This is a Bad Hockey Team 2019-20

NYSPORTS

back afta dis. . .
Jun 17, 2019
7,993
4,459
A bunch of kids with a few over the hill vets leaves only a handful of contributors.

Not a surprise despite the off-season hype
 

Edge

Kris King's Ghost
Mar 1, 2002
34,749
42,578
Amish Paradise


Another throwback to the Rangers being really good.


And amazingly we were bitching then too.

About the coach.

About the offense running through Jagr and whether that limited us.

About Chris Drury’s true value.

About Shanahan’s scoring decline.

About Sean Avery’s usage.

About Tom Renney not being a big time coach that was going to lead this team to the promised land, and his constant line changes.

About all things Rozsival and Malik.

About Paul Mara sucking.

About the lack of offensive ability from a fourth line that couldn’t buy a goal.

About what the hell happened to Prucha.

About what kind of player Callahan might be and what line he’d play on.

About Lundqvist looking tired come playoff time and the need to get him more rest and the staff being overly reliant on him and Valliquette not being good enough and about the Rangers stupid management and the coaching staff railroading Immonen, etc. etc. etc.

Maybe at some point, there’s just a lot of love for misery, no matter what the circumstances?
 

Leetch3

Registered User
Jul 14, 2009
12,952
10,733
And amazingly we were *****ing then too.

About the coach.

About the offense running through Jagr and whether that limited us.

About Chris Drury’s true value.

About Shanahan’s scoring decline.

About Sean Avery’s usage.

About Tom Renney not being a big time coach that was going to lead this team to the promised land, and his constant line changes.

About all things Rozsival and Malik.

About Paul Mara sucking.

About the lack of offensive ability from a fourth line that couldn’t buy a goal.

About what the hell happened to Prucha.

About what kind of player Callahan might be and what line he’d play on.

About Lundqvist looking tired come playoff time and the need to get him more rest and the staff being overly reliant on him and Valliquette not being good enough and about the Rangers stupid management and the coaching staff railroading Immonen, etc. etc. etc.

Maybe at some point, there’s just a lot of love for misery, no matter what the circumstances?

the more things change...
 

Edge

Kris King's Ghost
Mar 1, 2002
34,749
42,578
Amish Paradise
the more things change...

One of the benefits and frustrations of being on here for 20 years is that you live through multiple cycles - and the comments tend to look remarkably similar.

Active participants in the conversations of each cycle come and go, and each new generation of posters bristles at the thought that the same arguments they’re passionate about have already come and gone with different names attached, prior to their arrival.

But you’re correct, a lot of it isn’t new ground. The only thing that changes is that with time the complaints of the past become forgotten as new posters come on board and lack a reference point. As a result, the sins of the past are always far more palatable than the sins of the present.

Make no mistake, this team is hard to watch right now. But the broader issues and concerns are really nothing new - regardless of whether we’re playoff bound or checking Tankathon on a daily basis.
 

Leetch3

Registered User
Jul 14, 2009
12,952
10,733
One of the benefits and frustrations of being on here for 20 years is that you live through multiple cycles - and the comments tend to look remarkably similar.

Active participants in the conversations of each cycle come and go, and each new generation of posters bristles at the thought that the same arguments they’re passionate about have already come and gone with different names attached, prior to their arrival.

But you’re correct, a lot of it isn’t new ground. The only thing that changes is that with time the complaints of the past become forgotten as new posters come on board and lack a reference point. As a result, the sins of the past are always far more palatable than the sins of the present.

Make no mistake, this team is hard to watch right now. But the broader issues and concerns are really nothing new - regardless of whether we’re playoff bound or checking Tankathon on a daily basis.

so true and it really puts things in perspective with regards to a rebuilding team that is expected to be terrible when you step back and remember that we got the same complaints when we were going to the final 4 every year lol
 

Edge

Kris King's Ghost
Mar 1, 2002
34,749
42,578
Amish Paradise
so true and it really puts things in perspective with regards to a rebuilding team that is expected to be terrible when you step back and remember that we got the same complaints when we were going to the final 4 every year lol

I will freely admit that sometimes, because the level of complaining is constant, it becomes hard to differentiate.

When so much apparently sucks when we’re successful, and every person responsible for that success is deemed a moron, it can be difficult to not take complaints when this team is legitimately bad with a grain of salt.

If we’re complaining when steak is on the menu, it’s not hard to believe we’re also going to be dissatisfied when a microwaved cafeteria hamburger is sitting on our plate, as it is right now.

WE are the constant. Not the players. Or the coaches. Or the systems we utilize. Or the management. It’s us.
 
Last edited:

Machinehead

GoAwayTrouba
Jan 21, 2011
143,108
114,458
NYC
And amazingly we were *****ing then too.

About the coach.

About the offense running through Jagr and whether that limited us.

About Chris Drury’s true value.

About Shanahan’s scoring decline.

About Sean Avery’s usage.

About Tom Renney not being a big time coach that was going to lead this team to the promised land, and his constant line changes.

About all things Rozsival and Malik.

About Paul Mara sucking.

About the lack of offensive ability from a fourth line that couldn’t buy a goal.

About what the hell happened to Prucha.

About what kind of player Callahan might be and what line he’d play on.

About Lundqvist looking tired come playoff time and the need to get him more rest and the staff being overly reliant on him and Valliquette not being good enough and about the Rangers stupid management and the coaching staff railroading Immonen, etc. etc. etc.

Maybe at some point, there’s just a lot of love for misery, no matter what the circumstances?
For once, none of this was my fault.
 

HockeyBasedNYC

Feeling it
Aug 2, 2005
19,832
11,446
Here
I really want to vent right now and not come off as in impatient fan who isn't willing to go through the process - but why does it seem like every team that the Rangers play against seem to have a lot more skill & speed & shot power and young players/rookies who are just better than what the Rangers have? Especially on offense. Meanwhile the Rangers pipeline is ranked #1 in the league. Maybe they are developed more but something isnt right to me.
 

Edge

Kris King's Ghost
Mar 1, 2002
34,749
42,578
Amish Paradise
I really want to vent right now and not come off as in impatient fan who isn't willing to go through the process - but why does it seem like every team that the Rangers play against seem to have a lot more skill & speed & shot power and young players/rookies who are just better than what the Rangers have? Especially on offense. Meanwhile the Rangers pipeline is ranked #1 in the league. Maybe they are developed more but something isnt right to me.

There's a few factors at work:

1. There are a lot of veteran talents who just aren't exceptionally good, especially in this current environment.

2. Our rookies are on the young side. A lot of our observations over the last two years involve teenagers or guys who aren't old enough to drink. Kind of like growth spurts in elementary school, the difference of a few years is immense.

3. Expectations. We typically place unfair expectations on our kids. Kakko, slow start and all, is essentially 1 goal and an assist away from suddenly being on 20 goal/40 point pace.

4. In a similar mindset to the third point, we tend to ignore or are unaware how similar players are doing on other teams. For example someone just posted about Dach, Hughes, Makar and others. I'm willing to bet 75% of people blew right past it.

5. We have a particularly bad habit of comparing ourselves in the early stages of a rebuild, to teams that are in the stretch run of a rebuild. For example, we've seen guys like Matthews and Laine mentioned. What we don't see mentioned is that those players represented the LAST top pick of their respective teams, not the first. In other words, they joined a core group of young players, typically taken with high picks over a 5-8 year period, and served as a final exclamation mark. We're not there yet. Maybe someone like Byfield becomes that guy next season, but it's not an apples to apples comparison.

6. Generally speaking, most message boards and social media tend to really focus on the negative. I joked about this with Steven when I was on his podcast --- the quickest way to not be a fan of something is to hang around other fans online. I said it sort of tongue in cheek, but there's a big element of truth there as well.
 

Edge

Kris King's Ghost
Mar 1, 2002
34,749
42,578
Amish Paradise
A true rebuild needs top-3 picks. Getting Byfield would solidify the rebuild in my opinion. Not neccesarily accelerates it

It's that ammo component again.

Even with Kakko I see a team that needs more higher-end young talent. I think we need that from that 2020 draft. I think we need another exceptionally high pick, a later first to take a homerun swing, and then some swings in the second round and beyond like we took in 2018 and 2019.

I'm not going to lie, I want Byfield in a Rangers jersey. So do fans of 30 other NHL teams, but that's my guy in this draft. Not only do I think he is a top talent, I think he's also a perfect fit for this organization and opens A LOT of other opportunities - be it moving guys to the wing, or even moving them in trades to shore up other areas. To me, he's our potential exclamation point.

Then I want to start looking at defenseman and wings later in the first and beyond. Guys like Guhle, Sanderson, Amirov, etc.

The 2020 is that last draft before we really should be moving out range of talking about those tip top picks (without some weird lottery mojo).
 
Last edited:

True Blue

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
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Visit site
It won't matter who you bring in because this moron will either banish them to Hartford or not play them.
You understand that the team is the youngest in the league by far and ices 10 or so players that are the same ages of the kids playing in college? How does that fit into your narrative?
 

True Blue

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
30,092
8,362
Visit site
I really want to vent right now and not come off as in impatient fan who isn't willing to go through the process - but why does it seem like every team that the Rangers play against seem to have a lot more skill & speed & shot power and young players/rookies who are just better than what the Rangers have? Especially on offense. Meanwhile the Rangers pipeline is ranked #1 in the league. Maybe they are developed more but something isnt right to me.
It is one thing to have a pipeline, it is another when the pipe line develops into actual NHL players. And then meaningful NHL contributors. To get from point A to point B takes time. To get from point B to C takes even longer. Which is why rebuilds take time and not 1.25 years.
 
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TheGortonConspiracy

Wow its a nice GM
May 2, 2017
2,596
3,735
NYC
I really want to vent right now and not come off as in impatient fan who isn't willing to go through the process - but why does it seem like every team that the Rangers play against seem to have a lot more skill & speed & shot power and young players/rookies who are just better than what the Rangers have? Especially on offense. Meanwhile the Rangers pipeline is ranked #1 in the league. Maybe they are developed more but something isnt right to me.

Because we have $10MM tied up in bad contracts for Smith & Staal, $5.4MM in dead cap space from buyouts, $1.5MM from taking on Belesky and Namestnikov cap hits, and $8.5MM for one of the highest paid goalies in the league. That’s like $25MM tied up this year, and next year the dead cap space increases to $7.5MM.

That would be enough for like, two more Panarins.
 

East Coast Bias

Registered User
Feb 28, 2014
8,362
6,422
NYC
The defense is a dumpster fire.

We're talking a lot about Staal, but Hajek has been nearly equally awful.

The RHD mostly look fine. Some hiccups here and there, but not worried long term. The left side is dark.
 

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