I was sitting on the can doing my thing and I remembered the fact that we've actually been raving about K'andre for years, haven't we? Like, I swear we were extremely high on him months after he was drafted and continued to do so. I even remember seeing a lot of people on the main boards who aren't Rangers fans say Miller is not going to be traded for anything short of a too good to turn down offer. Like, why are we talking about Miller as if he struggled in college and failed to develop? Miller is literally the most improved player prior to his arrival to the big club we've seen in this rebuild, ahead of even Nils.
My axe grinding against posts saying Quinn deserves lots of credit for Miller is based on the fact that he was already super impressive and looked great according to JD during the play-in round practices. It is as disingenuous to credit Quinn with the success of Miller without recognizing that he was excellent and trending upward as it is to take credit away from Quinn for his part in turning Lindgren into a solid top 4 player.
It's just the typical BS tactics when the goal is to win an internet argument instead of having a discussion.
The discussion was ended about Lafreniere and Kakko when Miller got introduced. The logic was literally presented as Quinn can not be doing a bad job with Lafreniere because Miller looks great. If anyone used Andersson as evidence to prove Quinn is not responsible for Miller, it would get rightfully torn to shreds. But its the same faulty logic.
Quinn has a focus on defensive responsibility and mitigating mistakes. Of course defensemen will thrive. Simplify their game, play in the system, sound positioning. Fox, Lindgren, Miller thrive. ADA had a steep learning curve.
Its with the forwards that it becomes suspect. Buchnevich had to crawl until he earned trust and played responsible. That's a good thing. Kakko seems to have a similar path. The end product is ideal.
I think some of us question the path. Is their offensive ceiling hurt by punishing creativity and confidence? Are they in the best learning environment by having offensively devoid linemates? Does Quinn have an offensive system beyond Mika and Panarin being God tier? This looks like a college program. The freshmen get prove it assignments. The upper classmen carry the team.
My takeaway is that having offensive talent this young in the NHL is uncharted territory for rangers fans as well as Quinn.