Dude, I thought it was Monday when I woke up. Happy Thursday.
Back to Rongos, I don’t want them to be bad at all. I think it’s possible to load up on assets while simultaneously trying to be a competitive hockey team, since they already have some good NHL players.
It’s why I want them to add guys like Duclair and Shore because I see a team that’s top heavy with bad depth. I don’t think the prospects are ready for full-time nhl minutes yet, but do think they will be next year. I think the defense will be passable in a zone system, but that depends on how Quinn performs as a coach. I’m expecting some early struggles that will take ~15 games to get past, just like it did with AV.
I want them to do whatever they can to win hockey games (within reaason), and if they are out of playoff reach, then position themselves better for a lotto pick and sell of UFA assets they won’t keep.
What’s wrong with that?
Lucky. I thought it was Sunday when I woke up and even on the subway heading to work it felt like one of those days where I'm just shooting back to Long Island early in the morning to escape the city for a day over the weekend. Then I snapped out of it at my desk and I'm like...
But there isn't anything wrong with your post. That's basically exactly how I'd go about doing it except there is a part of me that feels like this team is only two pieces away from actually competing. Those are pretty large pieces (1RD, prolific winger), but they aren't unattainable pieces if you're smart about it.
KZB
_____ - Hayes - Zucc
Duclair - Chytil - Names
Vesey - Andersson - Fast
Skjei - _____
Smith - Shattenkirk
Staal - Pionk
Claesson
I mean... Is that really a non-playoff team? That 2LW spot could just go to Spooner, in reality, and the only hole that exists is at RD. Every kid in the lineup is in a low-pressure situation where they're allowed to succeed, and if they aren't cutting it, are in low-pressure situations that are easy to backfill if they go to the AHL.
But instead we're going to trade Hayes and Spooner for futures because I don't know why, and just make the team bad? I don't get it.
I guess this post is legendary for being OT in this thread so I'll say something I've been thinking for a long time and that is that the easiest place to make your team better than the rest of the NHL is to just have a capable fourth line. I've done the studies before that show the game slows down tremendously when fourth liners are on the ice, offense for both teams in terms of shot attempts per 60 (boom, back on topic), so the above team throws that shit on its head because the Rangers have four lines that can all push the pace and play hockey.
Imagine lining up the fourth line here with the Islanders third or fourth line?
Break the game.