Your Biggest Hits and Misses

[True Blue]

The Rangers have had their share of bad luck too--Cherneski and Cherepanov. Kloucek wrecking his knee. For a short period of time I had a lot of hope for Tomas Kloucek. These days the NHL would be all over him. He wasn't nice to play against but in the league with the likes of Scott Stevens, Ulf Samuelsson, Darius Kasparaitis and Chris Pronger he fit right in.

True. Kloucek I thought was going to be spectacular in the role that he was looking to be in

 

[silverfish]

Not necessarily in the context of this thread, but I called the Klein for DZ trade a few months before it happened. Everyone on the trade board hated it

I thought Korpikoski would be a 1st line player in the NHL
Talk to me next year about Miller

 

[cwede]

Torts was in a hurry to push out Betts, Korpi, Freddie.
Korpi could've like Fast now, fitting on any line, but with better skating and shot.
Donnie M won that on big (Enver Lisin coming off ~18 goals? Smart of Yotes to sell high, as Bolts did getting Bishop for Cory Conacher)
But at least Oscar/Werek deal balanced it out...

 

[cwede]

When Espo trade brought back Rick Bennett out of Providence College, i thought he'd be our next star big wing. But he didnt get there.

 

[eco's bones]

Not necessarily in the context of this thread, but I called the Klein for DZ trade a few months before it happened. Everyone on the trade board hated it

I thought Korpikoski would be a 1st line player in the NHL
Talk to me next year about Miller

On Klein--Del Zotto. I had had enough of Del Zotto by that time. I wanted him gone and I liked Klein. Great trade as far as I was concerned the moment it was made and I'd do it again right now.

 

[Inferno]

i thought Olesz was going to be a star and nearly had a meltdown when they drafted montoya.

 

[darko]

I honestly thought Schroeder was the next great undersized forward in 2009 and was shocked we passed on him. Wasn't upset with Kreider whatsoever, but I would've taken Schroeder. Whoops..

Lol there was bunch of people on Schroeder hype train. I recall lots of angry people when we passed on him. Good times.

 

[Edge]

i thought Olesz was going to be a star and nearly had a meltdown when they drafted montoya.

I thought Olesz was going to be a much better player than he was. He was second on my list of potential forwards for the Rangers, behind Ladd.

Half Full/Half Empty - Eric Nystrom. Thought he'd put up more points and be in the Ladd/Smyth kind of mold. Has had an okay career, but not close to what I was expecting.

 

[trench23]

Misses

Alex Bourrett really thought he was gonna be a tough 2nd liner who could hit and score.
Balej did nothing to meet any hopes we had when we acquired
I always though Brad Brown and Thomas Kloucek were going to turn into real good D guys.

I woudl also note that while York had a great couple of seasons, he fell off the map. Same with Prucha.

 

[Made Dan]

Really wanted to take Schroeder over Kreider. Have been a Vatanen guy for quite some time.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

True. Kloucek I thought was going to be spectacular in the role that he was looking to be in

Kloucek was a fun player to watch during a dismal time. But he played far too reckless to have any shelf life in the NHL.

 

[Inferno]

wanted carlson over MDZ...and id say i was right on that one.

 

[mike14]

Thought Dawes was going to be a consistent 25g guy for us
Was super high on Blackburn (still probably my favourite Rangers prospect for some reason)
Really wanted Miller, so that's turning out ok

Around the league:
I thought Jack Skille would be a very good top 6 fwd
Was super high on Toews and couldn't believe he dropped to 4
Wanted Cormier over Stepan

 

[Don Chytil]

Hits:
The year Stepan broke in with us, before training camp I said I thought he could cement his place as at least a 2/3 center in his first year. I felt pretty happy with myself after he got that hatty in his first game.

Typical response, but I really wanted Tarasenko in 2010. I thought Fowler was BPA, but I still wanted the org to go with what I thought was their biggest need, a scoring forward.

Misses:
In 2011, I was pretty big on Armia and McNeill, and didn't like the Miller pick very much. Still early but I think I'll be wrong on that one.

I was a big Grachev and Korpedo believer, like a lot of us here. Thought they both had first line potential.

I thought Brian Boyle was a complete waste of a draft pick (forgive me lord Boyle), and I thought Brassard would never be more than a 40-50 point guy.

 

[True Blue]

I always though Brad Brown and Thomas Kloucek were going to turn into real good D guys.

In fairness, Kloucek was lost to injury.

 

[aufheben]

I thought Kreider would benefit a lot more from having Nash on the team, with regards to driving the net.

 

[Ghost of jas]

I wanted Olesz and hated the Montoya pick. Loved Lundmark until he finally proved me wrong coming out of the lockout. Wanted Tarasenko over McIlrath and Toffoli over Thomas. I expected more out of Patrik Berglund. I loved getting Zherdev and Dan Fritsche...I may even called Fritsche a more-skilled version of Callahan. I was high on the Adam Hall for Moore trade. I thought MDZ would solve our PPQB issues for the next decade. And, Brodie Dupont was going to be an awesome 3rd liner with leadership skills.

 

[Roo Returns]

Hits: Callahan-Loved what I saw of him and thought he would be a consistent 20/20 guy. Is pretty much that.

Lundqvist-I followed him in Frolunda and once Dan Blackburn had the nerve damage and the Rangers didn't sign Khaby, I knew he'd be the starter. He's actually been much better than expected.

Tyutin-turned into exactly what I thought he would be.

Zidlicky-Sather low balled him but gave Holik $9 million per year....

Saad-I saw 50 point potential in him

Tofolli-thought he'd be a 45 point guy, much much better.


50/50:
Hagelin-I thought he'd be more of a John Madden type but is much better.

Anisimov-I thought he'd be a 60-65 point player. He's good but never took that next step

Montoya-Expected he'd be a starter level goalie

Misses:

Immonen-That brief time they called him up in 05-06, I thought he'd be the second line center for the next decade. Was it really the "foot speed" issue Renney was obsessed with?

Ferraro Bros-Saw them as both 2nd or 3rd liners.....that one didn't go as planned

Dane Byers-Ryan Hollweg's replacement...he had that nice series of games in 2009-10 and then got sent down. Never understood that one.

I hate to bring this one up but Roman Lyashenko (RIP ) I saw him as the fourth line center for when the team got respectable again. Tragedy.

And here's a list of guys who were ruined and why:
Kloucek-That one is on Ron Low
Blackburn-That one is on Sather
Cherneski and Malholtra-Thanks Muckler
Grachev-His agent and his ego

 

[mike14]

Forgot about Immonen, thought for sure he'd be a NHL regular

 

[FLYLine27*]

Agreed on Immonen.

 

[jacko23]

im surprised it took 38 posts to mention Dan Blackburn. i think he was a hit as far as everyones expectations of his development, but it was a shame he ended up getting injured. Nerve damage, right? did it even happen on the ice? i dont think i ever heard how he actually sustained the injury.

also Prucha was a miss for me. i thought he was going to be legit for us, but i also never realized right away that he was getting tossed around and laid out like a rag doll

 

[FLYLine27*]

im surprised it took 38 posts to mention Dan Blackburn. i think he was a hit as far as everyones expectations of his development, but it was a shame he ended up getting injured. Nerve damage, right? did it even happen on the ice? i dont think i ever heard how he actually sustained the injury.

also Prucha was a miss for me. i thought he was going to be legit for us, but i also never realized right away that he was getting tossed around and laid out like a rag doll

He sustained a freak injury while working out....why would anyone name him? That's not considered a miss/bust. That's like calling Sauer a bust, which he wasn't.

 

[jacko23]

He sustained a freak injury while working out....why would anyone name him? That's not considered a miss/bust. That's like calling Sauer a bust, which he wasn't.

he got injured, so you could say he was "busted"

anyway, i never said he was a bust. there were plenty of people mentioned on this thread that were not the same/forced to retire after injuries during what was considered a promising young career. you should have tried to poke holes in those posts as well.

 

[mike14]

He sustained a freak injury while working out....why would anyone name him? That's not considered a miss/bust. That's like calling Sauer a bust, which he wasn't.

I named him because we I thought he'd be our gaolie for a decade plus and i 'missed' on that beacuse we 'missed' getting to see him at his peak, much like with Sauer(which is different to being a bust).

 

[n8]

Hits

John Leclair. I don't know if this counts but saw him playing when he was in Montreal and I knew I was looking at a star. He was still a little lanky in those days. Hadn't really filled into a power forward body-mass yet.

Mike Knuble. Does this one count either? I remember watching him playing when he was in Detroit and similarly thought he was special. Great size and a helluva shot. Was really disappointed how misused he was in New York.

Miss

Pavel Brendl. The price was high but i thought we had just drafted ourselves a Russian Brett Hull. Turns out he was a Russian Christian Dube.