Post-Game Talk: Rangers @ Jets - 3/14/14

[ThisYearsModel]

I think McDonagh will go down as one of the best rangers D man ever

Longevity is the key. The skills and talent are there. He is wearing the correct number, because he is the next Scott Niedermayer.

 

[PromNite]

Didn't see the game. I love to see the headless chicken get the hat trick. He needed that.

Apt nickname.

 

[AHB*]

Yup. When we did the top Rangers defensemen, Art Coulter came in fifth. I'd love to see the argument to place Ryan McDonagh ahead of someone who played nine seasons (if I recall correctly) with the Rangers, was selected to 3 2ASTs, and captained the 1940 team to a cup.

He's great, don't get me wrong, but it's not fair to him to compare him to guys like that.

Kid has the chance to be a great player for us for years to come. Lets enjoy the ride.

He's got a ton of promise, but he's got a ways to go before he's Park, Leetch, Coulter, etc.

 

[Pizza]

I love how Girardi has been an absolute stud the past few games and no one says a thing about him... underrated by our fan-base for sure.

Except for the many GM's that covet him and a few in the hockey commentariat, Girardi will always be ignored. In many ways he's the best of defenseman. The only time you notice him is when he makes a mistake....like with Buff last night. That's a guy I wish we had.

Love Danny G.

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

Hank is great but it is not a stretch to call McDonagh's his caliber.

Yes it is.

Hank has been a top 1-3 goalie in the league for almost a decade in the NHL.

McD isn't at that level yet. In fact, this is the first season given his offensive contribution where i'm comfortable arguing he's a top 5 Dman this season.

 

[member 116805]

Hags
Hank
Boil

Brassard line was awful, split them up. Zucc has been pretty invisible since he came back, hopefully he will get back on track.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Hags
Hank
Boil

Brassard line was awful, split them up. Zucc has been pretty invisible since he came back, hopefully he will get back on track.

He looked good against the Canes in the first game. I don't think it has anything to do with his injury.

 

[JaeTM]

Stepan had a nice game as an HM from me. Especially defensively.

 

[Levitate]

Except for the many GM's that covet him and a few in the hockey commentariat, Girardi will always be ignored. In many ways he's the best of defenseman. The only time you notice him is when he makes a mistake....like with Buff last night. That's a guy I wish we had.

Love Danny G.

Girardi makes some fantastic one on one plays in the defensive zone, and his positioning is excellent. HIs passing with the puck in the defensive zone is just so hit or miss. Sometimes he makes ****ing excellent plays, really really great decisions and all that, and then other times he tries to pass it right through an opposing teams player and turns it over in a bad spot...like he just didn't even see the guy there. I'd rather he be a bit more conservative with his breakouts and not force things because I think he gets into trouble there.

He's great without the puck and up and down with the puck defensively...but on the other hand I feel like this is the first year he's been asked to make some plays and passes with the puck in the defensive zone. Under Tortorella he was just asked to slam it up the boards and hope the forwards could do something with it.

Hags
Hank
Boil

Brassard line was awful, split them up. Zucc has been pretty invisible since he came back, hopefully he will get back on track.

Zucc and St Louis probably isn't smart, too small, at least against big teams. Had a hard time keeping possession of the puck last night. I'd probably push to go back to Hagelin-Richards-St Louis and the usual Zucarallo-Brassard-Poliout line. Or put Kreider with Richards and St Louis, though he definitely seems more comfortable with Stepan and Nash

 

[LORENZO]

So who do we put with St Louis to get the best out of him?

 

[Ola]

So who do we put with St Louis to get the best out of him?

I'd try:
Nash-Step-MSL
Kreider-Brass-Zucc
Hags-BR-Pouliot

 

[TheTakedown]

I'd try:
Nash-Step-MSL
Kreider-Brass-Zucc
Hags-BR-Pouliot

I like that... As much as I hate breaking up the Zucc-Brass-Poo line, and though I'm not so sure about pouliot on the Righ side, it's gotta be worth a shot

 

[mulli25]

So who do we put with St Louis to get the best out of him?

Lecavalier, circa 2007

 

[aufheben]

Of course I miss the game where Carl ****ing Hagelin gets a hat trick.

 

[chosen]

What? Are you saying Ryan McDonagh is a top five Rangers defenseman of all time?

That is what I am saying.

The only ones definitely better are Park and Leetch. Beck is in the conversation, as is Zubov.

I may have forgotten someone, certainly, but included in my view is Greschner.

If you want to deal with longevity, it's a different discussion, but on a talent and ability and execution scale, that is my honest assessment of McDonagh.

I think he is that good.

 

[chosen]

Yes it is.

Hank has been a top 1-3 goalie in the league for almost a decade in the NHL.

McD isn't at that level yet. In fact, this is the first season given his offensive contribution where i'm comfortable arguing he's a top 5 Dman this season.

I am only talking about right now, not over a whole career. And right now he is flat-out great. He is almost impossible to beat and he is a legit offensive dman.

For example, Greschner at his best, was not better than McDonagh is now.

 

[3rd Guy High]

So who do we put with St Louis to get the best out of him?

The guy with a Steven Stamkos shot... Haggarty

 

[aufheben]

Can someone give me a tl;dr of the game? I ended up missing everything until 5:00 left in the 3rd.

 

[YoSoyLalo]

Can someone give me a tl;dr of the game? I ended up missing everything until 5:00 left in the 3rd.

Well, we scored early on, but the Jets owned the first 10 minutes of the game, especially physically. Zuccarello-Brassard-St. Louis in the d-zone = lol. I'd say the Jets were a bit better than us most of the night, but our PK was giving us momentum at the right time. Settled in after about 10 minutes, but Lundqvist still had to make a lot of key saves.

 

[profchaos2001]

Well, we scored early on, but the Jets owned the first 10 minutes of the game, especially physically. Zuccarello-Brassard-St. Louis in the d-zone = lol. I'd say the Jets were a bit better than us most of the night, but our PK was giving us momentum at the right time. Settled in after about 10 minutes, but Lundqvist still had to make a lot of key saves.

Their starting goalie also got injured and Al Montoya came in at the start of the second. Basically our PK led to two goals directly after. one on an icing by Klein recovered by St. Louis behind the net and fed to Hags for the game winning goal, and second for Hags. That seemed to be the decisive play of the game.

 

[Thirty One]

Can someone give me a tl;dr of the game? I ended up missing everything until 5:00 left in the 3rd.

It was pretty much the typical Anything Can Happen game.

 

[Todd Harvey]

For example, Greschner at his best, was not better than McDonagh is now.

Chosen, I was just highlighting your prior post and agreed with nearly every word;
I was scanning memory to see if I'd forgotten anyone, and based on all that's been said about them, the older guys like Harry Howell would have to be in the conversation, though I never saw him play except on some old reels.

But this one I have to take exception with, even if it's just parsing language.

Ron Greschner at his best was an awesome d-man. Different skills than McD, but Gresch also put it together for long stretches of time, something McDonagh needs to keep doing. Until he does, he's not at that level yet IMO.

Again, different games for those guys, but Greschner could weave through defenses, take the body - hard - shoot & dish the puck and punch your lights out. McD's not quite there yet is all Im saying.
That's some lofty territory.

 

[chosen]

Chosen, I was just highlighting your prior post and agreed with nearly every word;
I was scanning memory to see if I'd forgotten anyone, and based on all that's been said about them, the older guys like Harry Howell would have to be in the conversation, though I never saw him play except on some old reels.

But this one I have to take exception with, even if it's just parsing language.

Ron Greschner at his best was an awesome d-man. Different skills than McD, but Gresch also put it together for long stretches of time, something McDonagh needs to keep doing. Until he does, he's not at that level yet IMO.

Again, different games for those guys, but Greschner could weave through defenses, take the body - hard - shoot & dish the puck and punch your lights out. McD's not quite there yet is all Im saying.
That's some lofty territory.

Greschner was a very good offensive dman and better than McD in that area, but that gap is closing. Defensively, McD is far his superior.

There were times when I wondered if Greschner should have been a forward instead.

Another very good offensive D was Reijo Ruotsalainen. Just looked back at his stats and he may have been better than Gresch. He had two 20 goal seasons, including one where he scored 28.

 

[SirGoose]

I'd try:
Nash-Step-MSL
Kreider-Brass-Zucc
Hags-BR-Pouliot

thems are some good looking lines

 

[Todd Harvey]

Greschner was a very good offensive dman and better than McD in that area, but that gap is closing. Defensively, McD is far his superior.

There were times when I wondered if Greschner should have been a forward instead.

Another very good offensive D was Reijo Ruotsalainen. Just looked back at his stats and he may have been better than Gresch. He had two 20 goal seasons, including one where he scored 28.

For a very brief period of time I seem to remember Greschner being used up front; it may have only been one game in fact, an injury or something, and he played center; he had sick moves, a real lanky and deceptive guy with the puck.

Reijo was dynamite, just a joy to watch. If he had any accuracy on that shot he'd have posted way better numbers and probably be considered a great great player, because he could do everything else, including defend.