Post-Game Talk: Rangers vs Flyers | 29/1/13: Get well soon Cally

NYR Viper

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Sep 9, 2007
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Jacksonville, FL
I was much happier with Halpern's game today. He seemed to be rather invisible in all the prior games.

I have a hypothesis that Halpern has been hiding a bit of an injury for a little while. I am not sure anyone noticed this but in the first games of the season they had Rupp taking quite a few face-offs in place of Jeff. Odd for a guy who throughout his career has been VERY good there.

He took quite a few last night and won most of them. He looked very good which is great, they need him to play 7~9 minutes a night to take some pressure off others.
 

NYR Viper

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Sep 9, 2007
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Jacksonville, FL
Agreed.

Torts is a ****ing dick for doing that, especially since he hasn't called out other guys for equally stupid things.

Coaches push buttons to get players going. Some players respond to certain things differently. Hagelin is most likely the type of player who is driven to be better and when someone calls him out, he mans up and uses it as motivation.

I'll trust Torts' judgement on this one considering the Rangers were 1st in the East last year.

But hey, if you want to hate on him blindly, go for it.
 

Crease

Chief Justice of the HFNYR Court
Jul 12, 2004
23,974
25,004
Hagelin and Halpern were everywhere. Nice game for them. Hank looks like he's getting back into a rhythm, which is good to see. Good things seem to happen when our defense get the puck on net. They need to keep at it.
 

nevesis

#30
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Jan 3, 2008
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I'm not really sure how to respond to this. Absolutely ridiculous.

He's not entirely wrong. The guy isn't a great hockey player. He skates worse than some kids I see in pee-wee leagues, isn't strong on the puck, not physical at all, doesn't have great hands.

Certain players just 'have it', Derek Stepan is not one of those players. He might take a little more time to mature (he's still very young), but certain fundamental things about his game/talent will never change drastically (skating, hands/skill)
 

Levitate

Registered User
Jul 29, 2004
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I think Stepan's skating has actually been better this year. He'll never be a quick skater but he's perfectly adequate at it
 

*Bob Richards*

Guest
He's not entirely wrong. The guy isn't a great hockey player. He skates worse than some kids I see in pee-wee leagues, isn't strong on the puck, not physical at all, doesn't have great hands.

Certain players just 'have it', Derek Stepan is not one of those players. He might take a little more time to mature (he's still very young), but certain fundamental things about his game/talent will never change drastically (skating, hands/skill)

See, he never mentioned any of this. All he did was claim that Derek was a "bust" and needs to be removed.
 

NYR Viper

Registered User
Sep 9, 2007
46,906
16,622
Jacksonville, FL
He's not entirely wrong. The guy isn't a great hockey player. He skates worse than some kids I see in pee-wee leagues, isn't strong on the puck, not physical at all, doesn't have great hands.

Certain players just 'have it', Derek Stepan is not one of those players. He might take a little more time to mature (he's still very young), but certain fundamental things about his game/talent will never change drastically (skating, hands/skill)

You really don't think Derek Stepan is a skilled player? If so, I wholeheartedly disagree.
 

*Bob Richards*

Guest
Stepan may be the anti-Kreider when it comes to athleticism but his IQ more than makes up for it.
 

SupersonicMonkey*

Guest
Stepan doesn't have good hands? LOL what.

He isn't a great skater, he isn't very physical. That's just about where the negatives end.

His brain, vision, and hands are what make him a good player. And at 22 years of age he will continue to get better.
 

Kokoschka

Registered User
May 13, 2012
3,166
50
We are talking about the Stepan who produced 96 points his first two regular seasons, right? I mean, you can't call Zach a bust yet, he has just been drafted.
 
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Kovalev27

BEST IN THE WORLD
Jun 22, 2004
21,330
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NYC
96 pts in 2 seasons straight from college 22 years of age

yah some guys just don't have it.


christ
 

kovazub94

Enigmatic
Aug 5, 2010
12,295
8,094
Speaking of Stepan - this was the first game that I can remember where our forward line with Stepan-Cally duo a part of it - showed some semblance of chemistry and looked dangerous offensively.

Really am upset with Cally's injury - he is this team's heart and he's going to be terribly missed even if his offensive production and PK skill can be replaced.

Girardi definitely deserve a star for last night's effort - I actually went with all defense - G, McD adn MDZ.
 

Kokoschka

Registered User
May 13, 2012
3,166
50
Speaking of Stepan - this was the first game that I can remember where our forward line with Stepan-Cally duo a part of it - showed some semblance of chemistry and looked dangerous offensively.

Really am upset with Cally's injury - he is this team's heart and he's going to be terribly missed even if his offensive production and PK skill can be replaced.

Girardi definitely deserve a star for last night's effort - I actually went with all defense - G, McD adn MDZ.

Agree, Girardi-McDonagh had moments that reminded me of last season. Very solid game.
 

BlueshirtBlitz

Foolish Samurai
Aug 2, 2010
21,431
30
New York
Coaches push buttons to get players going. Some players respond to certain things differently. Hagelin is most likely the type of player who is driven to be better and when someone calls him out, he mans up and uses it as motivation.

I'll trust Torts' judgement on this one considering the Rangers were 1st in the East last year.

But hey, if you want to hate on him blindly, go for it.

It's not blind hate, and you should know I've defended Torts against his ravenous angry mob. But Hagelin played a great game and you call him out? He didn't have to do that to make him play an awesome game, since he played THIS game great. Seems like Torts just being an ass.

We also got to first in the East playing our 6th d-man 3 minutes a game, which is something I still strongly disagree with and something it seems like we're going to be doing again.
 

BlueshirtBlitz

Foolish Samurai
Aug 2, 2010
21,431
30
New York
He's not entirely wrong. The guy isn't a great hockey player. He skates worse than some kids I see in pee-wee leagues, isn't strong on the puck, not physical at all, doesn't have great hands.

Certain players just 'have it', Derek Stepan is not one of those players. He might take a little more time to mature (he's still very young), but certain fundamental things about his game/talent will never change drastically (skating, hands/skill)

...In what world is Derek Stepan not skilled? The world where you can successfully push your agenda that he isn't a good second liner?
 

Levitate

Registered User
Jul 29, 2004
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I think he's good but got hyped as the "best prospect in hockey" for some reason for a long time

Stupid to hype a young player up like he was
 

Inferno

Registered User
Nov 27, 2005
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Atlanta, GA
ive always thought he's an overrated prospect.

a decent player, should be able to score 20 goals in an average year...but nowhere near as good as ppl want to make him out to be.
 

Pizza

Registered User
Sep 17, 2005
11,175
563
And u never hear anything "bad" about Stepan, ever. The guy is a bust, period. Get him out of here and get a guy that can play real hockey.

troll perhaps? Hard to explain the comments other wise.

In any event this kind of thinking...or lack of it...is exactly what can screw a franchise up. When you have people internally who lack any shred of patience with young players.

The Rangers fell victim to this many times. Hard lessons. Currently they are dealing with it better. Short term sacrifice. Long term gain. Big picture.
 

Fitzy

Very Stable Genius
Jan 29, 2009
34,866
21,392
ive always thought he's an overrated prospect.

a decent player, should be able to score 20 goals in an average year...but nowhere near as good as ppl want to make him out to be.

A lot of the hype came from shredding the WJC competition at age 19... it happens with 1-2 guys a year.

Notably, one Derek Stepan did the same thing. For Stepan, a center doesn't need to be a great skater or exceptionally strong. Derek isn't flashy, but please note the kid, at his age is playing top PK minutes for us. He is a solid 2 way center whose defensive play at his age is well ahead of the curve.
 

haveandare

Registered User
Jul 2, 2009
18,879
7,389
New York
Not sure how I feel about Torts calling out Hagelin. I think he was really pissed about the team almost giving away the game in the third and he got a question about Hagelin and sort of went off about it without thinking too much. I have faith in his ability to manage the guys though, he's done well so far. If he can keep Hags hungry and playing like he did tonight, that's fine by me.
 

Kershaw

Guest
Stepan had like 5 gold scoring chances, at least he's making stuff happen out there. Unlike Kreider, I'm not worried about Stepan at all.
 

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