Series Talk: Qualifying Round: Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Rangers

[mas0764]

If Lundqvist blows the doors off in our mini camp and looks like he trained his ass off or is super refreshed and hungry, I have no problem with giving him a game. Unfortunately, I simply don’t expect him to look better than Shesterkin.

On the flip side, imagine Hank shows up looking vintage, gets the nod for game one, pitches a shutout, Rangers get hot, win the Cup with Hank in net and the old goat takes his Cup and retires this summer.

And Carolina and Toronto both win lottery picks so we get #2 or 3 while we’re at it

Oh, and Staal follows Hank after realizing he could only see half the names engraved on the Cup.

I mean, this would be the ideal scenario.

The Rangers get a Cup, Hank finally is the Champion he deserves to be (and he earned it himself), he goes out on top and frees us of his cap obligation, Shesterkin primed to lead the next decade of dominance in net, and we get a cherry on top in Lafreniere (or even if we get Byfield or Stutzle) to round out an amazing under-22 forward core (Kakko, Chytil, Kravtsov, and the pick).

Frankly even if we can Carolina and Toronto eliminated, if there are some other upsets, it could push our pick to what, 10-12. Would be better than otherwise.

I guess worst case scenario is Rangers and Toronto going far, but Rangers not winning Cup.

 

[TominNC]

One thing that is so obvious after watching hockey closely for 30 years, and what can be so darn tricky, is that hockey is just a different sport altogether in "Game 1" of a season compared to "Game 20" or 60 or whatever.

NHL coaches and teams pushes tremendously hard to do the best they can with what they have. It is like a chess game to a not insignificant extent. The NHL is at a point today where offensive teams can beat defensive teams -- IF -- they play that offensive game really well and manage to achieve certain things that aren't entirely easy to achieve. If the offensive team cannot achieve those things -- it will definitely not have the odds on its side. Hockey is a game with small marginals, but if its anyway to "lose a game" with high probability its to play a naive offensive game against a disciplined defensive team.

Like most games is a total coinflip with maybe up to 5% tilting the odds either way. To score a goal is 9/10 times about marginal, getting bounces etc. The first team to score a goal most often win the game. If its close, its more or less a coin flip.

Almost always, the only time you don't get a coinflip situation is when a naive offensive team plays a disciplined defensive team.

I like David Quinn's work in many areas, and maybe a little less in others. But -- if there is one area I think he really is weak in, it would be to get this team ready for a best of 3 series after only a very short camp lol. We have the record we have against Carolina and that is great, but if we like faced Philly, I wonder if I wouldn't have bet the house on us getting swept in 2 games because AV would just coach eights around DQ. Even peak season they could just back down and counter us fast and we gave up a tremendous amount of odd man rushes. These were really really important games in what was it 29 February and 1 March, but DQ had no idea what it would take to have a shot at winning those games. If we play those 2 like 10 times I wonder if we win 5%...

Rod Brind'Amour isn't AV and obviously we have done a lot of good things against Carolina for a long time. But this factor is what makes this series impossible to predict from my POV. We do have a pretty experienced team. Everyone have played important games before. Even most (all?) young kids have a lot of experience from IIHF best of 1 games in junior tournaments. Like even this team will of course understand that in a best of 3 series, you cannot give an inch away. We can't go down by 2 expecting to score 3.

But, OTOH, our best stretch all season came when Ziba was hurt, right? The reason for that is really obvious, in those games we didn't aim to high. We knew we would only win if we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot. If we can do that here, with Ziba, we could be dangerous.

It's a best of 5

 

[TominNC]

The ideal scenario is that Shesty goes on an ungodly run and establishes himself as THE MAN for the next 10 years.

No time for nostaglia.

 

[nyr2k2]

i'd expect the spare D to include 3 or 4 of Hajek, Rykov, Raddysh and Reunanen;
Ebert a longer shot, though he has the most pro experience
Reunanen is already under NHL contract for '19-20 so I believe he is eligible.

up front, they have 13 F's on roster (if you exclude Haley), the likely choices are 4-6 from
Beleskey, O'Regan, Lias, Lettieri, Fogarty, Nieves, Kravtsov, Gettinger ,
I don't see Gropp, Ronning, Newell, Elmer in that mix ...

Yeah I forgot about Tarmo. I think he has more natural talent than any of the other guys on the list. It will be interesting to see if they would go with someone like Reunanen who has upside but a lack of familiarity rather than someone like Raddysh who is solid across the board and has lots of NA professional experience. I could see a case for either. They could also take both.

 

[Ola]

It's a best of 5

Cool!

 

[JimmyG89]

Well, we survived the pause at this point, at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel, even without a definitive date of the end. We know it will be around the end of July, even if it is the two exhibition games that Elliot Friedman mentioned late last night that every team is going to be getting as well.

We are exactly 5 weeks from 7/1, which normally is a big day, but has the bigger anticipation of training camp 2.0 being right around the corner. So we're at least 2 months away, with 3 week camps being the set time it appears, from the exhibition games. In essence, we are halfway through the pause then. Good news is that we should be getting the positive type news going forward. It seems like the virus is slowing down in general and we should be able to get two locations from their list to get things going.

As for this series, we know the Rangers have owned Carolina for quite some time, so much that they voted no for this proposal. With all of that being said, none of that really is going to matter when these teams match up in what will likely be August. It's really a free roll for the guys. They had a shot to get in, but it wasn't great with the amount of teams vying for the last spots and the amount of games or points teams had. Now, it's a better chance than that IMO, probably close to 50/50. The young guys can take it as a learning experience going into next season. Get the feel of what is likely to be a lengthy and tight series and having to face a team 4-5 times in a row.

 

[Ola]

The ideal scenario is that Shesty goes on an ungodly run and establishes himself as THE MAN for the next 10 years.

No time for nostaglia.

I agree, certainly no time for nostaglia, but it is essential to note that Shesty have had a bit of a questionable track-record in important games. His worst games comes in the most important games for Russia. Here there would be monumental pressure on him, a potential team in front of him that wouldn't surprise anyone if they completely screwed up defensively and played a style that it was impossible for any goalie to cover for.

A perfect strategy from my POV would be to throw out Hank for the first messy game or 2, let him -- likely -- fail, and then move on to Shesty that get better conditions with much less pressure. But there isn't really time for that, is it? Whoever will get the nod must get the conditions to perform, and can't share the two pre-season games with 2 other goalies etc.

BTW, anyone know if Shesty is on the ice? Nobody should be in Russia. They are peaking now. Geo is skating in Finland and the Swedes have been skating for a long time.

 

[Embryo]

I am so excited I am going to have an asthma attack.

 

[JimmyG89]

Yeah I forgot about Tarmo. I think he has more natural talent than any of the other guys on the list. It will be interesting to see if they would go with someone like Reunanen who has upside but a lack of familiarity rather than someone like Raddysh who is solid across the board and has lots of NA professional experience. I could see a case for either. They could also take both.

I think they will stick with the guys that were in NA this past season for the most part.

One of the good things about next season having a slight delay is that the European prospects will have their seasons starting pretty much at the end of the summer. I think their camps are going to be going on when this play in series actually start.

Tarmo and others can be loaned to clubs, play in games, develop, and when NHL camps start back up, they could actually pull them and see if they should be in the NHL.

Same thing goes with Nils, unless they are going to sign him for this season and burn a year with this play in series. I'd be against it, but he's dynamic, and with all the other defenders in the organization lacking NHL experience as is, why not look to him as the depth they could need if an injury pops up.

 

[mas0764]

The ideal scenario is that Shesty goes on an ungodly run and establishes himself as THE MAN for the next 10 years.

No time for nostaglia.

He's already gonna be the man for the next 10 years. If we can have both, I'll take some nostalgia.

 

[FultonReed]

best case scenario: I can kayak in Michigan with my buddy and be back at his place in time to watch NYR hockey. that's beautiful stuff, boys.

 

[will1066]

Quinn upon hearing the Return-to-Play news:

I can dress Marc Staal again!

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Quinn upon hearing the Return-to-Play news:

I can dress Marc Staal again!

Carolina is excited about this too.

 

[JimmyG89]

One thing with hub locations and the amount of games that need to be played, I am curious what times these games will start. It will be in August, but if they push an off day between each series, that is 4 at a time. Are they going to overlap them like the playoffs? Also, start times are going to impacted largely. I really think they are going to need to space the games out all day long, especially to ensure a location is clean for teams coming in an playing right after them.

1PM and 7PM local time starts each day? Gives time for OT, gets primetime hours, and spaces the games if you get one location in EST and PST to be 1/4/7/10. All games could be watched on TV and NBC can do national broadcasts, while local crews can broadcast for their home markets.

The round robin games have to be played to. Hopefully they are looking at a place that has two arenas relatively close by to each other.

 

[FultonReed]

Carolina is excited about this too.

Jordan finna get his 2nd cup

 

[bobbop]

The Rangers are going to have at least 9 D. The three extras will probably be Hajek (who has some NHL games), Raddysh (an RD who had a very good year in Hartford) and Rykov. I don't know if they'll use Ebert. They control the three I :mentioned and Ebert did not have a great year is a UFA.

I think Gettinger, Fogarty, Nieves, Lettieri, Kravtsov as well. Not sure about Huska--we have 3 goalies already.

So if the Rangers can bring 50 people altogether--no wives or girlfriends then?

1. Panarin
2. Zibanejad
3. Kreider
4. Strome
5. Buchnevich
6. Fast
7. Chytil
8. Kakko
9. Lemieux
10. Howden
11. McKegg
12. DiGiuseppe
13. Gauthier
14. Gettinger
15. Nieves
16. Fogarty
17. Lettieri
18. Kravtsov
19. O'Regan (?)
20. Trouba
21. Fox
22. DeAngelo
23. Lindgren
24. Staal
25. Smith
26. Hajek
27. Raddysh
28. Rykov
29. Shesterkin
30. Georgiev
31. Lundqvist
32. Huska (?)
33. Haley (?)---think he would still be injured.
34. David Quinn
35. Greg Brown
36. David Oliver
37. Lindy Ruff
38. Benoit Allaire
39. Jerry Dineen (?)-video coach
40. Acacio Marques--equipment mgr.
41. Billy Southard--asst. equipment mgr.
42. Jim Ramsay--trainer
43. Sean Murdoch--asst. trainer
44. Jeff Gorton
45. Chris Drury
46. John Davidson
47. Sam Rosen
48. Joe Micheletti
49. Dave Maloney (?)
50.

If the Rangers have any local TV rights (play in round) broadcasters will be in New York doing the game off TV screens.

 

[will1066]

One thing with hub locations and the amount of games that need to be played, I am curious what times these games will start. It will be in August, but if they push an off day between each series, that is 4 at a time. Are they going to overlap them like the playoffs? Also, start times are going to impacted largely. I really think they are going to need to space the games out all day long, especially to ensure a location is clean for teams coming in an playing right after them.

1PM and 7PM local time starts each day? Gives time for OT, gets primetime hours, and spaces the games if you get one location in EST and PST to be 1/4/7/10. All games could be watched on TV and NBC can do national broadcasts, while local crews can broadcast for their home markets.

The round robin games have to be played to. Hopefully they are looking at a place that has two arenas relatively close by to each other.

I'm on the fence about my desire for NYC to be one of the hub cities. On one hand, the team won't need to travel. On the other hand, NYC is still a higher risk for virus relapse or spread.

In general, the NHL will do itself a favor if it can be the first N.A. pro sports league to return, with people clamoring for live sports. It'd be a chance to get more people to pick up the sport.

 

[Mikos87]

I'm on the fence about my desire for NYC to be one of the hub cities. On one hand, the team won't need to travel. On the other hand, NYC is still a higher risk for virus relapse or spread.

In general, the NHL will do itself a favor if it can be the first N.A. pro sports league to return, with people clamoring for live sports. It'd be a chance to get more people to pick up the sport.

NYC will be the last place the league considers. IMO they have two really good hubs that they can use in Vegas and EDM. But they want a hub in the east.

Their considering TOR and CLB as two potential eastern hubs. I think TOR is a big mistake. They need a city with a number of rinks where teams can practice, and hotel infrastructure to house the staff with a minimized risk of exposure. The Panthers check the exposure risk box, but they don't have an excess of rinks, or hotels where the arena is.

I think it ends up being EDM/CLB since the NBA is also looking at Vegas.

 

[Ola]

NYC will be the last place the league considers. IMO they have two really good hubs that they can use in Vegas and EDM. But they want a hub in the east.

Their considering TOR and CLB as two potential eastern hubs. I think TOR is a big mistake. They need a city with a number of rinks where teams can practice, and hotel infrastructure to house the staff with a minimized risk of exposure. The Panthers check the exposure risk box, but they don't have an excess of rinks, or hotels where the arena is.

I think it ends up being EDM/CLB since the NBA is also looking at Vegas.

I don't know about EDM and Toronto, but would Vegas be a really risky bet? They have almost no immunity there and are prime for a second wave if they open up and people start to travel there again.

Think NYC is the safest location for sure given how immunity the city has.

 

[eco's bones]

If the Rangers have any local TV rights (play in round) broadcasters will be in New York doing the game off TV screens.

Yeah I was just trying to sort out who the 50 might be and what you're saying makes sense. Personally getting locked away for anywhere between a couple weeks and a couple months would not excite me a whole lot. I'm sure they'll all get first class treatment but family, friends, dogs and whatever happens to any of them they're all on the outside looking in. It reminds me kind of my boot camp experience in that you're here and everyone else is somewhere else though you do know all your teammates--they're not complete strangers like recruits would be and I'm sure the food will be a lot better and no one will be waking you up at 4 in the morning and screaming their ass off at you all day long.

 

[Leonardo87]

Just not going to be the same without the fans in the stands or able to go to the game and will be in a neutral arena. Doubt there will be any watch parties allowed in the city till at least the later rounds and Rangers may not make it that far. I’m just not as excited as I should be, sorry.

 

[LokiDog]

I'm on the fence about my desire for NYC to be one of the hub cities. On one hand, the team won't need to travel. On the other hand, NYC is still a higher risk for virus relapse or spread.

In general, the NHL will do itself a favor if it can be the first N.A. pro sports league to return, with people clamoring for live sports. It'd be a chance to get more people to pick up the sport.

NY isn’t even being considered from the sounds of it.

 

[Ola]

NY isn’t even being considered from the sounds of it.

I think they will regret that, look at a place like Arkansas, these places with almost no immunity will get second waves right when they open up.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I think they will regret that, look at a place like Arkansas, these places with almost no immunity will get second waves right when they open up.

What?

Have you seen what the Virus has done to NYC?

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Jordan finna get his 2nd cup

He's going to get Marc's cup after he fakes him out of his jock.