Post-Game Talk: Rangers vs. Islanders: It's Miller Time

[SupersonicMonkey*]

you guys won't quit? Asham made a few plays with the puck last night that Boyle hasn't made all year. I don't understand this Asham hate. This is a standup guy who grinds, fights for his teammates and has a very good shot to boot. I understand the butthurt that goes along with BB being scratched but don't take it out on Aaron.

That 4th line looked really good last night and halpern showed why he has been in the league so long and why he too is a better player than Brian Boyle. I don't want Boyle sent down but until there's a reason to put him back in the lineup leave him where he is. 5 for 5 on the PK; not bad.

Asham played 6 minutes last night. All 5v5. No shots on goals. No fights. No hits. No blocked shots. No takeaways.

Borderline useless.

Boyle would have taken a few face offs, played on special teams.

Putting Asham in because of the off chance he may decide and someone may decide to fight him, is pointless. Its a wasted spot on the bench.

"He's a stand up guy" isn't enough to have him in the lineup. How many fights does he have thus far through 10 games? How many times has he had to stick up for teammates? Where was the reaction to Callahan's injury? The hit on Kreider?

Who exactly is he policing? Who is he protecting?

Its a fallacy.

Provide a shred of real evidence that he's been a useful player thus far, and will be moving forward.

 

[NYR Viper]

Yeah, but he's not a borderline 3rd liner. He's a borderline NHLer which is why he fits nicely on the 4th line. His skills with the puck are so poor. In his time here, how many times can you remember him taking the puck and passing it smartly to an open forward who then scored? Think. The number is so small because he has no vision on the ice, especially in the offensive zone. And don't blame his linemates. Feds has scored plenty in his career and we know Prust can finish when given the opportunity.
He has a role, but it is not on the 3rd line; not even close.

Alright that's laughable. Brian Boyle is a VERY good 4th line player. He is a 4th liner who should play 10-12 minutes a game with a ton of PK time and in a shut-down role. He is not a borderline NHLer as you put it above.

The lack of vision, is the reason why he should have always been a wing. Let him use his size along the boards and crashing the net. Straight ahead, North-South play. Unfortunately, or fortunately, he is a very good defensive center who is the Rangers best faceoff man so that hasn't happened as of yet.

 

[NYROrtsFan]

Yeah, but he's not a borderline 3rd liner. He's a borderline NHLer which is why he fits nicely on the 4th line. His skills with the puck are so poor. In his time here, how many times can you remember him taking the puck and passing it smartly to an open forward who then scored? Think. The number is so small because he has no vision on the ice, especially in the offensive zone. And don't blame his linemates. Feds has scored plenty in his career and we know Prust can finish when given the opportunity.
He has a role, but it is not on the 3rd line; not even close.

No he's not... That's just completely unfair.

And you cannot just get rid of the idea of having anyone who can fight in the regular season. Teams will take advantage of you. For the playoffs, fine with that lineup above and leaving Asham out of the lineup.


And personally I think Asham is decent with the puck. He's better than Rupp, and can actually move around a bit to make a hit on someone.


Overall, I didn't think the Rangers played particularly great this game, and I'm still bothered by the likes of Del Zotto and his giveaways. I also think Gilroy sucks and has zero defensive instincts but he did manage to have a decent game this game.

Still don't like the balance/fluidity of the lines so there is going to have to be some more juggling there.

And we need Girardi back... McDonagh, Staal, Stralman, and barely Del Zotto can be trusted defensively. Eminger I prefer as the 6th.

 

[NYR Viper]

Asham played 6 minutes last night. All 5v5. No shots on goals. No fights. No hits. No blocked shots. No takeaways.

Borderline useless.

Boyle would have taken a few face offs, played on special teams.

Putting Asham in because of the off chance he may decide and someone may decide to fight him, is pointless. Its a wasted spot on the bench.

"He's a stand up guy" isn't enough to have him in the lineup. How many fights does he have thus far through 10 games? How many times has he had to stick up for teammates? Where was the reaction to Callahan's injury? The hit on Kreider?

Who exactly is he policing? Who is he protecting?

Its a fallacy.

Provide a shred of real evidence that he's been a useful player thus far, and will be moving forward.

NHL players know when they have someone on their team who will have their back. Players don't clamor for those types of guys to get out of the league because they like having them around.

The Rangers are really lacking in that department and removing Asham against a divisional opponent would not be a good idea. The Rangers PP is not good enough to be any sort of deterrent either.

 

[mas0764]

Thank god there are these kind of slump buster teams like Islanders and the Leafs in this league.

I mean, I know to be the best, you have to beat the best, and all that, but the Rangers schedule has been positively brutal so far.

Look at the conference standings and then look at our schedule. Obviously the standings are somewhat influenced by the fact that those teams BEAT us, but those teams have all played 8-9 other games too.

Anyway, we've played the 1st seed, the 1st seed, the 2nd seed, the 2nd seed, the 3rd seed, the 4th seed, the 7th seed, the 10th seed, the 13th seed, and the 13th seed.

And the 13th seed is the Philadelphia Flyers, a team that is a little bit of chemistry away from being a 4 seed.

The point is, 60% of our games have been against the top 25% of conference. In those 6 games, we're 2-4. In the other 4 games, we're 3-1.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has already drawn Washington twice, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and the Islanders twice.

I think that has something to do with our struggles.

Like I said, if we're gonna win the Stanley Cup this season, we have to beat Boston and Pittsburgh more times than we lose to them in a 7 game series. So we have to get better.

But at the same time we hopefully have some stretches of our schedule coming up against cupcakes. The last two weeks of February look pretty soft at this point. I think even playing like we are right now, we can run it up in that 2 week period of time. And I haven't even looked at March yet.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Really impressed with Miller's offensive skills, obviously. The jury is still out on the defensive side of the puck. Hes made a few careless passes, etc, but thats all part of learning and really me just nitpicking at this point.

Also, for all the lamenting from Ranger fans about Michael Sauer, we should be extremely grateful about how lucky we've been with Anton Stralman.

 

[mas0764]

NHL players know when they have someone on their team who will have their back. Players don't clamor for those types of guys to get out of the league because they like having them around.

The Rangers are really lacking in that department and removing Asham against a divisional opponent would not be a good idea. The Rangers PP is not good enough to be any sort of deterrent either.

Well from what I have read you think Boyle is a very good role player. So when he comes back, whose spot does he take? Do we demote Miller? Does Halpern get scratched? I feel like he's too much of a help on faceoffs.

That kinda leaves Powe or Asham. So you're saying Powe?

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

NHL players know when they have someone on their team who will have their back. Players don't clamor for those types of guys to get out of the league because they like having them around.

The Rangers are really lacking in that department and removing Asham against a divisional opponent would not be a good idea. The Rangers PP is not good enough to be any sort of deterrent either.

Having Asham in against teams like the Devils, Bruins, Flyers makes sense.

But he should not be an every game player.

And you can't have a versatile player like Boyle scratched. No one else should come out of the lineup either. Come playoff time, players like Boyle are important.

And players like Asham are not. As there is not a lot of fights.

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

Well from what I have read you think Boyle is a very good role player. So when he comes back, whose spot does he take? Do we demote Miller? Does Halpern get scratched? I feel like he's too much of a help on faceoffs.

That kinda leaves Powe or Asham. So you're saying Powe?

No way it should be Powe.

Look how effective he was on the PK. Outstanding work on the PK that went 5 for 5.

 

[mas0764]

No way it should be Powe.

Look how effective he was on the PK. Outstanding work on the PK that went 5 for 5.

Well it's gotta be someone!

I think the prime candidates are Asham, Powe, and Halpern.

Or you send Miller back down to Connecticut and call up Mashinter or Ferriero and let them be the scratch.

 

[Bardof425*]

Asham played 6 minutes last night. All 5v5. No shots on goals. No fights. No hits. No blocked shots. No takeaways.

Borderline useless.

Boyle would have taken a few face offs, played on special teams.

Putting Asham in because of the off chance he may decide and someone may decide to fight him, is pointless. Its a wasted spot on the bench.

"He's a stand up guy" isn't enough to have him in the lineup. How many fights does he have thus far through 10 games? How many times has he had to stick up for teammates? Where was the reaction to Callahan's injury? The hit on Kreider?

Who exactly is he policing? Who is he protecting?

Its a fallacy.

Provide a shred of real evidence that he's been a useful player thus far, and will be moving forward.

He wasn't on the ice when Kreider got nailed; but Boyle was. You need someone in the lineup who can drop the gloves if the other team tries to take liberties. He is the only guy we have right now. And as I've said he has much better skills with the puck than Boyle will ever have. If you want Boyle in the lineup it will have to be at the expense of someone other than Asham because the role he plays cannot be played by anyone else on this roster.

And btw, why should there have been a reaction to Cally's injury? He dropped the gloves and his arm dislocated. Nothing dirty involved. You make the weakest arguments I've seen on this board. We were 5 for 5 on the PK against one of the better power plays in the league. So, it seems for one night the PK is fine with the guys who dressed. And historically, Halpern is a better FO guy than Boyle and he is clearly a better player. So, again until someone (other than Asham; he's somewhat of a specialist, especially in the Atlantic Division) earns a spot in the press box, BB sits. In addition, Torts has praised Asham more than once this year for his willingness to drop the gloves to get the team going.

 

[NYR Viper]

Well from what I have read you think Boyle is a very good role player. So when he comes back, whose spot does he take? Do we demote Miller? Does Halpern get scratched? I feel like he's too much of a help on faceoffs.

That kinda leaves Powe or Asham. So you're saying Powe?

That's a good problem to have isn't it? My guess would be Asham but he needs to play in most of the Rangers games this season as a lot of them are inter-division.

I was just as impressed with Kreider and Miller last night as everyone else, but it is possible they come back down to Earth and get sent down for more seasoning.

 

[Cmox]

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Om5AGyq71fo&desktop_uri=/watch?v=Om5AGyq71fo

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I mean, I know to be the best, you have to beat the best, and all that, but the Rangers schedule has been positively brutal so far.

Look at the conference standings and then look at our schedule. Obviously the standings are somewhat influenced by the fact that those teams BEAT us, but those teams have all played 8-9 other games too.

Anyway, we've played the 1st seed, the 1st seed, the 2nd seed, the 2nd seed, the 3rd seed, the 4th seed, the 7th seed, the 10th seed, the 13th seed, and the 13th seed.

And the 13th seed is the Philadelphia Flyers, a team that is a little bit of chemistry away from being a 4 seed.

The point is, 60% of our games have been against the top 25% of conference. In those 6 games, we're 2-4. In the other 4 games, we're 3-1.

Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has already drawn Washington twice, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and the Islanders twice.

I think that has something to do with our struggles.

Like I said, if we're gonna win the Stanley Cup this season, we have to beat Boston and Pittsburgh more times than we lose to them in a 7 game series. So we have to get better.

But at the same time we hopefully have some stretches of our schedule coming up against cupcakes. The last two weeks of February look pretty soft at this point. I think even playing like we are right now, we can run it up in that 2 week period of time. And I haven't even looked at March yet.

Yup, 2-4 isn't good, but we did beat Boston and Tampa (when they were 6-1 and on fire and 5-0 at home). Tampa still is 5-1 at home.

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

He wasn't on the ice when Kreider got nailed; but Boyle was. You need someone in the lineup who can drop the gloves if the other team tries to take liberties. He is the only guy we have right now. And as I've said he has much better skills with the puck than Boyle will ever have. If you want Boyle in the lineup it will have to be at the expense of someone other than Asham because the role he plays cannot be played by anyone else on this roster.

And btw, why should there have been a reaction to Cally's injury? He dropped the gloves and his arm dislocated. Nothing dirty involved. You make the weakest arguments I've seen on this board. We were 5 for 5 on the PK against one of the better power plays in the league. So, it seems for one night the PK is fine with the guys who dressed. And historically, Halpern is a better FO guy than Boyle and he is clearly a better player. So, again until someone (other than Asham; he's somewhat of a specialist, especially in the Atlantic Division) earns a spot in the press box, BB sits. In addition, Torts has praised Asham more than once this year for his willingness to drop the gloves to get the team going.

I make the "weakest arguments on this board"? LMFAO

"Asham should be in because...nothing tangible, but...but...you know...uh...guys like him and feel comfortable! And MAYBE he will get into a fight this year!"

Forget...I dunno...tangible ****ing things like...blocked shots, face offs, hits, shots on goal, takeaways, killing penalties, stopping other teams top offensive players from scoring goals, board work...you know...playing hockey!

He wasn't on the ice when Kreider got hit...exactly!! 6 minutes ATOI!

Asham just hasn't gotten into a fight because the rest of the league is cowering in fear at the thought of fighting him!

 

[Blue Blooded]

Really impressed with Miller's offensive skills, obviously. The jury is still out on the defensive side of the puck. Hes made a few careless passes, etc, but thats all part of learning and really me just nitpicking at this point.

Also, for all the lamenting from Ranger fans about Michael Sauer, we should be extremely grateful about how lucky we've been with Anton Stralman.

The success of Anton Strålman is to me a really positive indicator of the status of the Rangers organization. Had we signed the equivalent of Strålman in the dark ages of 98-04 or even in 2009-10, I can almost guarantee that the signing wouldn't have been a success.

It's like one of those pickups that the Devils seem to do all the time, where they bring in a guy who seemingly has played himself out of the league and get solid or even good contributions from him. It is also ironic that we only got him because the Devils passed on him.

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

The jury is still out on Miller's defensive play? No its not. Two games in and his play away from the puck is already getting as good as its been his whole career going back to when I saw him with the USNTDP.

 

[Bluenote13]

Also, for all the lamenting from Ranger fans about Michael Sauer, we should be extremely grateful about how lucky we've been with Anton Stralman.

Good call, he's been alot more valuable than people give him credit for.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

He wasn't on the ice when Kreider got nailed; but Boyle was. You need someone in the lineup who can drop the gloves if the other team tries to take liberties. He is the only guy we have right now. And as I've said he has much better skills with the puck than Boyle will ever have. If you want Boyle in the lineup it will have to be at the expense of someone other than Asham because the role he plays cannot be played by anyone else on this roster.

Everything you just said here, literally every word, is a bunch of BS - especially the part about Kreider.

What good does it do for the team to go after a guy who threw a clean hit?

Liberties? The only liberty around here is the stuff you keep making up about Boyle.

 

[Jabroni]

Relax everyone.

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

Stralman has been good in his NHL career. He was good in Columbus. He was productive in Columbus. Devils and Jackets messed that one up.

He's one of those defensemen that don't need sheltered minutes to be better. They need more minutes and more involvement to he better. He should stay on the power play as well. He's stronger then he's given credit for as well.

He won't ever be a perfect player but he can play top four minutes.

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

The jury is still out on Miller's defensive play? No its not. Two games in and his play away from the puck is already getting as good as its been his whole career going back to when I saw him with the USNTDP.

He has trouble with turning the puck over.

Other then that it's solid enough.

 

[marciiauzii]

you guys won't quit? Asham made a few plays with the puck last night that Boyle hasn't made all year. I don't understand this Asham hate. This is a standup guy who grinds, fights for his teammates and has a very good shot to boot. I understand the butthurt that goes along with BB being scratched but don't take it out on Aaron.

That 4th line looked really good last night and halpern showed why he has been in the league so long and why he too is a better player than Brian Boyle. I don't want Boyle sent down but until there's a reason to put him back in the lineup leave him where he is. 5 for 5 on the PK; not bad.

This makes me wonder...Have you seen a game this year?
His grinding skill is minus 12.
Fights for teammates, yeah right.
And about his shot, has he even had a shot on the net this year?
he's just a confused player. Boyle > Asham always.



And wtf HFBoards, what was that with all the McD ripping for not passing Miller? He didnt risk a turnover by passing Miller and scoring a sure thing, maybe u could rip into him if he had missed but he did correctly by not waiting and getting the job done.

 

[eco's bones]

Tortorella wasn't happy with Boyle's play so he sat him. What's the problem? Boyle seems one of those who needs a fire lit under his ass every once in a while. Asham's more or less doing his usual thing--limited ice time--somewhat of a deterrent if things get out of hand which is not every time an opponent hits a Ranger with a clean hard check or when an occasional fighter like Talbot fights another occasional opponent like Callahan. It's really not his role to be policing every single incident especially when you consider his limited amount of ice time.

 

[BlueshirtBlitz]

The Isles didn't even try to goon it up last night.

I don't think it's because Asham was in the lineup.