Rangers Report 3

Good morning, boneheads!

Yes, I got tired of reading this crap. Many hockey writers, especially this Dom Luszczyszyn guy (I’m glad I don’t have to write his name very often), keep bashing Drury and his personnel for overdoing the roster with toughness, and sacrificing skill for grit. Hence it’s a step back, they say.

So what I did was this: I copied and pasted their projected lineup from real Go Time Post last season, just before Kreider was injured. Here you go, the game against Buffalo

Projected lineup:

Lafreniere-Zibanejad-Buchnevich

Panarin-Strome-Kravtsov

Kreider-Chytil-Kakko

Howden-Rooney-Blackwell

Lindgren-Fox

Miller-Smith

Hajek-Jones

Gauthier, Di Giuseppe, Bitetto-prucha’d

Trouba-injured

Shesterkin in net 

And then I created a Go Time projected lineup using the players they have as of today. The line combos may be different, of course

Projected lineup:

Lafreniere-Zibanejad-Kakko

Panarin-Strome-Kravtsov

Kreider-Chytil-Goodrow

Barron-Rooney-Reaves

Lindgren-Fox

Miller-Trouba

Nemeth-Lundkvist

Gauthier (LOL!), Blais, Tinordi-prucha’d

Shesterkin in net.

So now, can you tell me if you think they lost skill and sacrificed it for toughness? I don’t see it. What I see is, if I am the opposition, the first lineup makes me think it’ll be an easy game physically, but the second one makes me check my helmet straps and other….ahem…protective equipment.

You know what else I see? Less borderline AHLers in the second lineup. And a lineup that can seriously compete for playoffs. That’s what I see.

And Drury isn’t done yet, more likely than not.