Positively time for some positiveness - We Played Well!

[eco's bones]

At this point--looking for positives to take from all of this.

Richards appears to be healthy which means the Rangers can buy him out. Whether that happens or not we'll see but it's quite obvious that the Rangers aren't legit and that he's too old and not nearly the point per game player as advertised and there are 6 years left on his toxic contract. I don't think the Rangers are going to make the next step with him. They've been pretty much let down by their key forwards (in terms of contract and pedigree)--Nash, St. Louis, Richards.

Richards leaves this summer and Nash as trade bait at the draft? Anaheim has Ottawa's first rounder--#10 overall. Trade Nash for the pick and a young player/prospect--preferably a forward. Anaheim could use another shooter IMO. St. Louis has one more year on his current contract. He'll be playing for his next one and if he doesn't do well--then he's done too.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

At this point--looking for positives to take from all of this.

Richards appears to be healthy which means the Rangers can buy him out. Whether that happens or not we'll see but it's quite obvious that the Rangers aren't legit and that he's too old and not nearly the point per game player as advertised and there are 6 years left on his toxic contract. I don't think the Rangers are going to make the next step with him. They've been pretty much let down by their key forwards (in terms of contract and pedigree)--Nash, St. Louis, Richards.

Richards leaves this summer and Nash as trade bait at the draft? Anaheim has Ottawa's first rounder--#10 overall. Trade Nash for the pick and a young player/prospect--preferably a forward. Anaheim could use another shooter IMO. St. Louis has one more year on his current contract. He'll be playing for his next one and if he doesn't do well--then he's done too.

Nash has a NMC.

Hopefully he waives it because of the booing last night.

 

[AHB*]

The most obvious reason for positivity is we get to keep our first rounder this year.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Interesting to see the few most negative posters flock to a positivity thread. Positive means positive not negative.

Positives:
McD took a giant step this season.
We are one of the last 8 teams playing.
Zooks showed he is a legit NHL player
Kreider broke out
Staal has shown bright spots.
Stepan had a great last 29 games.
Pou showed he was worth his contract and more.
Dominic Moore had a solid season.
We had around 9 guys capable of scoring 20 goals.

 

[eco's bones]

Interesting to see the few most negative posters flock to a positivity thread. Positive means positive not negative.

Positives:
McD took a giant step this season.
We are one of the last 8 teams playing.
Zooks showed he is a legit NHL player
Kreider broke out
Staal has shown bright spots.
Stepan had a great last 29 games.
Pou showed he was worth his contract and more.
Dominic Moore had a solid season.
We had around 9 guys capable of scoring 20 goals.

Like it or not--it's still a good thing that Richards is healthy because if he were injured during the short window for buyouts before the free agent season in July--we would not be able to buy him out (them's the rules) and if you think anyway like I do that buying out Richards is going to benefit the team in the long run that is a positive.

I don't disagree with much of your list though and could add a few other items:

I think AV has been an improvement over Torts and I think his system allows us to tap into the offense better than Torts did with his system. I think as well AV gave our younger players more leeway--more room to breathe than Torts did.

I like how our defense sorted itself out and has become three solid units. If we don't re-sign Stralman though we might have to find another right D.

I liked how our overall depth improved. I think we have one of the better 4th lines in the league and it's always good when players know the expectations and roles they fit into.

I thought the emergence of Cam Talbot as a real deal NHL goalie and potential starting NHL goalie if he went on to another team. He's a good player.

Those are all positives. Of your list I'd say McD's game pretty much picked up offensively. I'm not sure I'd say he took a giant step forward but he was already very fine defenseman and he's still improving.

Kreider and Zucc both emerged this year as core players with big futures.

Pouliot was **** for about a third of the season but turned his season around and became a very good player for us. Hopefully he'll come back but I wouldn't go overboard on his contract.

There are negatives. To me the biggest three right now our are offensive leaders--Nash has pretty much proven he's not a big game player. Richards has a toxic contract and IMO he's our third best productive center. St. Louis has had his head in his ass more than out of it.

I don't think the Rangers prospect pool is very deep either. I'd say it's one of the worst in the league. We have some potential players but not enough of them. I'm hoping some of our college free agent signings will mitigate that a bit but if I were the Rangers I'd be focusing more energy on restocking the pool--stop trading higher end draft picks.

 

[Riche16]

What's there to be positive about?

The recent past is repeating itself and the future is no longer bright.

Dark ages on the horizon.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Interesting to see the few most negative posters flock to a positivity thread. Positive means positive not negative.

Positives:
McD took a giant step this season.
We are one of the last 8 teams playing.
Zooks showed he is a legit NHL player
Kreider broke out
Staal has shown bright spots.
Stepan had a great last 29 games.
Pou showed he was worth his contract and more.
Dominic Moore had a solid season.
We had around 9 guys capable of scoring 20 goals.

My OP was more to positivity that we played well in game three, and still had a chance in this series. Not sure if I agree with myself now.

That said, if taking a macro view is what floats your boat, I would add that, ironically, the power play was the best we've seen in years...well, at least until St Louis got here! The PK was good too. Staal returned to health, we had a fourth line for a change, and I think we have a good coach - he's just running out of bullets in this series...and too many of his bullets have turned into blanks.

Of course, we still have the same GM, so I'm positive the negatives will stay negatives and will happen again and again.

Sather. Rinse. Repeat.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Like it or not--it's still a good thing that Richards is healthy because if he were injured during the short window for buyouts before the free agent season in July--we would not be able to buy him out (them's the rules) and if you think anyway like I do that buying out Richards is going to benefit the team in the long run that is a positive.

I don't disagree with much of your list though and could add a few other items:

I think AV has been an improvement over Torts and I think his system allows us to tap into the offense better than Torts did with his system. I think as well AV gave our younger players more leeway--more room to breathe than Torts did.

I like how our defense sorted itself out and has become three solid units. If we don't re-sign Stralman though we might have to find another right D.

I liked how our overall depth improved. I think we have one of the better 4th lines in the league and it's always good when players know the expectations and roles they fit into.

I thought the emergence of Cam Talbot as a real deal NHL goalie and potential starting NHL goalie if he went on to another team. He's a good player.

Those are all positives. Of your list I'd say McD's game pretty much picked up offensively. I'm not sure I'd say he took a giant step forward but he was already very fine defenseman and he's still improving.

Kreider and Zucc both emerged this year as core players with big futures.

Pouliot was **** for about a third of the season but turned his season around and became a very good player for us. Hopefully he'll come back but I wouldn't go overboard on his contract.

There are negatives. To me the biggest three right now our are offensive leaders--Nash has pretty much proven he's not a big game player. Richards has a toxic contract and IMO he's our third best productive center. St. Louis has had his head in his ass more than out of it.

I don't think the Rangers prospect pool is very deep either. I'd say it's one of the worst in the league. We have some potential players but not enough of them. I'm hoping some of our college free agent signings will mitigate that a bit but if I were the Rangers I'd be focusing more energy on restocking the pool--stop trading higher end draft picks.

I forgot Talbot. He played great. I was wrong to not include him.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I honestly believe we can win this series - Pittsburgh is not all that good (being down to the Bruins would be a whole different animal), and at some point Fleury will go back to being Fleury - hopefully before the handshakes instead of after. We win the next game we go back to Pittsburgh a revived, younger, fresher, stronger team.

Is Haley's Comet coming around this year? Because that's about how often I'm right - but this time I was right!

I started this thread after game three, and I really thought we played well in game three (which, of course, was before the game four giveaway festival), but this board was sooooooo negative it was crazy.

I was right about Fleury going back to being Fleury, which was key to this series. And I still think AV played a huge role in this series win - but call timeout once in a while for goodness sake!

Now let's go kick some ECF butt!

 

[Raspewtin]

Boom bang boom.

Nice prediction there Jersey Girl.