Watching the third period with a one goal lead, and thinking, they figured it out. They were making Toronto go the full length of the ice, smart quick changes. I felt like they had it. And then boom! Getting closer.
Bdl
Loved Filip Chytil game/compete level last night. He didn’t win every battle, but he was in every battle. I’m really starting to think this kid is going to be something special in the near future.
James G
BDL the doom and gloomers were out in full force last night. Hard to believe they even scored a goal let alone gutted out a road win in Toronto..
Bdl
I think Strome may have broken a few Ranger fans last night, James.
James G
Chytil progressing and will be 2C at some point. Needs to learn how to win a faceoff but who on this team doesn’t?
This team has plenty of offense. It’s their inability to play the other side of the puck that’s keeping them from being good.
Bdl
The decision on him is going to be very interesting.
James G
Special type of fans BDL. It’s all because of Panarin.
Guy plays his butt off for his teammates, plays top six minutes and has gone
10-25-35 in 38 games and they can’t stand it.
You’d think maybe people would say wow he’s got sick chemistry with Panarin. This is awesome. Diamond in the rough trade by Gorton. Nope. Third line RW who is going to cause a cap space problem when he puts up 70 points because of Panarin. Terrible. Trade him.
Bdl
That’s the new bread of fan. They don’t root for team success, they root for their favorite player, and against anybody that doesn’t fit their narrative.
Bdl
They also want to be in a perpetual rebuild.
James G
I’ve decided to adjust my point of view. Buchnevich and skjei shouldn’t be part of this squad going forward but Strome and Kreids should.
Bdl
Absolutely James. Absolutely.
James G
It’s just doom and gloom BDL.
I remember in 14-15 people were doing it too.
It goes something like this:
-player A comes up huge scores the game winner after being the best player on the ice all night-
Fan reaction: infuriated. Comment: “it’s really going to suck when we trade that guy because we can’t afford him because we bought out this other guy which I was against last year.”
Bdl
I’m getting closer to changing my feeling on DeAngelo being part of the future. He’s making it very difficult to move on from him.
James G
Going to be a 50 point defenseman. Hard to give that up but man he’s atrocious in his own zone. They all are. He’ll benefit from having a stay at home defenseman beside him. That should be the plan.
You can upgrade Buchnevich’s spot and Skjei’s spot get some guys who are grittier and more physical.
But ultimately it’s going to take a different coaching staff to improve these guys because
Quinn and his staff obviously can’t do it. 40-50 shots on goal every night.
James G
Quinn is here to build character and work ethic for the kids that he actually plays.
But it ends there. Eventually they’ll bring in someone who can teach these guys how to play in their zone.
Just look at their goal differential this season. Their scoring is on par with the top teams of the league.
And their goals against is on par with the worst ones. We all know what that breaks down to. One on one battles in your zone, positioning, blocking shots. Taking a guy out of a play. Smart decisions once you have the puck on your stick.
All things they don’t seem to be learning under these coaches.
The guys that have some know how do it and the rest are lost.
St Pete Eli
James & Bdl
Agreed Skjei and Buchnevich are the players to move to try and sign Kreider. On the other Strome is a dilemma? If only Carp’s favorite defensemen would agree to be moved to a contender. I hope DQ keeps the kid line together let them develop some chemistry inspite of the growing pains.
James G
Strome should stay. That pisses people off. You don’t walk away from guys who can put up 70 points to get them out of your hair.
It’s this fan drivel “anyone can do that beside Panarin”
Really? Then why havent Howden or Lias Andersson been playing 2C and producing like this?
Of course Strome benefits from playing beside the guy.
Josh “acquire me for Buchnevich” Anderson did too. Nothing wrong with that.
Strome is still a good hockey player. And Panarin is having a career year. I don’t think his teammates hurt that equation.
CCCP
Lindy Ruff is still here. What would we do without him? Right?
James G
Rangers have 5.6 of open space.
Buch and Skjei total 8.5 in cap space.
Shatty buyout will hit them for 5 mill of that next season.
Fast off the books is another million.
That’s a pretty good start in maneuvering for a year before another 17.7 come off the books at the end of next year.
James G
Lindy of my heart
CCCP
Sam Rosen. Time to retire. Can’t get a simple play right.
CCCP
On this date in hockey history, December 29, 1975, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a cold war which lasted from 1947 to 1991. Into this historical context came the so called “Super Series” where two Soviet hockey teams played friendly’s against NHL teams in North America.
The New York Rangers were the first team to host the Soviet’s when they faced the powerful Central Red Army Sports Club at Madison Square Garden. Red Army defeated the Rangers 7-3 and then went on to tie the Montreal Canadiens 3-3 in the fabled new years eve game.
Red Army went on to defeat the Boston Bruins 5-2 and lose to the two time defending Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia 4-1, finishing 2-1-1. The Soviet Wings lost to the Buffalo Sabres 12-6 while defeating Pittsburgh 7-4, Chicago 4-2 and the New York Islanders 2-1, finishing 3-1.
While the Soviets record was an impressive 5-2-1 they did not defeat any of the NHL’s top three teams, even with the Soviet lineups dotted with roster upgrades from other teams. The Wings team which played Buffalo wore blue helmets and uniforms but had seven players in the lineup with red CCCP helmets showing they were “ringers” from the national team added to strengthen their lineup that game but they couldn’t stop the Sabres impressive 12 goal onslaught.
Vintage hockey.
Old Ranger Fan
Fred Cusick did Bruin games for 44 years. When they moved out of the old Boston Garden where the press box was close to the ice to the new building he retired because in the new building the press box was much farther from the ice and he admitted he wouldn’t be able to see the ice very well from there. Maybe it’s time for Sam to make a similar admission. BTW it was good to see AL Trautwig back with the JD interview. No word if he will be back on a regular basis.
Pete
James, it’s not gonna be an easy decision with strome that’s becoming clearer and clearer each game, but he’ll need to decide what’s the most important thing to him-resigning for a reasonable long term deal at a place where he has found his game or getting as much money as he can via arbitration and then free agency. If it’s the latter then they should trade him at this deadline as allocating $6m+/yr on him long term is too big a gamble in my book.
Buch i’d move without hesitation (if only to stop seeing him look like someone shot his puppy every time he misses a chance) and I’d love it if they could trade all of brady’s contract, but they may be tough. But say they can do both, would still need strome and kreider to take a discount and then you have to deal with Tony D who i think is arbitration eligible this year. So if you can keep strome and kreider long term for a combined cap hit of say $10.5/11, then it may be workable, but not if it’s more in the $12-13m/jr cap hit.
James G
Vintage hockey alright. Flyers basically took the ice beat the ***t out of the Soviets like it was a bar fight
James G
Strome has one rfa year left. The Rangers need one year to eliminate 3 bad contracts. I’m sure something can be worked out-especially when considering that Strome has been resurgent since getting here.
Kreider is already gone if you ask the best writers but I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as it would have been last year or the year before if he was on an expiring contract.
James G
I also think Skjei can be moved. I doubt the nhl think he’s as bad as this blog thinks he is.
Either way you pay a premium for dmen in this league and at 25 years old with a cap hit under 6 million he’s not an anchor
Bdl
I remember watching that game. It was oddly televised on PBS (13). The soviets literally quit halfway through the first period. Left the ice. Had to be talked into continuing the game.
bobbyo2019
Staal comments always interesting here…like it was his fault that tying goal from Matthews deflected off Lindgrens stick. Staal and Lindgren should be out late in those situations because Skjej and Trouba are not cutting it. Looks like Quinn is realizing it
Bdl
You keep reading Kreider wants to stay, and the Rangers want to keep him. And then in the next sentence they are definitely trading him. I’m not going to get my hopes up. I’ve made my peace with him being traded.
bobbyo2019
Think Strome is here to stay ..even the twitter chart boys are coming around
ilb2001
Guys, I’m not as concerned about the amount of shots they give up as some of you are. It’s the quality of shots. Toronto throws everything on the net, but how many of them were difficult shots? What we should appreciate is that they can out score many high scoring teams. The defense is very young, Trouba including. It needs at least one more nasty, big, hitting stay at home guy, and they need to play together more. There is a reason why Lindgren /Fox pair works. They know each other’s tendencies.
ilb2001
They have some control over Strome and DeAngelo. Kreider is a different story. He will have to take a discount.
What a win last night, phew…Buchnevich is really a head case get rid of him please…
ilb2001
I’d think Strome would be willing to work with Gorton. He finally found his place after what was becoming a questionable career. Only question is whether Gorton is planning to have contract talks with him before the deadline. At this point, it would be foolish if Gorton not to. His arbitration award may be higher than what he may sign long term.
CCCP
I’m gonna keep my opinion to myself regarding that Boston vs CCCP game or I might be forever banned from the blog.
ilb2001
Get rid of Buchnevich sounds easy. But what if his “head case” gets treated and he starts burying his chances?
CCCP
Your $8 million dollars dman cannot be trusted with game on the line. Wonderful news.
ilb2001
I was up until 1:30 last night. I accidentally caught a Foreigner With the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus show live. Holy shishkebab!
Beezle
I managed to stream the Chinese Fireplace while out to dinner. Unfortunately very subject to confederate viewing preferences. Two nights in a row the blog was manic while I was really excited to see us up 4-2 4-3 Was disappointed going to OT but we actually have a decent shot in that 3 on 3 thing.
Beezle
As someone said last night, Strome continues to be unsustainable. I looked yesterday – he’s on a pace to be Breadman’s best line mate ever, perhaps excepting those times he played with Kane. Yet people prefer to put kids up there because well, they might do as well someday!
ilb2001
Decent shot? Every time Panarin has the puck they have a decent shot to score. Until everyone on the team realizes what he can do, Quinn should demand that everyone keep their sticks on the ice, ready to shoot. Regardless where they are. Maybe every player on the bench too, until they learn this habit.
Beezle
Scores from last night: 3-2, 5-4, 5-4, 5-4, 6-4, 6-4, 3-2, 4-1, 6-1
Apparently most teams give up a lot of goals now.
St Pete Eli
I had no idea how complete a player the Breadman was until he arrived in Ranger blue! Chytil on RW with Panarin and Strome is an interesting idea, I forget who suggested it. Don’t throw a snowball at me James, but it was probably Bdl? 😎
James G
ILB
My earlier post wasn’t meant to kill them or the coach. I for one am quite happy and enjoying watching games most nights.
The point I was trying to make was that they finally have the offense to be dangerous. They’ll need to learn to defend and suppress shots in order to contend.
TO may throw everything at the net but we’ve seen the obscene shot totals add up against teams like Ottawa, Florida, Carolina. It doesn’t matter who they play. The more chances you allow the more opportunities for quality chances and goals against.
James G
Also agree on the blueline thoughts, ILB.
An interesting thing has happened this season. The right side has become a position of strength on the blueline. What they need now is to solidify the first and third pairings with more defensive oriented /physical dmen.
bobbyo2019
Time to give for Trouba and Lindgren whirl as the shutdown pair
St Pete Eli
Sam on the OT goal ” Save by Anderson, no it went in, Strome with the hat trick.” Retire Sam you’re embarrassing yourself!
For what it’s worth, LaGreca got the call wrong originally as well.
St Pete Eli
Ev
Strome with the hat trick please!
cooscoos
Tired of seeing #18 staring helplessly at our goalie instead of taking the man and facing the music.
cooscoos
Krusty! Like with the Canadians way back when – every serious pre-star talent was somehow scooped up by Montreal, Panarin should not have wasted time with Columbus. He has NYC and MSG written all over him.
cooscoos
Let’s Face the Music and Dance!
St Pete Eli
Staal our best D according to Carp!
cooscoos
Carp, in this regard, is delusional. 🙂 The Master nods.
Beezle
NYR an keep D’Anger but then need to get rid of SkjeL and Staal and replace with more stay at home types.
coos, your Staal-bashing is nothing if not consistent, but as you are blind to his consistently good defensive play your overblown criticism of any mistake he makes is hard to take seriously. Still, it’s your peculiar franchise so knock yourself out I guess.
Beezle, Staal is a stay-at-home type and a good one. Not great, just good. Not much wrong keeping him around unless you can get him off the books completely.
bobbyo, did you note Skjei’s ice time last night? With him it’s a question of cutting down his mistakes, which he has done of late, certainly relative to his partner, who’s struggled a little. He’s a frustrating player, but there’s no need to give up on him yet. Same with Butch, IMO, though he, too, frustrates. As I go down the roster, there’s no one I’d get rid of, even Smith though that’s for $ reasons you can’t fix anyway. Kreider it looks like you’ll have to, wish they’d deal with that problem one way or the other soon—he’s earned that much given his great service to the club.
CCCP
“As I go down the roster, there’s no one I’d get rid of, even Smith”
How much is the opium of the masses nowadays, Norm?
E3
When I watch Strome play, my heat map swells like a ball park Frank.
E3
When I watch Buch play my heat maps looks like an IIP
bobbyo2019
Norm, Skjej continues to struggle with defensive assignments and is a turnover machine….there was a play last night where one of Leaf defenseman took the puck wide and down low and Skjej escorted him to the net instead of hitting him….Quinn needs to limit his minutes with hope him and his contract can be moved
cooscoos
Staal cannot shoot, cannot win wall battles, cannot move the puck out of his end, cannot move the enemy from in front, uselessly fronts net lurkers, and on and on and on. If you don’t notice him, that’s not good – he’s doing nothing.
Norm Merton
You don’t limit the minutes of a guy you want to move, bobbyo, just the opposite. That’s fan-trading: give us someone we like on your roster for someone we hate on ours.
Norm Merton
coos, that Staal critique is a dead giveaway that you are looking at defenders through your own unique viewfinder, the one with a pinhole lens. You want him to get pissed and hit someone—I get it—but that’s not his game, a game you are singularly unequipped to observe. And stay away from visiting announcers, who will drive you crazy with their unbiased praise of the good defensive plays he makes on a routine basis.
Norm Merton
CCCP, I pony up around 2-3% of my income to my church, in answer to your question. Should be more, I know, but I rationalize that by singing for the rest of the masses.
E3
I love the smell of opium in the morning.
St Pete Eli
Norm
I guess coos and I use the same view finder.
Norm Merton
I do recall you being the sole purchaser of the Shuffleboard® product, Eli 😬
E3
Staal surely isn’t worth his salary
Norm Merton
Don’t call him Shirley.
Alex
E3
neither are Henrik, Smith, Skjei, Beleskey or the buyout boys (Shatty/Girardi)
E3
Alex/norm – agreed
E3
I’d be happy to see Shay and Buch packaged for a rugged, physical, winger…or even a Gallagher type….
E3
Hank, Shay, Buch for E. Kane and B Dillon
bobbyo2019
Norm you limit Skjejs minutes you limit mistakes and improve chance to win…..not looking for a fan trade ..getting rid of his contract would Be primary goal
You can’t trade Skjei at his hit if you limit his minutes I don’t think. They show zero inclination to limit them in any case—they appreciate his positives more than we do.
cooscoos
Cheap bastid! You should pay THEM for having to listen to you sing.
I would be willing to send SkjeiL and Butch to San Jose for Dillon and Meier. Or Dillon, Kane and a pick. If they could get San Jose’s #1 that would be another choice in the lottery, and another chance to move up. If they are thinking about moving TonyD, they should call Anaheim. They are in urgent need of someone like him.
James G
ILB re: Buchnevich- I don’t think he’s a head case. I think his skill set is a great one but I also think it’s slightly redundant in the event that Kravtsov makes the team at some point.
They could use someone more physical or at least with a shoot first mentality
James G
Boy,
Thank God Hank Smith and Staal are in their mid – late 30s otherwise Norm would sign up for another 20 years of all 3.
Gotta move forward in this life as well as this game, Norm. No disrespect meant to you or those players🤷🏻♂️
Get yer facts straight first, James. Smith is 30, Staal 32, Hank 37. They’re old enough without you making them older!
Alex
Norm
add another year to each in first qtr 2020.
bobbyo2019
Torts with another classic postgame rant
cooscoos
Torts knows how to scare the hell out of them.
cooscoos
If Tort played for the Rangers, he’d be best buddies with Glass, Haley, or whomever was the current muscle. Like Bobby Clarke and Dave Schultz.
E3
Trade Buch and Shay And a #2 for Kane and Dillon. Rangers are now playoff ready
cooscoos
Dillon’s nickname in NY will be ‘Gunsmoke.’
cooscoos
Citizen Kane.
cooscoos
Buy out ALL the deadwood, bite the damned bullet and let the kids play and grow. We’re not going to win anything for a while any way you slice it.
cooscoos
‘Marshal’ Dillon. His as yet unknown partner: ‘Fester.’
CCCP
Was that a barn? Was that a barn? I think it was too small to be a barn, it looked more like a stable. There was a cow there, does that mean… what? That it could have been a barn? There’s no cows in barns. There’s cows on a farm. Are there always barns on farms? There are stables in farms, right, but not necessarily barns? I don’t think that was the barn. [long pause] I think we made the wrong turn.
E3
Dillon can go with the best of them. He’s a bad azz
goodguyinsports
With Hajek out, Staal is the weak link in the defense right now. The Rangers should move him to 3rd pair to limit his TOI.
bobbyo2019
Skjej should be on 3rd pair
CCCP
“Skjej should be on 3rd pair”
In Hartford.
goodguyinsports
Since reuniting with Trouba, the pair of Skjei and Trouba have been playing well.
James G
Theyve been better. Idk about playing well , goodguy.
They have some pretty tough games coming up the next few weeks and I have a feeling a few of them will get ugly. Especially against everyone’s favorite team to belly ache about over there on LI.
James G
Gotcha, Norm. I get confused since they all look 40 years old out on the ice 🙂
bobbyo2019
playing well is a stretch…. Skjej defensive zone coverage remains a mess
James G
It boils down to the fact that they just allow way too many shots and scoring opportunities. Just take a brief look at the shots against that they’ve allowed as compared to teams who have been known to have “suspect” defenses and you’ll see they’ve let up more than even those teams. It’s up around 1350 shots in 39 games. And while they’re capable of being able to outscore opponents in just about any game, that’s their Achilles heal and can’t move on from mediocre without improving that problem
Old Ranger Fan
Skjei never seems to win a board battle. The other guy comes away with the puck or he gives it way by aimlessly shooting it around the boards. Young Mark Staal was really good along the boards , but, his diminished eye sight may have hurt him in his area. Their weakness in this area leads to many of the sieges that happen in the Ranger end and are part of the high SOG number they surrender. The Leafs and Canes do throw everything at the net, but, they take about 10 shots against the Rangers than they do against the rest of the league and that results in about one more goal per game.
Among all the advanced stats does anyone keep a simple accounting of how long the puck stays in their end versus the other team’s end? My “eye test” senses a great disparity that they need to address. I just wonder if the facts bear this out.
CCCP
John Tortorella rips into the refs and the NHL review process before walking out of his press conference pic.twitter.com/1USZBloGv6
It’s so weird—I thought the Rangers BEAT the Canes and the Leafs. The more I read, though, the less true it appears to be.
James G
Oh stop it Norm. You’re playing naive. You’ve been watching this sport long enough to know that you can win despite lousy play or lose despite playing well. I’m not one of the late night game thread doom and gloomers.
This is simply a conversation about what they have to do in order to improve.
Norm Merton
Yes and to improve they need to trade everyone, got it.
bobbyo2019
No Norm just Buch and Skjej
DaveB
ORF – Young Marc Staal was a beast along the boards. Won battles, and he was a master of that overexaggerated head-fake, which somehow fooled every single guy coming in to put pressure on.
Additionally – I agree that Skjei needs to go. I don’t care if he goes to another system and flourishes. And TBH, I’d love to see them try either Fox or Tony on the left for an extended look. If one of them can make that transition, we can stop writing off DeAngelo for the long-term. Otherwise…Tony’s gonna bring back a haul, which isn’t bad either.
cooscoos
…and Staal and Smith and Norm.
Norm Merton
I’m way too expensive.
cooscoos
assumed name: Barry Tone
Norm Merton
So they need to replace, depending on which Bonehead posted last: Staal, Smith, Buch, Skjei, Strome, DeAngelo, Fast, not Kreider, Howden, McKegg… Or be patient and suffer through the development of this very young and talented roster. It’s hard to know which approach makes more sense.
Alex
Norm
what about Henrik, Georgie, Quinn, Ruff, Gorton, Sather
Norm Merton
I agree they might think about moving on from Sather.
Norm Merton
Where the hell is Mando? I miss her. Only one post, but such promise!
CCCP
Nothing’s ever outta norm for Norm.
cooscoos
When Norm types ‘boneheads’ why does it seem a pejorative epithet?
Old Ranger Fan
I’m not for trading everyone and I’m not a gloom and doomer. I’m just pointing out that good teams don’t get out chanced every night. My concern is that this is never raised as an issue by DQ. There are some big positives. Tony D, Strome and Chytil look like development successes. Two years ago Tony was only kept on the roster because he might not make it through waivers and now we are talking about extending him-if they can afford it. Lindgren has been a pleasant surprise. But the SOGs allowed, face off performance, PK and being shorthanded more than any team in the league are areas where there could be improvement. Incremental improvement in these areas could win them a few more games. Before Trotz the Isles bled shots and were a bubble team at best. They lost Tavares, brought in Trotz and became a contender.
James G
LOL Norm, get some better bait. Every team in the NHL is looking to improve their roster at some point in the season.
I guess they’re ready to contend for the Stanley Cup with Skjei and Smith doing all the heavy lifting, eh?
James G
ORF he’s trying to catch a marlin in an empty duck pond. Don’t worry about it.
cooscoos
We afford our opponents more shots than does CVS in flu season. We can’t win a faceoff. Therein lie major problemos that need attention and correction. Not rocket science. Get it done one way or the other.
cooscoos
While talking endlessly and scheduling Press conferences about a re-build and deciding who to buy out and who to send down and bring up, Gorton and Company made their biggest (yet somehow unspoken) stumbling move in not waiting for Trotz whom they KNEW would be available. No offense to Q, but let us be real.
Skjel is expendable because they have a plethora of ld in the pipeline, many of whom have projected higher ceilings than Skjel and all of whom will be cheaper at start. DeAngelo is expendable because for all of his wondrous offense, his defense has not improved one iota AND he will be very expensive to resign AND there are two projected rd in the system who will have less offense but more defense AND Fox/Trouba are better players (how much do you want to pay for a 3rd pair d and haven’t we already been through that). Buchnevich may be expendable because top 6 rw is where our ute strength supposedly lies and by the same token Kreider is really not expendable because top 6 lw ute is barren. Georgiev may be expendable because of Shesterkin and Huska but it’s just not worth expending him (for a 3rd rounder most likely).
bobbyo2019
What do we think Tony D is gonna cost to re-sign?
cooscoos
Athletes should be compensated according to the Communist Manifesto, ‘from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.’ Tony D, por ejemplo, doesn’t look like the kind of guy who needs a lot of money, so sign him cheap. Krusty looks like he’d be happy with just a red nose and funny shoes. Hank needs real dough.
coos, I was granted Bonehead status years ago by Carp himself. One of the great moments in my life. And if Bonehead is not a pejorative, then you explain to me the antics of this wacky website. Finally, it takes one to know one, and just because I’m holding down the Lady Byng wyng doesn’t mean I’m can’t maintain the same level of idiocy as the rest of y’all.
DaveB
Tony would prob get a 1-year deal around $4m right before arbitration. Especially if he hits 50 points. Best move (which was impossible) as an asset would’ve been to sign him to a 2 year deal this summer for, say, $3m per. He puts up 50 points this year, and would’ve been a massive trade asset with a bargain contract and 1 year restricted coming up.
Best move to keep him (again impossible in our cap situation) would’ve been to go long-term, which would’ve prob come in at $4-4.5m x 4 years. Which would’ve looked insane at the time.
Honestly didn’t think he would’ve put up points this year – I pegged him for losing most of his PP time to the other two righties.
I’d love it if they could find a way to keep him, too many RHD be damned. But if there’s a squeeze and he’s too expensive – it is what it is.
Skjei and Smith do not belong in the same paragraph, James, much less the same sentence. Boneheads, broadly speaking without speaking about broads, tend to excoriate Skjei for his mistakes, me included. But we also tend to ignore his positive contributions, which are numerous and easy to see if you’re not wearing HateSkjei goggles.
E3
The rangers biggest problem is their inability to clear the zone. Losing 50-50 battles, face offs, and playing hot potato with the puck are the culprits. Rangers are having a tough time against aggressive forechecking…
E3
Shay Shucks Sheet. Trade him and Buch for a tough physical winger is a smart play…
E3
Hire Shurmur to coach the D. He clearly knew little about offense.
Old Ranger Fan
Did Schurmur get fired today?
James G
Norm is angry
Who uses the word excoriate?
And why are you yelling at me? I’m not on the ice for what feels like 3/4 of the goals scored against the Rangers this season…..
James G
He’s out like yesterday’s garbage, ORF.
Norm don’t yell at me. I’m sure Shumur was doing plenty of things well these last two years. It’s a big loss for the Giants. (s)
Quick, non-conclusive shot analysis shows the Rangers SA trending in the right direction at least. 33.8 against the last 30 days, 35.6 the previous 30, 36.9 before that. Needs to continue, of course, but as long as the Grade-As are kept within reason, shot volume is not a big deal. I’ll leave it to the advanced-stats folks to see how many grade-A shots they give up relative to the league, subjective as that finding will be.
tommyG
skjei is awful, been saying it since he ‘s been a ranger. I was hoping his defensive side of the game would improve but it hasn’t, he’s awful, can’t defend, can’t see any GM in thre nhl who would take skjei’s contract off the ranger’s books.
James G
Let’s analyze this a little. Doom and Gloomers aside (you know the guys I mean. The ones that were even upset with every game during the Presidents trophy year)
….Why is it wacky or hateful to want to upgrade one or two spots? This team is 19-19. If that’s good enough for you then good for you.
Some of us (meaning the rational ones) just want to see some improvement on the defensive side of the puck. The fact that you take exception to that is pretty absurd.
If you’re just fed up with the people you converse with at 11pm in a game thread I get it. But that doesn’t mean the rest of us are out of our minds for wanted to improve.
First-line D most of the time, gives and takes away at Trouba rates. Not as expensive, but does not skate PP either.
cregg7
Sorry boys and girls. I been away longer than expected. Life and Work got to crazy to check in here. Have been watching games on DVR drlay sometimes days later so I avoided all scores etc. then it snowballed into me not checking in here cause it would be too late to contribute anything to an old convo.
Anyways. Looking better now.
Too much to go back and see what I missed here so I guess I’m starting fresh.
Hope no one was searching obituaries for me. 😉
Alex
increasing effectiveness on the d is not just on the 6 guys playing in that position. it’s also systems driven as well as the forwards. that’s also why our 2 most recent head coaches trust a guy like Fast in top 9 or even top 6 role.
yes would be nice to move on from Staal or Skjei. the contracts make that easier said than done. Re Skjei to me it’s because we have more offensive d on right side who need better defensively aware partners. I wouldn’t mind having the lefty version of Kevin Klein from when he first came here. Defensively aware but not a pylon. Or a lefty version of Stralman.
Alex
no to the Gudbranson types. those are the pylons we need to avoid.
James, thanks for letting me know you’re rational–what a relief!–and by extension that because I disagree with your take on Skjei, I am not. 🙂
The case for trading Skjei is clear–you have enough [modern NHL] offense in your D-corps with DeAngelo, Fox, and Trouba. DeAngelo you have to sign, of course, and while Fox is a terrific prospect, we’ll see where he is at game 82. That’s when you assess Skjei, IMO, and there is no need to swap him at the moment or at the deadline. Nor is there any need to give up on him at this point of this developmental season. He’s young, talented, and signed at reasonable money. If he fails to grow into a bonafide 1D by season’s end, fine, trade him for not much, addition by subtraction, if you can find a partner.
St Pete Eli
The Minx insists Beat Wide and Captain Happy must be moved to have any possible chance of keeping Kreider. Staal needs to be convinced that shuffleboard is his future the sooner the better!
bobbyo2019
Dont see Skjej positives other than he can skate and jump into offense once in a while.. He’s 6’3 but plays like he’s 5 ‘8, never blocks a shot while screening his goalie and is poor positionally…all for 5.25 per. Unless they think his play is system/Ruff related and an be salvaged they need to move on
Why, bobbyo, is Skjei even with Trouba in TOI (PP excluded)? Not a rhetorical question–why does the coaching staff play him so much? Are they unable to see what is obvious to us, or are they able to see what is not? Is it with a trade in mind, do you think, showcasing?
Alex
Norm
tough decisions need to be made this deadline and summer. I would not want to lose Kreider or Strome because of Skjei (if there’s a way around it). I’m assuming there’s no way out of Henrik, Staal or Smith (short of buyout) . Trade for similar money doesn’t help much if we want to keep Kreider and Strome.
Pete
Alex, it’s a lack of good options and a lack of a sound defensive system is why Quinn plays Fast where he does. AV was playing not to lose plain and simple
James G
Sure Norm- just point out the word you’re referring to in the only things I said before your belly aching episode. Thx.
It boils down to the fact that they just allow way too many shots and scoring opportunities. Just take a brief look at the shots against that they’ve allowed as compared to teams who have been known to have “suspect” defenses and you’ll see they’ve let up more than even those teams. It’s up around 1350 shots in 39 games. And while they’re capable of being able to outscore opponents in just about any game, that’s their Achilles heal and can’t move on from mediocre without improving that problem
stop it Norm. You’re playing naive. You’ve been watching this sport long enough to know that you can win despite lousy play or lose despite playing well. I’m not one of the late night game thread doom and gloomers.
This is simply a conversation about what they have to do in order to improve.
LOL Norm, get some better bait. Every team in the NHL is looking to improve their roster at some point in the season.
I guess they’re ready to contend for the Stanley Cup with Skjei and Smith doing all the heavy lifting, eh
bobbyo2019
believe that Skjei is with Trouba based on limted options… they dont overwhelm the young defensemen or overload Staal with more minutes. Think Lindgen is ready for more minutes and would like to see him with Trouba
James G
Welcome back, Cregg! Didn’t check the obits. Maybe a few car trunks ; )
James G
Norm one more time- if you think this team is a Cup contender in it’s current state then I’m happy for you. I would suggest an MRI of the brain with and without contrast…but I’m happy for you.
Who in the world thinks this team is a Cup contender as currently constructed? I sure don’t, not sure why you’d put those words in my mouth when I continually refer to this season as one of development and patience, the season everybody knew it would be. So I don’t see any need at all to mess with roster until necessary–Kreider you have to move, regardless of what caused the situation to begin with. He’s been a great Ranger and is clearly trending to the downside of his career in his 8th season–apparently they can’t even sign him for what he’s worth much less what the market will give him. You see what you have after that forced move is complete, and then on with the plan. Shattenkirking $$ to future cap space seems like a bad idea, though I will as ever defer to ilb on this one.
Skjel usually gets in trouble when he holds onto the puck too long. Now to me this is a symptom of other problems. Why is he holding onto the puck? Why doesn’t he automatically know where his options are? This problem is not uniquely related to Skjel, the entire defense shows this attribute, it just seems to me that the others (even old one-eye
probably due to experience) are able to find outlets quicker (Fox being a master). So it’s a vision thing, by vision meaning how well he’s able to read the ice, but it shouldn’t be. He should know what his options are as soon as he gets the puck, most teams do this automatically, so this tells me the d-zone structure is non-existent. The d are expected to read and react and that is not one of Skjel’s strengths. It’s a bit contradictory because when in the o-zone and everything’s in front of him, he can be good. But starting plays in the d-zone, blind spot.
Well, apparently you’re under the impression that there aren’t any moves that they need to make, right? I mean that’s all I’ve said today is that there are two spots they could look to upgrade. One being Skjei’s and one being Buchnevich’s.
Maybe you’re the one putting words in people’s mouths because I didn’t say “Skjei sucks so trade him” I said they could add a different element to the roster. One that would improve the team. Skjei has played 5 years and nearly 300 games in the NHL. He’s not developing any longer, is he? He’s carrying a 5.25 cap hit. He also plays the left side where you have several up and coming prospects that could very well match or surpass his level of play for much less money next year or the year after.
Does he eat up minutes? Absolutely. Is he the worst defenseman on the team? Probably not. Is he a whipping boy around here? Most definitely. Is there a need to improve the roster? I guess opinions vary but it’s my opinion that there is. Most seem to agree even if some of them are of the ‘sky is falling’ variety.
James G
My biggest gripe with Skjei is that after all this time in the NHL his first instinct under pressure is to take himself out of position or to leave his man and chase the play.
Plenty of guys- even some of the best in the NHL- have bad habits. That one in particular is pretty bad for a Dman.
He’s not overly offensive. He’s not overly physical. He’s an average Dman making about average money. Plenty of them around. Hardly any that should be considered untouchable.
You’re not moving Hajek or Lindgren. You’ve got another year of Staal on the books. If you’re going to bring in a guy that can pair with Trouba or DeAngelo long term then Skjei is the odd man out.
cooscoos
Norm was designated a relatively valuable bonehead by a vote of sixteen to fourteen. 🙂
James, if I’ve been laboring under the misapprehension that you wanted Skjei and Buch traded relatively pronto, I apologize. Other than the Kreider move which looks necessary, I don’t think a lot of roster-jiggling is required during the season.
At my worst, after the Smith-Skjei-Smith-Trouba fiasco goal against the Canes as a recent example, I’m all about clearing out the roster except for the rookies, seeing what you’ve got… then I wake up and remember that’s no way to build the confidence of those guys.
It remains to be seen if Kakko, for instance, can get through this season with that confidence intact. I think he can, what with his ridiculous stickhandling skills, but he can’t be happy with his utter lack of 5v5 threat or his defense so far.
“I’m sorry for leaving my helmet on for the Russian anthem following today’s game, and I apologize to the Russian team and its fans,” Hayton’s statement read. “As a leader on this team, I was trying to process the game and evaluate how we can regroup. I was lost in the moment. The Russians played a great game tonight and my actions were not intended to be disrespectful. My mistake should not detract from their win. I owe it to my team and all Canadians to be better.”
At least he and/or the team handled the aftermath correctly.
Old Ranger Fan
The Duke is an All Star. Ottawa had to have someone.
CCCP
I guess the rest of the Canadian team was not lost in the moment. Such bs… only other nations can get away with sh8t like that but not the “evil” Russians.
cooscoos
If Hayton were a Finn or a Czech, his action might be slightly more understandable. However, in sports, you have to let go of the politics.
cooscoos
Lias Andersson would have removed his helmet…and thrown it at the Russian team.
CCCP
LOL Coos…
Sigh.
cooscoos
Kaakko Kaapko minus 14. (#2 overall).
James G
Who is Lias Andersson?
James G
C3 should we plan on Panarin tearing a knee in the ASG?
asking for a friend..
James G
No apologies Norm. Always Love debating About this stuff.
James G
Kakko-14= 10
cooscoos
I’s 7:20. Should have lit up three hours ago.
cooscoos
Staal didn’t make the All Star team?
cooscoos
He Hate Me
Norm Merton
No apologies? Damn it, wasted one. Can I retroactively claim it to be insincere?
cooscoos
That new Ranger hat isn’t NY. More like Boca Raton or Fire Island. Whoever is in charge of the hat, smarten up!
Papa Bear
Hey Nineteen, that’s Reetha Franklin!
I’m just growin old
Papa Bear
It’s The Royal Scam
Papa Bear
The Cuervo Gold, the fine Columbian
Make tonight a wonderful thing
Beezle
“Skjej should be on 3rd pair”
It would help if SkjeL would first grow a pair
Beezle
I have managed to escape the confederacy and have crossed back into the north again… at the loss of nearly 40 degrees of warmth!
Different boneheads have all hit upon what the d situation is:
1- forwards not helping enough
2- failure to know quickly what to do with the puck
3- general failure to clear the puck out of the zone in any manner
4- failure to play enough in the other zone
5- the shots against have gone down slightly and many are not high quality, but they still give up way too many.
I would say it is all largely fixable even with current personnel, at least to the point of getting to middle of the pack status.
cregg7
The anthem shenanigans aren’t new for Canada. Wasn’t it about 10 years ago or so Montreal fans were booing the Star Spangled Banner?
I forget the game and the circumstance but remember the booing. And recall that the next game back in states the USA fans did not boo O Canada.
Alex
“If we want to achieve our ultimate goal, we know we’re going to have to elevate our commitment to playing defense, managing the puck, and it has to be across the board. It’s a mindset.”
Brooks has rangers keeping Kreider, Tony D, and Stromeo and saying bye bye to Buch and Shay.
I agree
Old Ranger Fan
Beezle you left out being only bad – not awful- at the FO dot. These things should be fixable.
And James with the Bread man knee injury talk. A true Ranger fan.
Alex
I agree with Brooks too
Norm Merton
No Kreider for me if you need to cut prime-time age to keep downside age. If you can keep him by other means do it, but his trade value outweighs his intangibles as he hits 29 this season. And I don’t buy this business anyway of young guys flocking to him, when he has a long track record of taking games off. Don’t want them flocking to that. If you want intangible role-modeling that bad, keep Fast for much less. All that said, if it’s that important that they keep him they should make him captain or what really is the point.
St Pete Eli
Imagine that Brooks read my post! Most of his material comes straight from the Bonehead Clan.
St Pete Eli
Kreider > Fast lol!
Bdl
Norm hates Kreider.
Bdl
I the idea of keeping Kreider, Strome, and DeAngelo is the right idea. The problem is the other part of it. Being able to trade Skjei and Buchnevich. I think Buchnevich is tradable. The return is not going to be strong, but definitely tradable. Skjei is another story. Not sure you can trade that contract.
Bdl
The only people that don’t see this as the better solution, are the people who root for certain players, and against others, as opposed to rooting for the team.
CCCP
SkjeL for no SkjeL? Win win.
Norm Merton
BDL, you’re pounding this theme, and it seems directed at me. If not, fine, and I agree there are those here focused on whipping boys rather than the team. If so, it’s merely an attempt to mischaracterize people who disagree with you.
And if a better solution involves seeking a trade which will bring a weak return, it’s possible it’s not the better solution. A moot point in any case if you’re right Skjei can’t be traded.
If they want to keep Kreider, it’s not a bad gamble that he’ll be one of those rare guys who improve into their 30s given his great conditioning, but you don’t do it if it screws up the rebuild plan as a whole.
200 responses to “Rangers-5, Maple Leafs-4 (OT)”
Watching the third period with a one goal lead, and thinking, they figured it out. They were making Toronto go the full length of the ice, smart quick changes. I felt like they had it. And then boom! Getting closer.
Loved Filip Chytil game/compete level last night. He didn’t win every battle, but he was in every battle. I’m really starting to think this kid is going to be something special in the near future.
BDL the doom and gloomers were out in full force last night. Hard to believe they even scored a goal let alone gutted out a road win in Toronto..
I think Strome may have broken a few Ranger fans last night, James.
Chytil progressing and will be 2C at some point. Needs to learn how to win a faceoff but who on this team doesn’t?
This team has plenty of offense. It’s their inability to play the other side of the puck that’s keeping them from being good.
The decision on him is going to be very interesting.
Special type of fans BDL. It’s all because of Panarin.
Guy plays his butt off for his teammates, plays top six minutes and has gone
10-25-35 in 38 games and they can’t stand it.
You’d think maybe people would say wow he’s got sick chemistry with Panarin. This is awesome. Diamond in the rough trade by Gorton. Nope. Third line RW who is going to cause a cap space problem when he puts up 70 points because of Panarin. Terrible. Trade him.
That’s the new bread of fan. They don’t root for team success, they root for their favorite player, and against anybody that doesn’t fit their narrative.
They also want to be in a perpetual rebuild.
I’ve decided to adjust my point of view. Buchnevich and skjei shouldn’t be part of this squad going forward but Strome and Kreids should.
Absolutely James. Absolutely.
It’s just doom and gloom BDL.
I remember in 14-15 people were doing it too.
It goes something like this:
-player A comes up huge scores the game winner after being the best player on the ice all night-
Fan reaction: infuriated. Comment: “it’s really going to suck when we trade that guy because we can’t afford him because we bought out this other guy which I was against last year.”
I’m getting closer to changing my feeling on DeAngelo being part of the future. He’s making it very difficult to move on from him.
Going to be a 50 point defenseman. Hard to give that up but man he’s atrocious in his own zone. They all are. He’ll benefit from having a stay at home defenseman beside him. That should be the plan.
You can upgrade Buchnevich’s spot and Skjei’s spot get some guys who are grittier and more physical.
But ultimately it’s going to take a different coaching staff to improve these guys because
Quinn and his staff obviously can’t do it. 40-50 shots on goal every night.
Quinn is here to build character and work ethic for the kids that he actually plays.
But it ends there. Eventually they’ll bring in someone who can teach these guys how to play in their zone.
Just look at their goal differential this season. Their scoring is on par with the top teams of the league.
And their goals against is on par with the worst ones. We all know what that breaks down to. One on one battles in your zone, positioning, blocking shots. Taking a guy out of a play. Smart decisions once you have the puck on your stick.
All things they don’t seem to be learning under these coaches.
The guys that have some know how do it and the rest are lost.
James & Bdl
Agreed Skjei and Buchnevich are the players to move to try and sign Kreider. On the other Strome is a dilemma? If only Carp’s favorite defensemen would agree to be moved to a contender. I hope DQ keeps the kid line together let them develop some chemistry inspite of the growing pains.
Strome should stay. That pisses people off. You don’t walk away from guys who can put up 70 points to get them out of your hair.
It’s this fan drivel “anyone can do that beside Panarin”
Really? Then why havent Howden or Lias Andersson been playing 2C and producing like this?
Of course Strome benefits from playing beside the guy.
Josh “acquire me for Buchnevich” Anderson did too. Nothing wrong with that.
Strome is still a good hockey player. And Panarin is having a career year. I don’t think his teammates hurt that equation.
Lindy Ruff is still here. What would we do without him? Right?
Rangers have 5.6 of open space.
Buch and Skjei total 8.5 in cap space.
Shatty buyout will hit them for 5 mill of that next season.
Fast off the books is another million.
That’s a pretty good start in maneuvering for a year before another 17.7 come off the books at the end of next year.
Lindy of my heart
Sam Rosen. Time to retire. Can’t get a simple play right.
On this date in hockey history, December 29, 1975, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a cold war which lasted from 1947 to 1991. Into this historical context came the so called “Super Series” where two Soviet hockey teams played friendly’s against NHL teams in North America.
The New York Rangers were the first team to host the Soviet’s when they faced the powerful Central Red Army Sports Club at Madison Square Garden. Red Army defeated the Rangers 7-3 and then went on to tie the Montreal Canadiens 3-3 in the fabled new years eve game.
Red Army went on to defeat the Boston Bruins 5-2 and lose to the two time defending Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia 4-1, finishing 2-1-1. The Soviet Wings lost to the Buffalo Sabres 12-6 while defeating Pittsburgh 7-4, Chicago 4-2 and the New York Islanders 2-1, finishing 3-1.
While the Soviets record was an impressive 5-2-1 they did not defeat any of the NHL’s top three teams, even with the Soviet lineups dotted with roster upgrades from other teams. The Wings team which played Buffalo wore blue helmets and uniforms but had seven players in the lineup with red CCCP helmets showing they were “ringers” from the national team added to strengthen their lineup that game but they couldn’t stop the Sabres impressive 12 goal onslaught.
Vintage hockey.
Fred Cusick did Bruin games for 44 years. When they moved out of the old Boston Garden where the press box was close to the ice to the new building he retired because in the new building the press box was much farther from the ice and he admitted he wouldn’t be able to see the ice very well from there. Maybe it’s time for Sam to make a similar admission. BTW it was good to see AL Trautwig back with the JD interview. No word if he will be back on a regular basis.
James, it’s not gonna be an easy decision with strome that’s becoming clearer and clearer each game, but he’ll need to decide what’s the most important thing to him-resigning for a reasonable long term deal at a place where he has found his game or getting as much money as he can via arbitration and then free agency. If it’s the latter then they should trade him at this deadline as allocating $6m+/yr on him long term is too big a gamble in my book.
Buch i’d move without hesitation (if only to stop seeing him look like someone shot his puppy every time he misses a chance) and I’d love it if they could trade all of brady’s contract, but they may be tough. But say they can do both, would still need strome and kreider to take a discount and then you have to deal with Tony D who i think is arbitration eligible this year. So if you can keep strome and kreider long term for a combined cap hit of say $10.5/11, then it may be workable, but not if it’s more in the $12-13m/jr cap hit.
Vintage hockey alright. Flyers basically took the ice beat the ***t out of the Soviets like it was a bar fight
Strome has one rfa year left. The Rangers need one year to eliminate 3 bad contracts. I’m sure something can be worked out-especially when considering that Strome has been resurgent since getting here.
Kreider is already gone if you ask the best writers but I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as it would have been last year or the year before if he was on an expiring contract.
I also think Skjei can be moved. I doubt the nhl think he’s as bad as this blog thinks he is.
Either way you pay a premium for dmen in this league and at 25 years old with a cap hit under 6 million he’s not an anchor
I remember watching that game. It was oddly televised on PBS (13). The soviets literally quit halfway through the first period. Left the ice. Had to be talked into continuing the game.
Staal comments always interesting here…like it was his fault that tying goal from Matthews deflected off Lindgrens stick. Staal and Lindgren should be out late in those situations because Skjej and Trouba are not cutting it. Looks like Quinn is realizing it
You keep reading Kreider wants to stay, and the Rangers want to keep him. And then in the next sentence they are definitely trading him. I’m not going to get my hopes up. I’ve made my peace with him being traded.
Think Strome is here to stay ..even the twitter chart boys are coming around
Guys, I’m not as concerned about the amount of shots they give up as some of you are. It’s the quality of shots. Toronto throws everything on the net, but how many of them were difficult shots? What we should appreciate is that they can out score many high scoring teams. The defense is very young, Trouba including. It needs at least one more nasty, big, hitting stay at home guy, and they need to play together more. There is a reason why Lindgren /Fox pair works. They know each other’s tendencies.
They have some control over Strome and DeAngelo. Kreider is a different story. He will have to take a discount.
What a win last night, phew…Buchnevich is really a head case get rid of him please…
I’d think Strome would be willing to work with Gorton. He finally found his place after what was becoming a questionable career. Only question is whether Gorton is planning to have contract talks with him before the deadline. At this point, it would be foolish if Gorton not to. His arbitration award may be higher than what he may sign long term.
I’m gonna keep my opinion to myself regarding that Boston vs CCCP game or I might be forever banned from the blog.
Get rid of Buchnevich sounds easy. But what if his “head case” gets treated and he starts burying his chances?
Your $8 million dollars dman cannot be trusted with game on the line. Wonderful news.
I was up until 1:30 last night. I accidentally caught a Foreigner With the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus show live. Holy shishkebab!
I managed to stream the Chinese Fireplace while out to dinner. Unfortunately very subject to confederate viewing preferences. Two nights in a row the blog was manic while I was really excited to see us up 4-2 4-3 Was disappointed going to OT but we actually have a decent shot in that 3 on 3 thing.
As someone said last night, Strome continues to be unsustainable. I looked yesterday – he’s on a pace to be Breadman’s best line mate ever, perhaps excepting those times he played with Kane. Yet people prefer to put kids up there because well, they might do as well someday!
Decent shot? Every time Panarin has the puck they have a decent shot to score. Until everyone on the team realizes what he can do, Quinn should demand that everyone keep their sticks on the ice, ready to shoot. Regardless where they are. Maybe every player on the bench too, until they learn this habit.
Scores from last night: 3-2, 5-4, 5-4, 5-4, 6-4, 6-4, 3-2, 4-1, 6-1
Apparently most teams give up a lot of goals now.
I had no idea how complete a player the Breadman was until he arrived in Ranger blue! Chytil on RW with Panarin and Strome is an interesting idea, I forget who suggested it. Don’t throw a snowball at me James, but it was probably Bdl? 😎
ILB
My earlier post wasn’t meant to kill them or the coach. I for one am quite happy and enjoying watching games most nights.
The point I was trying to make was that they finally have the offense to be dangerous. They’ll need to learn to defend and suppress shots in order to contend.
TO may throw everything at the net but we’ve seen the obscene shot totals add up against teams like Ottawa, Florida, Carolina. It doesn’t matter who they play. The more chances you allow the more opportunities for quality chances and goals against.
Also agree on the blueline thoughts, ILB.
An interesting thing has happened this season. The right side has become a position of strength on the blueline. What they need now is to solidify the first and third pairings with more defensive oriented /physical dmen.
Time to give for Trouba and Lindgren whirl as the shutdown pair
Sam on the OT goal ” Save by Anderson, no it went in, Strome with the hat trick.” Retire Sam you’re embarrassing yourself!
For what it’s worth, LaGreca got the call wrong originally as well.
Ev
Strome with the hat trick please!
Tired of seeing #18 staring helplessly at our goalie instead of taking the man and facing the music.
Krusty! Like with the Canadians way back when – every serious pre-star talent was somehow scooped up by Montreal, Panarin should not have wasted time with Columbus. He has NYC and MSG written all over him.
Let’s Face the Music and Dance!
Staal our best D according to Carp!
Carp, in this regard, is delusional. 🙂 The Master nods.
NYR an keep D’Anger but then need to get rid of SkjeL and Staal and replace with more stay at home types.
coos, your Staal-bashing is nothing if not consistent, but as you are blind to his consistently good defensive play your overblown criticism of any mistake he makes is hard to take seriously. Still, it’s your peculiar franchise so knock yourself out I guess.
Beezle, Staal is a stay-at-home type and a good one. Not great, just good. Not much wrong keeping him around unless you can get him off the books completely.
CARPany man. 🙂
bobbyo, did you note Skjei’s ice time last night? With him it’s a question of cutting down his mistakes, which he has done of late, certainly relative to his partner, who’s struggled a little. He’s a frustrating player, but there’s no need to give up on him yet. Same with Butch, IMO, though he, too, frustrates. As I go down the roster, there’s no one I’d get rid of, even Smith though that’s for $ reasons you can’t fix anyway. Kreider it looks like you’ll have to, wish they’d deal with that problem one way or the other soon—he’s earned that much given his great service to the club.
“As I go down the roster, there’s no one I’d get rid of, even Smith”
How much is the opium of the masses nowadays, Norm?
When I watch Strome play, my heat map swells like a ball park Frank.
When I watch Buch play my heat maps looks like an IIP
Norm, Skjej continues to struggle with defensive assignments and is a turnover machine….there was a play last night where one of Leaf defenseman took the puck wide and down low and Skjej escorted him to the net instead of hitting him….Quinn needs to limit his minutes with hope him and his contract can be moved
Staal cannot shoot, cannot win wall battles, cannot move the puck out of his end, cannot move the enemy from in front, uselessly fronts net lurkers, and on and on and on. If you don’t notice him, that’s not good – he’s doing nothing.
You don’t limit the minutes of a guy you want to move, bobbyo, just the opposite. That’s fan-trading: give us someone we like on your roster for someone we hate on ours.
coos, that Staal critique is a dead giveaway that you are looking at defenders through your own unique viewfinder, the one with a pinhole lens. You want him to get pissed and hit someone—I get it—but that’s not his game, a game you are singularly unequipped to observe. And stay away from visiting announcers, who will drive you crazy with their unbiased praise of the good defensive plays he makes on a routine basis.
CCCP, I pony up around 2-3% of my income to my church, in answer to your question. Should be more, I know, but I rationalize that by singing for the rest of the masses.
I love the smell of opium in the morning.
Norm
I guess coos and I use the same view finder.
I do recall you being the sole purchaser of the Shuffleboard® product, Eli 😬
Staal surely isn’t worth his salary
Don’t call him Shirley.
E3
neither are Henrik, Smith, Skjei, Beleskey or the buyout boys (Shatty/Girardi)
Alex/norm – agreed
I’d be happy to see Shay and Buch packaged for a rugged, physical, winger…or even a Gallagher type….
Hank, Shay, Buch for E. Kane and B Dillon
Norm you limit Skjejs minutes you limit mistakes and improve chance to win…..not looking for a fan trade ..getting rid of his contract would Be primary goal
You can’t trade Skjei at his hit if you limit his minutes I don’t think. They show zero inclination to limit them in any case—they appreciate his positives more than we do.
Cheap bastid! You should pay THEM for having to listen to you sing.
What, my silky smooth baritone? They line up to go by it. (Communion joke)
I would be willing to send SkjeiL and Butch to San Jose for Dillon and Meier. Or Dillon, Kane and a pick. If they could get San Jose’s #1 that would be another choice in the lottery, and another chance to move up. If they are thinking about moving TonyD, they should call Anaheim. They are in urgent need of someone like him.
ILB re: Buchnevich- I don’t think he’s a head case. I think his skill set is a great one but I also think it’s slightly redundant in the event that Kravtsov makes the team at some point.
They could use someone more physical or at least with a shoot first mentality
Boy,
Thank God Hank Smith and Staal are in their mid – late 30s otherwise Norm would sign up for another 20 years of all 3.
Gotta move forward in this life as well as this game, Norm. No disrespect meant to you or those players🤷🏻♂️
Get yer facts straight first, James. Smith is 30, Staal 32, Hank 37. They’re old enough without you making them older!
Norm
add another year to each in first qtr 2020.
Torts with another classic postgame rant
Torts knows how to scare the hell out of them.
If Tort played for the Rangers, he’d be best buddies with Glass, Haley, or whomever was the current muscle. Like Bobby Clarke and Dave Schultz.
Trade Buch and Shay And a #2 for Kane and Dillon. Rangers are now playoff ready
Dillon’s nickname in NY will be ‘Gunsmoke.’
Citizen Kane.
Buy out ALL the deadwood, bite the damned bullet and let the kids play and grow. We’re not going to win anything for a while any way you slice it.
‘Marshal’ Dillon. His as yet unknown partner: ‘Fester.’
Was that a barn? Was that a barn? I think it was too small to be a barn, it looked more like a stable. There was a cow there, does that mean… what? That it could have been a barn? There’s no cows in barns. There’s cows on a farm. Are there always barns on farms? There are stables in farms, right, but not necessarily barns? I don’t think that was the barn. [long pause] I think we made the wrong turn.
Dillon can go with the best of them. He’s a bad azz
With Hajek out, Staal is the weak link in the defense right now. The Rangers should move him to 3rd pair to limit his TOI.
Skjej should be on 3rd pair
“Skjej should be on 3rd pair”
In Hartford.
Since reuniting with Trouba, the pair of Skjei and Trouba have been playing well.
Theyve been better. Idk about playing well , goodguy.
They have some pretty tough games coming up the next few weeks and I have a feeling a few of them will get ugly. Especially against everyone’s favorite team to belly ache about over there on LI.
Gotcha, Norm. I get confused since they all look 40 years old out on the ice 🙂
playing well is a stretch…. Skjej defensive zone coverage remains a mess
It boils down to the fact that they just allow way too many shots and scoring opportunities. Just take a brief look at the shots against that they’ve allowed as compared to teams who have been known to have “suspect” defenses and you’ll see they’ve let up more than even those teams. It’s up around 1350 shots in 39 games. And while they’re capable of being able to outscore opponents in just about any game, that’s their Achilles heal and can’t move on from mediocre without improving that problem
Skjei never seems to win a board battle. The other guy comes away with the puck or he gives it way by aimlessly shooting it around the boards. Young Mark Staal was really good along the boards , but, his diminished eye sight may have hurt him in his area. Their weakness in this area leads to many of the sieges that happen in the Ranger end and are part of the high SOG number they surrender. The Leafs and Canes do throw everything at the net, but, they take about 10 shots against the Rangers than they do against the rest of the league and that results in about one more goal per game.
Among all the advanced stats does anyone keep a simple accounting of how long the puck stays in their end versus the other team’s end? My “eye test” senses a great disparity that they need to address. I just wonder if the facts bear this out.
It’s so weird—I thought the Rangers BEAT the Canes and the Leafs. The more I read, though, the less true it appears to be.
Oh stop it Norm. You’re playing naive. You’ve been watching this sport long enough to know that you can win despite lousy play or lose despite playing well. I’m not one of the late night game thread doom and gloomers.
This is simply a conversation about what they have to do in order to improve.
Yes and to improve they need to trade everyone, got it.
No Norm just Buch and Skjej
ORF – Young Marc Staal was a beast along the boards. Won battles, and he was a master of that overexaggerated head-fake, which somehow fooled every single guy coming in to put pressure on.
Additionally – I agree that Skjei needs to go. I don’t care if he goes to another system and flourishes. And TBH, I’d love to see them try either Fox or Tony on the left for an extended look. If one of them can make that transition, we can stop writing off DeAngelo for the long-term. Otherwise…Tony’s gonna bring back a haul, which isn’t bad either.
…and Staal and Smith and Norm.
I’m way too expensive.
assumed name: Barry Tone
So they need to replace, depending on which Bonehead posted last: Staal, Smith, Buch, Skjei, Strome, DeAngelo, Fast, not Kreider, Howden, McKegg… Or be patient and suffer through the development of this very young and talented roster. It’s hard to know which approach makes more sense.
Norm
what about Henrik, Georgie, Quinn, Ruff, Gorton, Sather
I agree they might think about moving on from Sather.
Where the hell is Mando? I miss her. Only one post, but such promise!
Nothing’s ever outta norm for Norm.
When Norm types ‘boneheads’ why does it seem a pejorative epithet?
I’m not for trading everyone and I’m not a gloom and doomer. I’m just pointing out that good teams don’t get out chanced every night. My concern is that this is never raised as an issue by DQ. There are some big positives. Tony D, Strome and Chytil look like development successes. Two years ago Tony was only kept on the roster because he might not make it through waivers and now we are talking about extending him-if they can afford it. Lindgren has been a pleasant surprise. But the SOGs allowed, face off performance, PK and being shorthanded more than any team in the league are areas where there could be improvement. Incremental improvement in these areas could win them a few more games. Before Trotz the Isles bled shots and were a bubble team at best. They lost Tavares, brought in Trotz and became a contender.
LOL Norm, get some better bait. Every team in the NHL is looking to improve their roster at some point in the season.
I guess they’re ready to contend for the Stanley Cup with Skjei and Smith doing all the heavy lifting, eh?
ORF he’s trying to catch a marlin in an empty duck pond. Don’t worry about it.
We afford our opponents more shots than does CVS in flu season. We can’t win a faceoff. Therein lie major problemos that need attention and correction. Not rocket science. Get it done one way or the other.
While talking endlessly and scheduling Press conferences about a re-build and deciding who to buy out and who to send down and bring up, Gorton and Company made their biggest (yet somehow unspoken) stumbling move in not waiting for Trotz whom they KNEW would be available. No offense to Q, but let us be real.
Marlin Brando? sounds fishy.
Skjel is expendable because they have a plethora of ld in the pipeline, many of whom have projected higher ceilings than Skjel and all of whom will be cheaper at start. DeAngelo is expendable because for all of his wondrous offense, his defense has not improved one iota AND he will be very expensive to resign AND there are two projected rd in the system who will have less offense but more defense AND Fox/Trouba are better players (how much do you want to pay for a 3rd pair d and haven’t we already been through that). Buchnevich may be expendable because top 6 rw is where our ute strength supposedly lies and by the same token Kreider is really not expendable because top 6 lw ute is barren. Georgiev may be expendable because of Shesterkin and Huska but it’s just not worth expending him (for a 3rd rounder most likely).
What do we think Tony D is gonna cost to re-sign?
Athletes should be compensated according to the Communist Manifesto, ‘from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.’ Tony D, por ejemplo, doesn’t look like the kind of guy who needs a lot of money, so sign him cheap. Krusty looks like he’d be happy with just a red nose and funny shoes. Hank needs real dough.
coos, I was granted Bonehead status years ago by Carp himself. One of the great moments in my life. And if Bonehead is not a pejorative, then you explain to me the antics of this wacky website. Finally, it takes one to know one, and just because I’m holding down the Lady Byng wyng doesn’t mean I’m can’t maintain the same level of idiocy as the rest of y’all.
Tony would prob get a 1-year deal around $4m right before arbitration. Especially if he hits 50 points. Best move (which was impossible) as an asset would’ve been to sign him to a 2 year deal this summer for, say, $3m per. He puts up 50 points this year, and would’ve been a massive trade asset with a bargain contract and 1 year restricted coming up.
Best move to keep him (again impossible in our cap situation) would’ve been to go long-term, which would’ve prob come in at $4-4.5m x 4 years. Which would’ve looked insane at the time.
Honestly didn’t think he would’ve put up points this year – I pegged him for losing most of his PP time to the other two righties.
I’d love it if they could find a way to keep him, too many RHD be damned. But if there’s a squeeze and he’s too expensive – it is what it is.
Skjei and Smith do not belong in the same paragraph, James, much less the same sentence. Boneheads, broadly speaking without speaking about broads, tend to excoriate Skjei for his mistakes, me included. But we also tend to ignore his positive contributions, which are numerous and easy to see if you’re not wearing HateSkjei goggles.
The rangers biggest problem is their inability to clear the zone. Losing 50-50 battles, face offs, and playing hot potato with the puck are the culprits. Rangers are having a tough time against aggressive forechecking…
Shay Shucks Sheet. Trade him and Buch for a tough physical winger is a smart play…
Hire Shurmur to coach the D. He clearly knew little about offense.
Did Schurmur get fired today?
Norm is angry
Who uses the word excoriate?
And why are you yelling at me? I’m not on the ice for what feels like 3/4 of the goals scored against the Rangers this season…..
He’s out like yesterday’s garbage, ORF.
Norm don’t yell at me. I’m sure Shumur was doing plenty of things well these last two years. It’s a big loss for the Giants. (s)
Quick, non-conclusive shot analysis shows the Rangers SA trending in the right direction at least. 33.8 against the last 30 days, 35.6 the previous 30, 36.9 before that. Needs to continue, of course, but as long as the Grade-As are kept within reason, shot volume is not a big deal. I’ll leave it to the advanced-stats folks to see how many grade-A shots they give up relative to the league, subjective as that finding will be.
skjei is awful, been saying it since he ‘s been a ranger. I was hoping his defensive side of the game would improve but it hasn’t, he’s awful, can’t defend, can’t see any GM in thre nhl who would take skjei’s contract off the ranger’s books.
Let’s analyze this a little. Doom and Gloomers aside (you know the guys I mean. The ones that were even upset with every game during the Presidents trophy year)
….Why is it wacky or hateful to want to upgrade one or two spots? This team is 19-19. If that’s good enough for you then good for you.
Some of us (meaning the rational ones) just want to see some improvement on the defensive side of the puck. The fact that you take exception to that is pretty absurd.
If you’re just fed up with the people you converse with at 11pm in a game thread I get it. But that doesn’t mean the rest of us are out of our minds for wanted to improve.
Norm not angry, James, Norm disagree, should not have used triggering vocabulary word.
As to “what feels like 3/4 of the goals scored against”, here’s Skjei:
Even: +34 (behind Panarin, Strome), -37 (behind Trouba)
Short: +5 (behind Trouba), -17 (behind Trouba)
First-line D most of the time, gives and takes away at Trouba rates. Not as expensive, but does not skate PP either.
Sorry boys and girls. I been away longer than expected. Life and Work got to crazy to check in here. Have been watching games on DVR drlay sometimes days later so I avoided all scores etc. then it snowballed into me not checking in here cause it would be too late to contribute anything to an old convo.
Anyways. Looking better now.
Too much to go back and see what I missed here so I guess I’m starting fresh.
Hope no one was searching obituaries for me. 😉
increasing effectiveness on the d is not just on the 6 guys playing in that position. it’s also systems driven as well as the forwards. that’s also why our 2 most recent head coaches trust a guy like Fast in top 9 or even top 6 role.
yes would be nice to move on from Staal or Skjei. the contracts make that easier said than done. Re Skjei to me it’s because we have more offensive d on right side who need better defensively aware partners. I wouldn’t mind having the lefty version of Kevin Klein from when he first came here. Defensively aware but not a pylon. Or a lefty version of Stralman.
no to the Gudbranson types. those are the pylons we need to avoid.
James, thanks for letting me know you’re rational–what a relief!–and by extension that because I disagree with your take on Skjei, I am not. 🙂
The case for trading Skjei is clear–you have enough [modern NHL] offense in your D-corps with DeAngelo, Fox, and Trouba. DeAngelo you have to sign, of course, and while Fox is a terrific prospect, we’ll see where he is at game 82. That’s when you assess Skjei, IMO, and there is no need to swap him at the moment or at the deadline. Nor is there any need to give up on him at this point of this developmental season. He’s young, talented, and signed at reasonable money. If he fails to grow into a bonafide 1D by season’s end, fine, trade him for not much, addition by subtraction, if you can find a partner.
The Minx insists Beat Wide and Captain Happy must be moved to have any possible chance of keeping Kreider. Staal needs to be convinced that shuffleboard is his future the sooner the better!
Dont see Skjej positives other than he can skate and jump into offense once in a while.. He’s 6’3 but plays like he’s 5 ‘8, never blocks a shot while screening his goalie and is poor positionally…all for 5.25 per. Unless they think his play is system/Ruff related and an be salvaged they need to move on
Why, bobbyo, is Skjei even with Trouba in TOI (PP excluded)? Not a rhetorical question–why does the coaching staff play him so much? Are they unable to see what is obvious to us, or are they able to see what is not? Is it with a trade in mind, do you think, showcasing?
Norm
tough decisions need to be made this deadline and summer. I would not want to lose Kreider or Strome because of Skjei (if there’s a way around it). I’m assuming there’s no way out of Henrik, Staal or Smith (short of buyout) . Trade for similar money doesn’t help much if we want to keep Kreider and Strome.
Alex, it’s a lack of good options and a lack of a sound defensive system is why Quinn plays Fast where he does. AV was playing not to lose plain and simple
Sure Norm- just point out the word you’re referring to in the only things I said before your belly aching episode. Thx.
It boils down to the fact that they just allow way too many shots and scoring opportunities. Just take a brief look at the shots against that they’ve allowed as compared to teams who have been known to have “suspect” defenses and you’ll see they’ve let up more than even those teams. It’s up around 1350 shots in 39 games. And while they’re capable of being able to outscore opponents in just about any game, that’s their Achilles heal and can’t move on from mediocre without improving that problem
stop it Norm. You’re playing naive. You’ve been watching this sport long enough to know that you can win despite lousy play or lose despite playing well. I’m not one of the late night game thread doom and gloomers.
This is simply a conversation about what they have to do in order to improve.
LOL Norm, get some better bait. Every team in the NHL is looking to improve their roster at some point in the season.
I guess they’re ready to contend for the Stanley Cup with Skjei and Smith doing all the heavy lifting, eh
believe that Skjei is with Trouba based on limted options… they dont overwhelm the young defensemen or overload Staal with more minutes. Think Lindgen is ready for more minutes and would like to see him with Trouba
Welcome back, Cregg! Didn’t check the obits. Maybe a few car trunks ; )
Norm one more time- if you think this team is a Cup contender in it’s current state then I’m happy for you. I would suggest an MRI of the brain with and without contrast…but I’m happy for you.
Who in the world thinks this team is a Cup contender as currently constructed? I sure don’t, not sure why you’d put those words in my mouth when I continually refer to this season as one of development and patience, the season everybody knew it would be. So I don’t see any need at all to mess with roster until necessary–Kreider you have to move, regardless of what caused the situation to begin with. He’s been a great Ranger and is clearly trending to the downside of his career in his 8th season–apparently they can’t even sign him for what he’s worth much less what the market will give him. You see what you have after that forced move is complete, and then on with the plan. Shattenkirking $$ to future cap space seems like a bad idea, though I will as ever defer to ilb on this one.
Skjel usually gets in trouble when he holds onto the puck too long. Now to me this is a symptom of other problems. Why is he holding onto the puck? Why doesn’t he automatically know where his options are? This problem is not uniquely related to Skjel, the entire defense shows this attribute, it just seems to me that the others (even old one-eye
probably due to experience) are able to find outlets quicker (Fox being a master). So it’s a vision thing, by vision meaning how well he’s able to read the ice, but it shouldn’t be. He should know what his options are as soon as he gets the puck, most teams do this automatically, so this tells me the d-zone structure is non-existent. The d are expected to read and react and that is not one of Skjel’s strengths. It’s a bit contradictory because when in the o-zone and everything’s in front of him, he can be good. But starting plays in the d-zone, blind spot.
Well, apparently you’re under the impression that there aren’t any moves that they need to make, right? I mean that’s all I’ve said today is that there are two spots they could look to upgrade. One being Skjei’s and one being Buchnevich’s.
Maybe you’re the one putting words in people’s mouths because I didn’t say “Skjei sucks so trade him” I said they could add a different element to the roster. One that would improve the team. Skjei has played 5 years and nearly 300 games in the NHL. He’s not developing any longer, is he? He’s carrying a 5.25 cap hit. He also plays the left side where you have several up and coming prospects that could very well match or surpass his level of play for much less money next year or the year after.
Does he eat up minutes? Absolutely. Is he the worst defenseman on the team? Probably not. Is he a whipping boy around here? Most definitely. Is there a need to improve the roster? I guess opinions vary but it’s my opinion that there is. Most seem to agree even if some of them are of the ‘sky is falling’ variety.
My biggest gripe with Skjei is that after all this time in the NHL his first instinct under pressure is to take himself out of position or to leave his man and chase the play.
Plenty of guys- even some of the best in the NHL- have bad habits. That one in particular is pretty bad for a Dman.
He’s not overly offensive. He’s not overly physical. He’s an average Dman making about average money. Plenty of them around. Hardly any that should be considered untouchable.
You’re not moving Hajek or Lindgren. You’ve got another year of Staal on the books. If you’re going to bring in a guy that can pair with Trouba or DeAngelo long term then Skjei is the odd man out.
Norm was designated a relatively valuable bonehead by a vote of sixteen to fourteen. 🙂
Pretty fugging classless.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6ozCG7HmCb/?igshid=19846tof1efxk
I know you voted Present, coos. I will never forgive you for this.
James, if I’ve been laboring under the misapprehension that you wanted Skjei and Buch traded relatively pronto, I apologize. Other than the Kreider move which looks necessary, I don’t think a lot of roster-jiggling is required during the season.
At my worst, after the Smith-Skjei-Smith-Trouba fiasco goal against the Canes as a recent example, I’m all about clearing out the roster except for the rookies, seeing what you’ve got… then I wake up and remember that’s no way to build the confidence of those guys.
It remains to be seen if Kakko, for instance, can get through this season with that confidence intact. I think he can, what with his ridiculous stickhandling skills, but he can’t be happy with his utter lack of 5v5 threat or his defense so far.
“I’m sorry for leaving my helmet on for the Russian anthem following today’s game, and I apologize to the Russian team and its fans,” Hayton’s statement read. “As a leader on this team, I was trying to process the game and evaluate how we can regroup. I was lost in the moment. The Russians played a great game tonight and my actions were not intended to be disrespectful. My mistake should not detract from their win. I owe it to my team and all Canadians to be better.”
At least he and/or the team handled the aftermath correctly.
The Duke is an All Star. Ottawa had to have someone.
I guess the rest of the Canadian team was not lost in the moment. Such bs… only other nations can get away with sh8t like that but not the “evil” Russians.
If Hayton were a Finn or a Czech, his action might be slightly more understandable. However, in sports, you have to let go of the politics.
Lias Andersson would have removed his helmet…and thrown it at the Russian team.
LOL Coos…
Sigh.
Kaakko Kaapko minus 14. (#2 overall).
Who is Lias Andersson?
C3 should we plan on Panarin tearing a knee in the ASG?
asking for a friend..
No apologies Norm. Always Love debating About this stuff.
Kakko-14= 10
I’s 7:20. Should have lit up three hours ago.
Staal didn’t make the All Star team?
He Hate Me
No apologies? Damn it, wasted one. Can I retroactively claim it to be insincere?
That new Ranger hat isn’t NY. More like Boca Raton or Fire Island. Whoever is in charge of the hat, smarten up!
Hey Nineteen, that’s Reetha Franklin!
I’m just growin old
It’s The Royal Scam
The Cuervo Gold, the fine Columbian
Make tonight a wonderful thing
“Skjej should be on 3rd pair”
It would help if SkjeL would first grow a pair
I have managed to escape the confederacy and have crossed back into the north again… at the loss of nearly 40 degrees of warmth!
Different boneheads have all hit upon what the d situation is:
1- forwards not helping enough
2- failure to know quickly what to do with the puck
3- general failure to clear the puck out of the zone in any manner
4- failure to play enough in the other zone
5- the shots against have gone down slightly and many are not high quality, but they still give up way too many.
I would say it is all largely fixable even with current personnel, at least to the point of getting to middle of the pack status.
The anthem shenanigans aren’t new for Canada. Wasn’t it about 10 years ago or so Montreal fans were booing the Star Spangled Banner?
I forget the game and the circumstance but remember the booing. And recall that the next game back in states the USA fans did not boo O Canada.
James! No knee tearing! Tsk tsk tsk bad boy you!
Brooks has rangers keeping Kreider, Tony D, and Stromeo and saying bye bye to Buch and Shay.
I agree
Beezle you left out being only bad – not awful- at the FO dot. These things should be fixable.
And James with the Bread man knee injury talk. A true Ranger fan.
I agree with Brooks too
No Kreider for me if you need to cut prime-time age to keep downside age. If you can keep him by other means do it, but his trade value outweighs his intangibles as he hits 29 this season. And I don’t buy this business anyway of young guys flocking to him, when he has a long track record of taking games off. Don’t want them flocking to that. If you want intangible role-modeling that bad, keep Fast for much less. All that said, if it’s that important that they keep him they should make him captain or what really is the point.
Imagine that Brooks read my post! Most of his material comes straight from the Bonehead Clan.
Kreider > Fast lol!
Norm hates Kreider.
I the idea of keeping Kreider, Strome, and DeAngelo is the right idea. The problem is the other part of it. Being able to trade Skjei and Buchnevich. I think Buchnevich is tradable. The return is not going to be strong, but definitely tradable. Skjei is another story. Not sure you can trade that contract.
The only people that don’t see this as the better solution, are the people who root for certain players, and against others, as opposed to rooting for the team.
SkjeL for no SkjeL? Win win.
BDL, you’re pounding this theme, and it seems directed at me. If not, fine, and I agree there are those here focused on whipping boys rather than the team. If so, it’s merely an attempt to mischaracterize people who disagree with you.
And if a better solution involves seeking a trade which will bring a weak return, it’s possible it’s not the better solution. A moot point in any case if you’re right Skjei can’t be traded.
If they want to keep Kreider, it’s not a bad gamble that he’ll be one of those rare guys who improve into their 30s given his great conditioning, but you don’t do it if it screws up the rebuild plan as a whole.
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