Post-Game Talk: Rangers @ Wild - December 17

[Gordon Bombay]

There are FAR too many passengers on this team.

I think this is dead-on. Way too relaxed and waiting for someone else to do something. For the first time in years I'm worried about this roster.

 

[Ail]

I don't know what we offered him up to July 1st. But there is a radio interview with him in Sweden long before that were he just is begging to be resigned. Like money doesn't matter, just wants a multi-year deal from NY, tired of moving around, want safety, et c.

I don't for a second doubts that Slats could have locked him up for under 3m per on a 5 year deal on the 1st day he could have signed an extension...

Exactly. Definitely some revisionist history going on in here in an attempt to make it look like it wasn't a colossal blunder from management on that one. Which it always was, and always will be.

Doesn't matter anymore though. We just have to hope they learned lessons from letting him go to Tampa.

 

[chosen]

If Staal and Girardi are going to be here long term, we need to switch to a zone based defensive system. It's been proven that they can't play man to man. They don't have the passing skills and mobility for it. AV needs to wake the **** up.

I understand that Girardi is the current #1 scapegoat, but why go after him in a game he didn't play?

 

[chosen]

Not to pile on AV bc I think he's a great coach.

He's really mismanaging too many important players.

Nash is being used in a role that should be for Kreider or Etem.

Kreider is being used like he's Nash.

Fast should be nowhere near the top 6, and not bc he's bad he's just a bad top 6 player and a fantastic 4th liner!

It's infuriating to watch this team generate nothing and have AV adjust nothing. That top line is totally nuetered, has been all season. Kreider needs a wing on the other side to draw less pressure on him so that he can be the first man in, not the late guy. It totally takes him out of the game! Don't get me started on how upsetting it will be when Stepan comes in and Glass stays in the lineup.

The system is fine, it's proven to work extrememly well. But AV is a coach where everybody on his team has a very precise role. That's why they can play so fast. Becasue everyone knows exactly what they're role is, where they're supposed to be, how they're supposed to be there, and what that means for everyone else on the ice. What's Kreider's role? Is he supposed to be Tarasenko, sniping goals left and right? And Nash is just a glorified checker when he playes with Zucc and Brassard. Nash is not a chip and chase player, he should be the late guy as much as possible.

Ugh.

Putting Kreider and Tarasenko in the same sentence is funny.

 

[jdhebner]

Prospal was pretty nuts, it's hard to top his celebrations.

I heard he plays in a beer league and still has a great celly

 

[chosen]

You know who this team misses? Derek Stepan.

You want to get Kreider going? Take Nash away and put him with Brassard and Zucc. Kreider's problem all season is he's not playing consistently with guys who are dangerous to put the puck in the net and good enough to sustain offensive pressure.

Kreider's biggest problem is that he has been terrible.

When other Rangers play poorly they get eviscerated. When it's Kreider, some fans look to the surroundings.

 

[The Gloaming]

Kreider's problems have more than 99% to do with himself. He just stands around. Doesn't move his feet like he's supposed to. Isn't engaged in the play at all. Whenever he finally has a burst of speed, it's always shorter than it should be. Whenever he has a chance to shoot, it goes wide or into the logo target. I know he was never supposed to be the guy who carries the play, but he's not supposed to be a far away thought of a passenger either. And where are the hits and physical play? Last year, he was knocking fools down left and right. How many big hits have we seen from him this season - two or three?

Kreider is one of my favorite Rangers - but he's also been the biggest disappointment on a team of which there's plenty of.

 

[The Gloaming]

Which is funny because I remember when people kept demanding names of better defenses in the league prior to this season, Minnesota was brought up several times. I'm pretty sure the suggestion that Minnesota had a better defense than the Rangers was seen as heresy by those asking.

I love Jared Spurgeon. He's small, but plays big. Is a righty who loves to shoot. Wish we could trade for him.

 

[Teppo]

Which is funny because I remember when people kept demanding names of better defenses in the league prior to this season, Minnesota was brought up several times. I'm pretty sure the suggestion that Minnesota had a better defense than the Rangers was seen as heresy by those asking.

85% of those responses are based on name recognition. Outside of Suter, the Wild's D have very little name recognition (especially in the East). The reality is that they are stacked on D - very well balanced.Top 5 in the league.

 

[Ola]

We looked like a freak show with mostly two LDs on the ice at the same time. Gorton coming up extremely short again, WTF??

 

[Mac n Gs]

Which is funny because I remember when people kept demanding names of better defenses in the league prior to this season, Minnesota was brought up several times. I'm pretty sure the suggestion that Minnesota had a better defense than the Rangers was seen as heresy by those asking.

I got absolutely dumped on for saying that, which then was followed up by videos of Jared Spurgeon taking bad hits. Yeah ok, because an undersized player never had to learn how to adjust his playing style ever in the history of the NHL.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

I understand that Girardi is the current #1 scapegoat, but why go after him in a game he didn't play?

Probably because it's easier than admitting how bad Brady Sjkei was last night and that he's not NHL ready. And that's the "anyone but Girardi" narrative has some massive flaws.

 

[OverTheCap]

Right now there are so many issues up and down the lineup that it goes beyond a one-trade fix.

Throughout most of the season, the entire team has been mistake-ridden and some players, especially the younger guys who were counted on to take the next step, are lackadaisical and going through the motions. AV talks about puck management a trillion times yet nothing changes. Something is off with this team. The players are going to have to self-motivate in order to correct their poor play because no one else is going to hold them accountable.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

We looked like a freak show with mostly two LDs on the ice at the same time. Gorton coming up extremely short again, WTF??

Klein and Girardi are hurt. We totally need a GM capable of pulling a RHD directly out of his ass. Smh, Gorton.

 

[NYR Viper]

Is no one discussing the Raanta injury?

 

[Ola]

Ola, I find that really hard to believe. The 2nd paragraph.

When could he have signed his extension? After the new year?

There was reports on how he was dissapointed that there hasn't even be any talks by then. He had basically no pts on the year, he played on a so-so team and had never been deep in the POs. go back and check the talk, ppl are debating whether he should get a new contract (1-2 years) not if he should get 3+m.

His play in the POs on the big stage earned him a ton of money no doubt. Like I said, the kid was begging for a contract that spring. In the radio interview, I think he says something like money does not matter, but I do not want a 1-2 year deal I want to know were I will live in 2-3 years (he has a bunch of kids).

 

[Ola]

Klein and Girardi are hurt. We totally need a GM capable of pulling a RHD directly out of his ass. Smh, Gorton.

First team ever to have two players injured. Unbelievable.

I definitely wouldn't mind if Slats intervened sooner rather than later, Gorton didn't have it...

 

[Irishguy42]

Is no one discussing the Raanta injury?

No more word has come out about the injury yet. As for recalling a goalie, AV said he'd talk to Gorton. That's all the news we have.

 

[Ail]

Probably because it's easier than admitting how bad Brady Sjkei was last night and that he's not NHL ready. And that's the "anyone but Girardi" narrative has some massive flaws.

Brady was not good, not many players were. However to say he isn't NHL ready after two games, one of which almost the entire team sucked, is unfair. Even if he probably isn't ready, two games just isn't enough to say that with 100% certainty.

With that said, if Klein can play tonight by some miracle, or Sunday, Brady is going bye-bye.

 

[Leetch66]

Kreider has to go...I highly doubt he will find a smart pill between now and the end of the season .

 

[Vickers8]

Kreider has to go...I highly doubt he will find a smart pill between now and the end of the season .

Disappointment, as is Hayes, Miller and Fast

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

First team ever to have two players injured. Unbelievable.

I definitely wouldn't mind if Slats intervened sooner rather than later, Gorton didn't have it...

RHD don't exactly grow on trees. You think Sather would've solved this? LOL

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

They didn't choose anyone over him. Stralman was leaving no matter what.

I don't agree with this. Sather had a love for Boyle going back to the 2008 trade deadline.

www.nypost.com/2008/02/25/still-hot-for-boyle

Boyle was always the guy in his sights in 2014, and the fact that he signed for the same AAV as what Stralman was seeking confirms that. Boyle also admitted he took less money to come to NY. Pretty sure there were reports from Stralman as well that the Rangers never really made a significant offer.

 

[ArPanet]

No will to cycle the puck, your fans are gonna have a bad time. They get it in deep and the second guy to control the puck tries to get it towards the net. Now it's going the other way. Is that by design? Get pucks to the net, is that AV's imperative?

 

[Mac n Gs]

No will to cycle the puck, your fans are gonna have a bad time. They get it in deep and the second guy to control the puck tries to get it towards the net. Now it's going the other way. Is that by design? Get pucks to the net, is that AV's imperative?

That Kreider-Miller-Fast line had some of the most half-assed cycling attempts I've ever seen. It looked like they were skating in quicksand.