Speculation: Roster Building Thread VII (2019/2020)

[Edge]

Three games in. Less than 5% of the season.

We have questions on D and secondary scoring.

These are questions we knew needed to be answered. but if ANYONE thought they would be answered this early is delusional.

One of the biggest challenges during a rebuild is that more of than not opinions tend to rely heavily on being overly optimistic, or dreadfully pessimistic.

The former tends to want to push things further along than they are, expects huge jumps and usually includes generous projections for key players.

The latter, in many ways holds to the same principals, but has very different expectations. As such, it tends to hold the lack of huge jumps or the speed or progress against the object of its observation.

Unfortunately, both have a tendency to lead to disappointment when expectations aren't fair to begin with.

I've long been a believer that for many fans there is a huge, sometimes subconscious gap that exists between the rate at which a rebuild actually occurs in the real world, and the rate at which it occurs in their hopes and projections.

 

[Tawnos]

One of the biggest challenges during a rebuild is that more of than not opinions tend to rely heavily on being overly optimistic, or dreadfully pessimistic.

The former tends to want to push things further along than they are, expects huge jumps and usually includes generous projections for key players.

The latter, in many ways holds to the same principals, but has very different expectations. As such, it tends to hold the lack of huge jumps or the speed or progress against the object of its observation.

Unfortunately, both have a tendency to lead to disappointment when expectations aren't fair to begin with.

I've long been a believer that for many fans there is a huge, sometimes subconscious gap that exists between the rate at which a rebuild actually occurs in the real world, and the rate at which it occurs in their hopes and projections.

Best to just roll with things as they come along.

 

[Edge]

Best to just roll with things as they come along.

The truth is, you really have to --- from a sanity standpoint.

In the end, I think the Rangers have great odds to have an incredibly competitive team in the 2020s - but we're not there yet.

It's going to take time and there's going to be things that don't work out. On the flip side, there are going to many things that do work out.

There are going to be things that aggravate the hell out of us, and pleasant surprises.

But the road ahead of us is still quite long, even if we're already feeling a bit fatigued.

 

[pld459666]

I look at out very own 1st line center and think that's the trend line we should expect. Anything quicker is a bonus.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

The truth is, you really have to --- from a sanity standpoint.

In the end, I think the Rangers have great odds to have an incredibly competitive team in the 2020s - but we're not there yet.

It's going to take time and there's going to be things that don't work out. On the flip side, there are going to many things that do work out.

There are going to be things that aggravate the hell out of us, and pleasant surprises.

But the road ahead of us is still quite long, even if we're already feeling a bit fatigued.

Well said. Personally, I am pretty optimistic after the summer the organization had. Kakko, Panarin, Trouba, and Fox is a home run level injection of talent. I think most people realize the pieces are coming together, and the conversation is shifting to specific issues with the team (no center depth, no real top defensive duo, etc, etc). Those types of grumblings are going to happen with any team.

I would be very pessimistic of the dominoes described above didn't fall this summer and the team was relying on Chytil, Andersson, and those types of players to make major contributions right now.

 

[Mac n Gs]

Early looks at practice have Smith-Strome-Fast and McKegg-Lias-Haley as lines. Howden bumped up between Kakko-Kreider and Lemieux potentially may still be sick.

 

[17futurecap]

Congrats to Brendan Smith on becoming a top-9 forward in the NHL.

 

[Ghost of jas]

Early looks at practice have Smith-Strome-Fast and McKegg-Lias-Haley as lines. Howden bumped up between Kakko-Kreider and Lemieux potentially may still be sick.

Early looks at practice have Smith-Strome-Fast and McKegg-Lias-Haley as lines. Howden bumped up between Kakko-Kreider and Lemieux potentially may still be sick.

Can I just ‘dislike’ the tweet and not @Mac n Gs?

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Early looks at practice have Smith-Strome-Fast and McKegg-Lias-Haley as lines. Howden bumped up between Kakko-Kreider and Lemieux potentially may still be sick.

Interesting.

Like everyone else, given the current roster, I'd like to see Andersson get a shot between Kreider and Kakko, but a bottom nine of:

Kreider-Howden-Kakko
Smith-Strome-Fast
McKegg-Andersson-Lemieux

is intriguing – depending on TOI allotments. I mean, if you leave aside the hole at 2C (which I imagine the org still hopes to fill with Chytil), Andersson and Lemieux together look like 2/3 of a 3rd line I can get behind; they've played well together. Then, shift 3 of the 4 others down to 4th line duty and the lineup is starting to come into focus.

Just need DQ to swap his 4th and 3rd lines.

 

[Gospel of Prospal]

I mean....well, why not? Claim Daniel Carr. There is fathomable way that Brendan Smith can be a top-nine winger.

 

[TheBloodyNine]

Anyone who thinks that Quinn hasn't bought into the tank at this point is just kidding themselves. There would be no other reason to have a defenseman as your third line winger.

 

[SA16]

I bet people would not dislike Smith as a W if he didn't come with the history of playing D. He plays aggressive, strong on the boards, generates lots of takeaways, draws plenty of penalties, has 3 goals and 3 assists in his last 13 games which were all played as wing, and provides the bonus of being able to PK on defense. He seems like a perfectly adequate bottom six W to me. Obviously he's overpaid for that role but the contract is what it is at this point.

 

[Avery16]

our depth looks like hot garbage all of a sudden

 

[Anzi]

Anyone who thinks that Quinn hasn't bought into the tank at this point is just kidding themselves. There would be no other reason to have a defenseman as your third line winger.

Can Smith even be considered a defenseman anymore? I think he's looked better at wing than D lately. There's also that talk about him working with his brother Reilly on forward skills over the summer.

 

[Mac n Gs]

Can I just ‘dislike’ the tweet and not @Mac n Gs?

Are those really mutually exclusive?

Interesting.

Like everyone else, given the current roster, I'd like to see Andersson get a shot between Kreider and Kakko, but a bottom nine of:

Kreider-Howden-Kakko
Smith-Strome-Fast
McKegg-Andersson-Lemieux

is intriguing – depending on TOI allotments. I mean, if you leave aside the hole at 2C (which I imagine the org still hopes to fill with Chytil), Andersson and Lemieux together look like 2/3 of a 3rd line I can get behind; they've played well together. Then, shift 3 of the 4 others down to 4th line duty and the lineup is starting to come into focus.

Just need DQ to swap his 4th and 3rd lines.

I guess we'll see what happens when Vince talks to Quinn later since there still seems to be some uncertainty about if these changes are anything serious. I'm all for jumbling the lines around a bit, but I think it'd be better suited to try to spread the talent throughout the lineup a little bit more. I know Panarin-Mika has been an exciting combo, but the reality is that they've been pretty terrible defensively together. I'd go back to KZB and try bumping down Panarin to give the second line a boost, which seemingly helps stabilize the rest of the lineup. I'm assuming Chytil will be back as 2C at some point in the future in this example:

Kreider-Mika-Buch
Panarin-Chytil-Kakko
Lemieux-Lias-Fast/Strome
McKegg/Smith-Howden-Fast/Strome

 

[Levitate]

I don't really care toooo much overall about things at this stage but I still honestly just don't see what the coaching staff sees in Howden. Most of the time when I watch he's invisible on the ice. He arrives late on the forecheck almost every time, doesn't win board battles, and hasn't been creative or useful with the puck so far this season.

I don't hate him and I think he can play better than he is, but I also just feel like I"m watching a different player than the coaching staff is and it feels like they're playing favorites a bit with him

 

[DanielBrassard]

I don't really care toooo much overall about things at this stage but I still honestly just don't see what the coaching staff sees in Howden. Most of the time when I watch he's invisible on the ice. He arrives late on the forecheck almost every time, doesn't win board battles, and hasn't been creative or useful with the puck so far this season.

I don't hate him and I think he can play better than he is, but I also just feel like I"m watching a different player than the coaching staff is and it feels like they're playing favorites a bit with him

I'm with you. At least at the beginning of last season he had a couple moments where he showed some vision and glimpses of being an effective player. But as a whole I am wondering what the coaching staff has seen that is so much different than what some of us here have been seeing from Howden.

 

[LokiDog]

Why can’t we just have Lemieux - Andersson - Fast as a great energy line? If Quinn doesn’t feel Lias has top six skills than at least position him to be a great third line shutdown energy center instead of putting your #7OA with McKegg and Haley.

 

[Levitate]

Why can’t we just have Lemieux - Andersson - Fast as a great energy line? If Quinn doesn’t feel Lias has top six skills than at least position him to be a great third line shutdown energy center instead of putting your #7OA with McKegg and Haley.

To be honest I think there's a whole lot of "you gotta earn it!" going on at the moment

but the low number of games is also really screwing with things. They're probably going to look like shit again on Thursday because surprise it's been another 5 days off and it's super hard to start developing chemistry and apply the things you practice without any game time

 

[rangersfansince08]

Anyone who thinks that Quinn hasn't bought into the tank at this point is just kidding themselves. There would be no other reason to have a defenseman as your third line winger.

I don't hate it especially if we get Lafren, Byfield or Lucas Raymond.

 

[Avery16]

Can Smith even be considered a defenseman anymore? I think he's looked better at wing than D lately. There's also that talk about him working with his brother Reilly on forward skills over the summer.

The question should be can Smith be considered an NHL player anymore

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

Smith is capable as a 4th line winger, tbh he's fine as a bottom pairing defenseman as well.

As a 3rd line player, I'm less okay with that, but who cares at this point

 

[leetch99]

We should not panic on roster moves to fill a C hole which might just end up being fixed from within in a few weeks or months . We don't know what our GM has on the burners....maybe a deal is set for obtaining one next season or at the deadline . Stuff happens and a lot can come out of nowhere sometimes as other clubs needs and wants and injury/playoff status changes . Wait it out and retain our youth as long as we can and hope for a solution by this time next season and we just might be better served in doing so . Look at how the future on our D and in the net has improved in a short span...and drafting a KK ! Don't panic .

 

[leetch99]

I also wish we could get a blood sample from one or two of the Tkachuk brothers and inject it in about 5-6 of our forwards . Just imagine if we had 5-6 guys play with just a wee bit more of an edge . It would change the look of our club quite quickly .

 

[Leetch3]

Quinn promoted a 21 year old center to 2C but it wasn't the 21 year old center that I wanted so he's still terrible at player development amirite?