Recalled/Assigned: Nicklas Jensen recalled from Hartford (Jan 7: Reassigned)

[nyr2k2]

I agree with eco (above). Pirri won the job out of training camp and Hrivik just doesn't have enough offensive upside to justify keeping him over Pirri.

With Nash, Zibs and Buch back, Pirri's offensive "upside" is nothing but a luxury. The only thing Pirri does better than Hrivik is shoot, and on a deep offensive team I don't know if that warrants a spot in the lineup.

 

[eco's bones]

Hrivik's role with the Rangers is just to be a checker. Do the Rangers have a big need for guys who can just check? IMO--Not really. He's even kind of an extra on the PK. He's a good emergency fill in--that's what he is. Pirri can win games with his shot. He hasn't done it lately but he can do it. These two guys are pretty much the same age. One of them has 50+ NHL goals and the other has 0.

Pirri's an NHL player and Hrivik is kind of a AHL/NHL tweener. The Rangers will try to move Pirri before they waive him. They'll just try to waive Hrivik and hope he'll pass through and there's a decent chance that will happen.

All that being said I'm thinking Pirri doesn't finish the year with us--at least if the team is healthy. He gets moved at or before the deadline. He gets us at least a 4th. I prefer Lindberg's all around game and I think Oscar's going to push him out of the regular lineup into the 13th forward position. Oscar unlike Hrivik does have some offense in his game.

 

[silverfish]

With Nash, Zibs and Buch back, Pirri's offensive "upside" is nothing but a luxury. The only thing Pirri does better than Hrivik is shoot, and on a deep offensive team I don't know if that warrants a spot in the lineup.

If you're going to have a luxury of anything, it should be offensive upside.

The beginning of the year, we were running four lines who could score at even strength. We should go right back to that when healthy. CBJ took notice, and it's working fine for them.

Pirri should be in the lineup over Hrivik when the Rangers are healthy.

 

[eco's bones]

If you're going to have a luxury of anything, it should be offensive upside.

The beginning of the year, we were running four lines who could score at even strength. We should go right back to that when healthy. CBJ took notice, and it's working fine for them.

Pirri should be in the lineup over Hrivik when the Rangers are healthy.

Which is a good point. The Rangers in the first 20 games this year were a dominant team. 10 times out of those 20 games they scored 5 or more goals. Buchnevich has been out of the lineup since game No. 14. Zibanejad got injured at the end of game No. 19. Nash has been out of the lineup more often than not since the 20 game mark. Kreider missed a few too. The Rangers still have been doing pretty decent in the goal scoring department but when all those players are back and get up to speed--we should be very formidable again and with arguably the best forward depth in the league. It's tough for teams to face all of Stepan, Zibanejad and Hayes--that's three very good centers--when they're all playing with other goal scoring options. Third pairings and bottom sixers for most teams aren't up to that and if you've got a 4th line capable of contributing too--it compounds the problem of defending the team even more.

Henrik's starts correcting his first shot of the game problems and we'll be even better. Pirri as a pwp option with a full lineup is a more dangerous player. He finds empty prime scoring spaces and can wire a shot. Lindberg might push him out of the way though. Hrivik's not even in the picture if everyone's healthy. I'd be playing Puempel over him too.