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

[Bluenote13]

Btw, am I the only one kinda pissed that McDonagh didnt pass to Miller on the open net?

I realize it would not have been the move Torts wanted to see, but I thought it would've been fine defensively, Miller had plenty of room.

 

[eco's bones]

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.

Boyle not playing up to his capabilities. He said it himself in the post practice interview. If this is what it takes to get him going then sitting him out for a lesser player who is more than less doing his job is not a bad idea.

 

[Vickers8]

Miller and Kreider very good as expected.

Stralman was outstanding.

Gilroy was very good. He's been a stabilizing presence on the 3rd pair.

Eminger should always be in for Bickel.

Henke was himself. Outstanding.

Cally is Cally.

Pyatt's board work is impressive.

Great job by Powe on the PK.

McDonagh is great other then the penalties.

Staal outstanding.

Rebound game for Del Zotto.

Step and Hags very good.

Halpern good.

Still need more from the top guys; Richards, Gaborik, Nash. Other then the one shot on goal and hard work by everyone around especially the work down low by Pyatt on the goal, Gaborik needs to assert himself more. Same old argument.

I agree withe everything u said except for MDZ is struggling defensively, also it hurt when he couldn't keep the puck in the Isles zone when we had them pinned for about 1 1/2 minutes and they were tired and u could see we were going to score or at least draw a PP,,,

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

He has trouble with turning the puck over.

Other then that it's solid enough.

The glaring turnover was the one that resulted in a breakaway for Grabner. But it happened because of a gaff Callahan made forcing that pass to Miller in the first place.

At least Miller is creative with the puck. Something we lack overall. With more creativity comes more turnovers. Its bound to happen.

But he's intelligent and responsible.

So saying the jury is out on his defensive play isn't accurate.

Torts limited his minutes at the end rightfully so. These points are critical in a short season.

 

[mas0764]

I'm going to again make the case for buying out Richards.

The dude makes TWELVE MILLION A YEAR.

That could be a Gaborik, a Girardi and a Del Zotto for that price.

If JT Miller and Derek Stepan both emerge as plus 2nd line centers, then I'd buy out Richards. Richards is not an elite center anyway; those are nearly impossible to find unless a guy like John Tavares hits free agency sometime soon.

So I might be willing to take a slight hit at top line center and put Stepan there, if it means we have money to chase another elite winger -- a guy like Corey Perry or something.

 

[broadwayblue]

I'm going to again make the case for buying out Richards.

The dude makes TWELVE MILLION A YEAR.

That could be a Gaborik, a Girardi and a Del Zotto for that price.

If JT Miller and Derek Stepan both emerge as plus 2nd line centers, then I'd buy out Richards. Richards is not an elite center anyway; those are nearly impossible to find unless a guy like John Tavares hits free agency sometime soon.

So I might be willing to take a slight hit at top line center and put Stepan there, if it means we have money to chase another elite winger -- a guy like Corey Perry or something.

I think we can wait until the summer of 2014 to decide whether to buy him out. If he doesn't play at a high level over this season and next I think they really need to consider using the 2nd amnesty on him.

And he only counts 6.67 against the cap, not 12. Still, that's a ton of money (and more importantly cap space) if he's not playing at at least a semi-elite level.

 

[Fitzy]

Nobody is buying out Brad Richards. After this year, he will have made 24 million of a 60 million dollar contract in his first 2 years.

Worst case scenario, he is traded. There are a lot of teams who would give an arm and a leg to get him.

He is also going to lead the team in scoring this year which will make the idea look rather silly.

 

[*Bob Richards*]

Btw, am I the only one kinda pissed that McDonagh didnt pass to Miller on the open net?

I realize it would not have been the move Torts wanted to see, but I thought it would've been fine defensively, Miller had plenty of room.

Meh. I'd love to see him get a hat trick too but might as well just take the certainty of the McD goal.

If he keeps plays like he did last night, J.T. will get his hats.

 

[Miamipuck]

Yeah. It's awesome to have our best PKer as a healthy scratch.

Do some of you guys just not understand how good of a player Boyle is?

I don't get it. He is much better than given credit for.

 

[Vickers8]

 

[16 To Stanley*]

Btw, am I the only one kinda pissed that McDonagh didnt pass to Miller on the open net?

I realize it would not have been the move Torts wanted to see, but I thought it would've been fine defensively, Miller had plenty of room.

When it happened, I was a little annoyed to be honest, you always want to see the hat trick and especially with a rookie. But in hind-site, we need to win games and McD is smart and knows that. If he passes that puck back, Miller misplays it and the isles go the other way on an odd-man rush to score, then we are in trouble.

McD sealed it. I'm fine with that. No risks when you need to win games.

 

[Bardof425*]

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.

There's nothing funny about his inability to do anything positive with the puck; except get in its way. We clearly disagree. Let's see how his benching plays out because Torts may be moving in my direction and I think he should play, but not anywhere but the 4th line.

 

[Bluenote13]

Meh. I'd love to see him get a hat trick too but might as well just take the certainty of the McD goal.

If he keeps plays like he did last night, J.T. will get his hats.

True, but they had the time and space for McDonagh to at least give him a look, he just fired it. He did the right thing and here I am giving him a lil grief, that deserves a big

 

[Killem Dafoe]

In McDonagh's defense (no pun intended) he needed a goal. lol A 2 point game for the guy was a good thing for him to get a tad bit of confidence himself. I

would have loved to see Miller with a hatty, but he had 2 goals and now has a bucket load of confidence going into the next game. McD had 0 points going

into that game so it was nice to see him snag a couple for himself.

 

[*Bob Richards*]

True, but they had the time and space for McDonagh to at least give him a look, he just fired it. He did the right thing and here I am giving him a lil grief, that deserves a big

I might take back what I just said. Give J.T. the hat trick. Let him relish the moment before he becomes the heir to Stepan's "fan" club.

 

[Blue Blooded]

Nobody is buying out Brad Richards. After this year, he will have made 24 million of a 60 million dollar contract in his first 2 years.

Worst case scenario, he is traded. There are a lot of teams who would give an arm and a leg to get him.

He is also going to lead the team in scoring this year which will make the idea look rather silly.

The scary part about trading him is that we would be stuck with dead capspace if he retired before his contract is up. And I personally believe that the risk of early retirement is higher if he is traded.

That is the only reason why the Rangers may have to take a long hard look at the possibility of buying him out in the 2014 off-season.

 

[mas0764]

Btw, am I the only one kinda pissed that McDonagh didnt pass to Miller on the open net?

I realize it would not have been the move Torts wanted to see, but I thought it would've been fine defensively, Miller had plenty of room.

Come on.

That's just you being a fan wanting to see Miller get a hat trick.

We are a 4-5 hockey team at that point, outside the playoffs. We need the win. What if he stopped and passed it and something happened and the Islanders scored and gave themselves life?

Bury them. Get the win. Passing up the opportunity to get 2 points in the standings to get a completely meaningless milestone for Miller would have been dumb.

McDonagh did the right thing. He had a sure thing and he took it to guarantee his team a W. If I was Tortorella and he didn't bury that puck and tried to get cute by passing it to Miller, I'd have ripped him a new one.

 

[Bardof425*]

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.

Please define versatile. He is all defense. I'm not sure what you mean by versatile. Are you referencing the fact that some claim he can play wing effectively? Anyway please define.

 

[Dangleberry]

Finally got to see a win

 

[NYR Viper]

Please define versatile. He is all defense. I'm not sure what you mean by versatile. Are you referencing the fact that some claim he can play wing effectively? Anyway please define.

You use the term "defense" like it s a derogatory slam towards Boyle's game. You realize defense is a major part of a hockey players skillset right?

 

[Bardof425*]

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!

You make my case. Stats do not tell the whole story and often times as in Brad Richards' start are very misleading. You need deterrants in this game to avoid getting pushed around which could lead to tentative play. Asham is our only guy right now who can make a guy pay for taking liberties. I am not only one saying this as you can see. So, if you want to stay with the argument that Boyle is more difficult to replace than Asham right now go ahead, but it just isn't true.

Also, you seem to think Asham is a goon. He is not and you should know that. Try watching hockey instead of posting about it.

 

[Trxjw]

You use the term "defense" like it s a derogatory slam towards Boyle's game. You realize defense is a major part of a hockey players skillset right?

Staged fights > defense.

 

[Bardof425*]

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.

A clean, unnecessary hit with 30 seconds left against your prize rookie requires retaliation. And this is Brooks Orpik who has a history of taking out his frustrations against Rangers who are looking the other way. You want to let him continue to do that; go ahead. I am against it and having someone break his face may make him think twice about gratuitous hits like the one on Kreider.

 

[Bardof425*]

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.

I have season tickets big guy. You are judging his "grinding skills" with numbers?? Go back to your Geography homework.

 

[Bluenote13]

I might take back what I just said. Give J.T. the hat trick. Let him relish the moment before he becomes the heir to Stepan's "fan" club.

Come on. That's just you being a fan wanting to see Miller get a hat trick.

Uhh, yeah. Thats part of the process, being a fan and wanting to see something that rarely happens, especially on MSG ice.

Like I said, I know I'm wrong, but its like that last piece of chocolate - I know its wrong, but its chocolate !!!