your world-weary eyes) how his play was exemplary of the system he was in.
That's like saying oh Hank always sucked because he could never handle the puck.
Edit: and yeah I would absolutely say he was kryptonite at times. I remember distinctly how Crosby would wither under his backcheck. (Girardi was the one that had Ovi's number.)
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Harbour Dog
Registered User
I never, and it does make more sense in this instance.
But the unprompted stuff earlier was like you were trying for some twisted ironic humor. Andy Kaufman would have been all up in knots trying to figure it out.
mas0764
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007
You 'Orns!
ZiGOODejad
intangibles
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YoSoyLalo
me reading HF
Go away Staal is making their username GoTheHollOway after we draft Holloway
Whoot Whoot
Biased Rangers Fan
I wonder if this is the beginning of one last shot at getting Hank a cup. If not, like we could have waited a year.
motopanekeku
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Am I missing something? I have seen several people mention that we need to take advantage of the ELCs of Laf, Kakko, Chytil, Shest, etc, and start making moves to get this team competitive. Laf has never played in the NHL, Kakko had a disappointing rookie season. Shesty has played about a dozen games. And there are real concerns on Chytil being good enough to be our 2nd line center. This is all on a team that likely would have missed the playoffs last year, and got stomped by Carolina before even entering the playoffs.
ELC contracts are FANTASTIC when you have a competitive team. We dont. We have 20 million dollars tied up this season on Hank, Smith, and buyouts. You cant compete with 20m tied up into 2 contracts that would you happily give away for nothing and buyout penalties. The only benefit that we can reap from having ELCs is that this roster doesnt need to be blown up. And the Staal trade ensures that. People need to listen to JD. They have a plan, they arent going to deviate from it because of lottery luck. And I am personally happy that they are doing it this way.
ELC contracts are FANTASTIC when you have a competitive team. We dont. We have 20 million dollars tied up this season on Hank, Smith, and buyouts. You cant compete with 20m tied up into 2 contracts that would you happily give away for nothing and buyout penalties. The only benefit that we can reap from having ELCs is that this roster doesnt need to be blown up. And the Staal trade ensures that. People need to listen to JD. They have a plan, they arent going to deviate from it because of lottery luck. And I am personally happy that they are doing it this way.
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- May 30, 2013
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Lafreniere is projected to be an out of the box impact player. He may not be but we have a responsibility to surround him with the right talent to maximize that pos
And had a much better post season with reason to believe he will have a significantly better 2nd season
And?
He has things to work on but I wouldn't say he has "real concerns" about being able to play at center
Since then we have addressed several (not all) of the issues that really hurt us last year.
Who said to deviate from "the plan" lmao every NHL team does what they can to maximize their cheap impact talent. We would be doing a grave disservice to not make competitive moves (of which we've already made several) to try to get significant playoff experience in while our impact players are on ELCs. That's not to say sign a big ticket UFA or make a stupid prospect for pending UFA move but now is absolutely the time to start looking at outside solutions to some of our holes.
@Raspewtin Not sure how to multiquote. So I will try to respond.
Kakko playing 3 good games against Carolina doesnt mean he is going to have a good season next season, even though I agree and believe he will. If Chytil was the answer at 2nd line center, I dont think just about everyone on earth would be saying that the Rangers need to address it. But I feel more confident than others. Laf is still a rookie. And by all measures, a VERY successful season would be 60 points. And since he will likely be on the 3rd line, that should be difficult to do.
You also didnt respond to my biggest issue to push for a more competitive roster today. We have 20m tied up into Hank, Smith, and buy outs. How many teams in the NHL today are capable of competing with a 60m cap? Because unless something changes, that is exactly what we are operating with. This team is 2-3 years from being competitive. I think making any moves to be better next season that doesnt CLEARLY help our team in 2-3 years makes absolutely no sense. We just are not in the position to take advantage of ELCs and compete for a cup. Our window is sadly going to open when Kakko, Fox, Shesty, and Laf will be coming off those contracts, or with 1 year remaining. And with top draft picks going from ELCs to 9-10m contracts, its REALLY risky to be spending right now because the 4 of them could be up for massive raises.
Kakko playing 3 good games against Carolina doesnt mean he is going to have a good season next season, even though I agree and believe he will. If Chytil was the answer at 2nd line center, I dont think just about everyone on earth would be saying that the Rangers need to address it. But I feel more confident than others. Laf is still a rookie. And by all measures, a VERY successful season would be 60 points. And since he will likely be on the 3rd line, that should be difficult to do.
Huh? How did we address several issues this offseason? We have question marks all over our entire roster.
You also didnt respond to my biggest issue to push for a more competitive roster today. We have 20m tied up into Hank, Smith, and buy outs. How many teams in the NHL today are capable of competing with a 60m cap? Because unless something changes, that is exactly what we are operating with. This team is 2-3 years from being competitive. I think making any moves to be better next season that doesnt CLEARLY help our team in 2-3 years makes absolutely no sense. We just are not in the position to take advantage of ELCs and compete for a cup. Our window is sadly going to open when Kakko, Fox, Shesty, and Laf will be coming off those contracts, or with 1 year remaining. And with top draft picks going from ELCs to 9-10m contracts, its REALLY risky to be spending right now because the 4 of them could be up for massive raises.
Oscar Lindberg
Registered User
I'm not calling out anyone in particular, but it still confuses me that people are talking about whether or not Chytil can be a center. He just turned 21 years old, has trended up every season, and shows flashes of becoming a great player for this team
The one thing I agree with @Raspewtin is his optimism. I really believe this season Chytil will step up and show that he can be our 2nd line Center. But with every beat writer and fan calling for an upgrade at 2nd line center, it makes me think that people don't see it happening. I just personally believe our ceiling is likely a first round playoff elimination. I personally wouldnt make any big changes this off season and go into next season and see if Chytil can be our 2nd line center, and if DeAngelo or maybe even Fox could potentially play the left side so DeAngelo can stay. Then once we free up 20m, the expansion draft is over, and all the kids have another season under their belt, then start figuring out how we can make this a contender. Its definitely not happening next season.
Chytilmania
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That's the best course of action. Find out what everyone is. Let Tarmo and Hajek play this season. Try ADA on the left side(I'm not saying every night). Let's wait to see how Chytil does this season. Give Gauthier more than 4th line minutes. Let's see how Miller and VK look at the end of the season. Hank comes off the books and expansion draft is over, then we can make the big decisions on DeAngelo, 2C, what prospects we should trade for a big move.
motopanekeku
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Just remember that beat writers need shit to write about. Just because Larry Brooks makes some noise about a subject doesn't it isn't just noise.
broadwayblue
Registered User
Its not just limited to him. I think quite literally every beat writer has made mention to getting a 2nd line center. Specifically with DeAngelo going the other way. That doesn't necessarily mean that is the Rangers intention. But where there is smoke.....
- May 30, 2013
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I don't disagree that we need to see more from Kakko but if Kakko was an NHL level replacement player last year we probably make the playoffs comfortably. His conditioning (probably from playing 420 games in one year) being NHL level will go a long way for him even if he doesn't have an explosive offensive year.
This is JMO but I think people are more concerned about replacing Strome as a C than Chytil. Chytil has obvious two way potential that Strome does not and is already a solid middle 6 player and he just turned 21. Even if Chytil never takes a step forward he's still a good 3C with potential on the PK and with better linemates
Like I said, I don't think Laf is a high impact player immediately but I think we still need to put him in the best possible situation to do so.
Staal being removed immediately upgrades the team as we're not paying $5.7 mill for one of the worst regular defenders in the NHL
Skjei trade broke up one of the worst pairings in the league
Lafreniere is an obvious roster upgrade
Martin is a proven winning and effective defensive coach
there will likely be a goalie moved at some point which will address the 3 goalie problem
Assuming Fast goes, we have at least 11 NHL players not considering any prospects that may knock on the door in Kreider, Zib, Buch, Laf, Strome, Kakko, Panarin, Lemieux, Gauthier, Howden, Chytil. The fact that we can't ice more than 1 of McKegg, Nieves, Fogarty, PdG, Haley, or Smith at forward alone is a monumental upgrade.
Maybe saying "we addressed several issues" isn't entirely accurate but we are going full speed ahead in the right direction and we still have plenty of time and assets to do more.
I don't know what that has to do with the roster we have right now. Half of the team are on ELCs and we only have one potentially problematic re-sign this offseason. I'm not advocating for acquiring a super expensive star player.
That would be a horrible outlook considering after that 2-3 years Fox, Kakko, Laf, Shesterkin, and Zibanejad would all need new deals. Like it or not, when we signed Panarin we went on the clock. We have no player that is a prayer of replacing Zibanejad right now.
I'm sorry if I sounded like I meant something else but I don't think we should be a cup favorite this year or anything. I think we should be a playoff team, or extremely close to one, however.
Yeah, I agree with this.
Again I don't disagree but to basically stand pat for the next two years is not smart or saving money, it's just a missed opportunity imo.
broadwayblue
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Thirty One
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Ron Duguay had Darius Kasparaitis on the podcast and he referred to Kevin Lowe as his former teammate from the Rangers.
RickChartraw
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Just curious what Ron had to say. I'm not sure what to make of him yet, so young, got that big body. If Ron is saying he isn't putting in the work, that would be concerning.
This is ultimately my concern. I am scared to spend any money this season and next because of all the money we will be forced to drop in a couple years. I think you and I agree on just about everything. Probably stating the obvious, but I believe the Rangers had a plan in place the day they sent that letter to the fans. My assumption at the time was that they were going to trade away most of the veterans. Then wait out the bad contracts that end this season, and only make moves that help the 2022+ teams.
The one thing that JD said repetitively with Kakko and again with Laf, is that the Rangers are sticking to their plan. Getting this lottery luck hasnt changed anything, and the fans still need to be patient. If it weren't for lottery luck, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. I just see no value in trying to improve the 2021 team unless it clearly helps 2024 team and beyond. I just see no pressure to improve the 2021 and 2022 rosters just because we have ELCs. We are giong to need the money to sign our own guys in a couple years.
