No need to panic

[Holocene]

I agree, no need to panic. But people will anyway. The sky is always falling.

 

[Kovalev27]

There Are some guys that don't belong in the lineup and we've gotten piss poor goaltending which really turned into a debacle in San Jose for a tired team.

IMO for the most part these guys are exhausted and why shouldn't they be. Why in gods name sather chose to send these guys WEST for preseason. When they had to go west to start and then play 9 games on the road is beyond me. We could have scheduled preseason games against east coast teams and not have gone west till it was time to start the year.

Ridiculous really.

Then uve got biron that turned a bad game in San Joes into a flat out 3 ring circus that completely rattled the team

I think the guys u saw in LA and for most of last nights game are the real rangers.

We'll be fine

 

[savebyrichter94]

There Are some guys that don't belong in the lineup and we've gotten piss poor goaltending which really turned into a debacle in San Jose for a tired team.

IMO for the most part these guys are exhausted and why shouldn't they be. Why in gods name sather chose to send these guys WEST for preseason. When they had to go west to start and then play 9 games on the road is beyond me. We could have scheduled preseason games against east coast teams and not have gone west till it was time to start the year.

Ridiculous really.

Then uve got biron that turned a bad game in San Joes into a flat out 3 ring circus that completely rattled the team

I think the guys u saw in LA and for most of last nights game are the real rangers.

We'll be fine

I think we just need someone to pump the brakes. Somebody needs to step up and settle things down for this team and get them refocused. Whether it's the coach or someone in the room somebody needs to take the reigns here and I mean really seize them.

I wouldn't call up any kids right now, the guys that are here are pros and they need to work this out on their own. I think they can but will they find it in themselves? Let's see what they look like after a few home games and then go from there.

 

[Kakko]

At risk of sounding like broken record, it's not the losses, it's the way they've lost.

That is true. However, I'd much rather the team go through this transitional phase (I hope) when they're playing games that: a) They probably would have lost even when playing well, and b) Against teams that they're not directly competing with

If they played these bad games against the Islanders, Blue Jackets etc. it would be much worse

 

[Machinehead]

I think Lundqvist will turn things around, McDonagh and Staal and co. will adjust to the new system, and in time we'll be able to keep teams out of our net.

But we still can't score.

Brad Rcahrds is leading the team, on pace for 66. Guys, Brad Richards isn't scoring 66 goals. When he slows down, who's picking up the slack?

 

[Riverdale]

Not going to panic.

But I just don't see this team being a threat in the playoffs (which I do think we will make).

 

[Pastafazul*]

i agree, the season is at its infantile stage, and we have a new system in place for players to adjust too....

the REAL concern is lundy.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

Not going to panic.

But I just don't see this team being a threat in the playoffs (which I do think we will make).

So, status quo.

 

[iamitter]

I think Lundqvist will turn things around, McDonagh and Staal and co. will adjust to the new system, and in time we'll be able to keep teams out of our net.

But we still can't score.

Brad Rcahrds is leading the team, on pace for 66. Guys, Brad Richards isn't scoring 66 goals. When he slows down, who's picking up the slack?

Nash, Stepan, Brassard and 3/4 of our roster are on pace for 0.


Somehow, I think it'll even out. We'll be all right.

 

[Blueblood 2]

No panic here. Just a stern warning from my dentist. He says chewing on a wad of bubble gum every game, to relax, will have dire consequences.

 

[Riverdale]

So, status quo.

Unfortunately, yes.

 

[94now]

Let this team play against East club or two. Or just any team that doesn't have Niemi or Hiller in net. Then you will find yourself thinking differently. Or just come back after WAS game Wednesday and make your doomsday projections.

This is a good team. The only problem defense plays as if King is net and all of them do not know what to do once they find a surrogate that looks the same there instead. Goal after goal...

You can't play run-n-gun without Fur or Habibulin or Richter or Lunddqvist. So if Lundqvist lost his King's crown somewhere, you must simplify. AV will.

 

[TheTakedown]

Does anyone know the last time a team yanked their goalie in 3 straight games? Or, even worse, three of the opening 5?? And the last time it was a world class level goaltender in back to back starts? Or the last time a team that supposedly had one of the best defense corps in the league had their goalie yanked in three straight games despite having a world-class goaltender?

This is not a common occurance. This is bad news bears, epically, in every single direction. I'm not saying that they can't recover, but I can't for the life of me even remember a team getting so throroughly destroyed night after night. And to pretend this happens all the time to teams that are expected to contend, and everything is more than likely to just pan out seems really naieve at this particular moment.

I mean, will Ulfie even make it back to MSG?

The team seems desparate for structure. The defense is a mess. Staal, McD, and Girardi actually look to be getting worse as they learn the system. I just cannot believe, yet, that theose guys are just regressing like crazy. They're all players who have massive levels of compete, jam, fight, whatever. The problem appears to be that they're playing on islands. I haven't seen any coherent stratgey in their game so far. So either this system is so exotic, andrevolutionarily amazing that it takes serious pro's with top level skills this long to not look completely outmatched, or the system in place is not a good fit, for this team, this league, or maybe even this sport.

Very possible. The Torts system involved collapsing and shot blocking... Not much defense, just have everyone play goalie

 

[Roo Returns]

I think this season goes a lot like 2006-07 for the Rangers. Remember the first month of that season was a disaster. In fact, most of the first half was. Cullen couldn't play with anyone, Prucha was misused, and the team had too many fourth liners like Hollweg, J. Ward, etc.

That season ended well and they almost made it to the ECF because they figured out how to play together. It took a few smart trades (Avery and Mara) and some rookies (Cally and Girardi) who helped gel that team.

This team doesn't look the same as soon as December. If the kids in Hartford keep it up, we'll see some up here.

I still think a lot of vets on this team don't make it through the season (Boyle, Dorsett, Asham, even Dom Moore).

 

[Machinehead]

Nash, Stepan, Brassard and 3/4 of our roster are on pace for 0.


Somehow, I think it'll even out. We'll be all right.

Neither Stepan nor Brassard has ever scored 20 goals. We have talented forwards but we don't have talented goal-scorers.

 

[Raspewtin]

Stepan had 20 in his rook year and was on pace for ~31 last year.

 

[Machinehead]

Right he did get exactly 20 once. I still wouldn't consider him a lock though.

 

[Raspewtin]

I have faith that he could pot 20 a year, 30 is a stretch, anything above 35 I'd never expect. His smart positional play lets him score easy goals that the rest of the team have no ability to. How many times have we seen Stepan slam-dunk a puck home from the side of the net last season that honestly anyone could have? Also, his shot has really been improving. No reason to believe he can't score 20-25 a year.

 

[TheTakedown]

I have faith that he could pot 20 a year, 30 is a stretch, anything above 35 I'd never expect. His smart positional play lets him score easy goals that the rest of the team have no ability to. How many times have we seen Stepan slam-dunk a puck home from the side of the net last season that honestly anyone could have? Also, his shot has really been improving. No reason to believe he can't score 20-25 a year.

remember that tic-tac-toe power play goal he scored last year?

We'll see more of that

 

[JohnC]

I have faith that he could pot 20 a year, 30 is a stretch, anything above 35 I'd never expect. His smart positional play lets him score easy goals that the rest of the team have no ability to. How many times have we seen Stepan slam-dunk a puck home from the side of the net last season that honestly anyone could have? Also, his shot has really been improving. No reason to believe he can't score 20-25 a year.

Literally every other member of this team ****s that up

 

[Machinehead]

Literally every other member of this team ****s that up

Ironically Stepan ****ed that same play up on Saturday

 

[Fanned On It]

Not picking on the OP but I'm getting tired of hearing "if they haven't picked it up by game 20, then you can worry". You worry now. If they haven't picked it up by game 20, you admit failure. If this team still looks this way at game 20, that's not when it's time to START worrying. That's when it's time to swallow the pill and admit the season is a loss. You don't get to play like this for 20 games and be successful in this league. When people talk about the importance of early points and quick starts, and even loser points, they're not just saying it to say it. It should be extremely worrying to everyone how we have started the season. No, you don't hit the red button because of 5 games. I didn't say that. You worry at 5 games though. You consider hitting the red button at 25. All of this "start worrying at 20 games" talk is nonsense. If you've gone 1/4 of the season looking like this, you're looking to next season.

I whole-heartedly disagree with that statement. That is the IRRATIONAL thing to do. You can be a little worried/concerned right now, but how can you not allow yourself more time before jumping off the Tap? I mean... 4 games isn't going to tell you the entire story is it? 20 or so games will give you a much more in-depth look at what we have as a team.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

New coach, new system, broken up training camp, terrible schedule to start the season, no training camp for Callahan and Stepan, no Hagelin, injured Nash in game 3.

Recipe for disaster. If they can get close to .500 by end of this month its a success in my book. Everyone will be healthy (hopefully), the D will be adjusted and Lundqvist will be Lundqvist.

I still think this will be a good hockey team.

 

[Garv23]

New coach, new system, broken up training camp, terrible schedule to start the season, no training camp for Callahan and Stepan, no Hagelin, injured Nash in game 3.

Recipe for disaster. If they can get close to .500 by end of this month its a success in my book. Everyone will be healthy (hopefully), the D will be adjusted and Lundqvist will be Lundqvist.

I still think this will be a good hockey team.

Hey, now here's a post I'm in tune with. I think the D will adjust, but they HAVE to find a way to keep people from parking in front of Hank.

To panic this early under these circumstances is ridiculous.

 

[KreiMeARiver*]

Wow, there are a lot of people in here that quite frankly...have zero clue what they are looking at. zero clue.

We lack skill, size, speed, toughness, tenacity, finish, etc.

These are hardcore personnel problems. The Tooth Fairy isn't going to bail us out, overnight.