Game Analysis: #1 - 10/3/13 | New York Rangers @ Phoenix Coyotes Analysis

[Kel Varnsen]

why do people think that if we had a massively overpaid dubi and an underrated arty we would be a contender again?

Ignoring your qualifying terms, the answer is because we were last a contender when we had them. I think the better question is why doesn't everyone realize that 11-12 team was better than the sum of its parts? We traded winners for a loser.

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

Too late now so we deal with what we have. This team needs to get it together. No excuses. None.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Too late now so we deal with what we have. This team needs to get it together. No excuses. None.

Haha, not even that this team sucks from a talent perspective? And they fired a coach who realized that to bring in a coach who is used to having multiple elite offensive forwards at his disposal night in and night out?

What a joke. You're all going to realize by the time this year is over that we ****ed up a good thing we had going.

I'm all for supporting your team and being positive, but not when it's completely absurd. And we're at that point. Sucks to suck but that's where we're at.

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

No excuses. You're a Torts apologist and always have been. It's over. New coach. New staff. There is no excuse for the team to perform horrifically. Everyone's sick of you popping up to just **** on anything not named tortorella. I find it a tad comical that you use your words to talk down onto us like we're some sheep. Cut it out.

 

[Riverdale]

Torts is gone

Jesus christ GET OVER IT

 

[Raspewtin]

Haha, not even that this team sucks from a talent perspective? And they fired a coach who realized that to bring in a coach who is used to having multiple elite offensive forwards at his disposal night in and night out?

What a joke. You're all going to realize by the time this year is over that we ****ed up a good thing we had going.

I'm all for supporting your team and being positive, but not when it's completely absurd. And we're at that point. Sucks to suck but that's where we're at.

I am so sick of this claim. The Sedin twins and very arguably Ryan Kesler are literally the only elite forwards in Vancouver. They weren't the Penguins with six 25 goal scorers at their disposal. AV HAD something to do with how well that team did, and Ryan Kesler was on pace to being a pretty good 3rd line center until AV showed up and whipped him into shape. What GOOD did we have going? If the 2011-2012 team didn't win the cup that year, they were never going to, you can not replicate the kind of puck luck they had. And Sather knew that, so he got Nash. God damn I hope more than ever this team gets back on its horses and goes back on a tear to derail the stupid "TORTS WOULDVE WON THE CUP YOURE ALL STUPID" argument.

 

[stan the caddy]

I thought the team carried the play for the first, after they went down. Phoenix had like one shot after they scored there goal. They went something like ten minutes without a shot on goal. We also controlled a lot of the play in the second. The third was an atrocity.

To say they didn't have any good shifts though is something I can't agree with. It was a sloppy game, with certainly quite a few areas of concern, but i though there were certainly spurts where the team looked good.

You have to remember, as does everyone else, we're missing 2 top 6 forwards and arguably our best player, Stepan, missed all of the pre-season. He looked god awful last night.

They traded odd man rushes with the Coyotes in the first.

The injuries are overrated. They'll get Cally back in a few days but someone else is going to get hurt.

The Rangers have to live in the opposing team's zone. I dont care about the "system". Pucks in deep, no turnovers.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

No excuses. You're a Torts apologist and always have been. It's over. New coach. New staff. There is no excuse for the team to perform horrifically. Everyone's sick of you popping up to just **** on anything not named tortorella. I find it a tad comical that you use your words to talk down onto us like we're some sheep. Cut it out.

The excuse is that this is a bad hockey team. Torts just masked that and tricked your crowd into thinking they were actually good.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I am so sick of this claim. The Sedin twins and very arguably Ryan Kesler are literally the only elite forwards in Vancouver. They weren't the Penguins with six 25 goal scorers at their disposal. AV HAD something to do with how well that team did, and Ryan Kesler was on pace to being a pretty good 3rd line center until AV showed up and whipped him into shape. What GOOD did we have going? If the 2011-2012 team didn't win the cup that year, they were never going to, you can not replicate the kind of puck luck they had. And Sather knew that, so he got Nash. God damn I hope more than ever this team gets back on its horses and goes back on a tear to derail the stupid "TORTS WOULDVE WON THE CUP YOURE ALL STUPID" argument.

I was only putting the sedin twins into the elite column, but they are two people so multiple. And they're both far and away more talented than Loser Nasher, so there's that.

Why was that 11-12 year POs the furthest we'd get with that group? Did you forget that elite scorer Gabby played most of those playoffs with one arm? It was a young team that would have only been better the next year. Trading for the perennial loser made us worse the next year. Objectively.

You hope we "get back" on a tear? We haven't been on a tear since we traded for, Rick "we don't want you" Nash.

 

[Callagraves]

The excuse is that this is a bad hockey team. Torts just masked that and tricked your crowd into thinking they were actually good.

Well I wouldn't go that far.....wait.


I see what you're doing.


Nice anti-jinx

 

[Machinehead]

Did Dubinsky do anything in that playoffs besides throw gatrorade?

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

The excuse is that this is a bad hockey team. Torts just masked that and tricked your crowd into thinking they were actually good.

Ite. Thanks for the insight.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

Did Dubinsky do anything in that playoffs besides throw gatrorade?

Benignly skated around the neutral zone without doing much (if you were wondering).

 

[Cake or Death]

Haha, not even that this team sucks from a talent perspective? And they fired a coach who realized that to bring in a coach who is used to having multiple elite offensive forwards at his disposal night in and night out?

What a joke. You're all going to realize by the time this year is over that we ****ed up a good thing we had going.

I'm all for supporting your team and being positive, but not when it's completely absurd. And we're at that point. Sucks to suck but that's where we're at.

You're really not. In reading your posts for quite some time, what you are for is supporting Torts and being condescending, both of which are fine if that's what floats your boat. But I never really saw with any consistency where you are all for supporting the actual team. And to assess the team under a new coach, when the coach has one regular season game under his belt, that actually is absurd.

I'm from NY, but my ex-wife of 10 years is from Vancouver. And in those 10 years I met and still know a ton of hockey fans in Van, many of whom have played at high tiers, and pretty much all of them are die hard Canucks' fans. And the consistent feedback I have been given, from fans of the team who watch all their games season after season, is that AV is an excellent coach. But feel free to stand atop your Tortorella blow up doll and preach down at the petty, ignorant masses - many of whom have been watching and playing hockey for decades - and keep showering us all with your wisdom.

 

[Fanned On It]

Back when Torts was here I was the one saying that the team's problems were not caused by the coach but the players themselves. The players are the ones playing the game.. regardless of any "system" that is implemented, it's still HOCKEY. You still do the same basic things: move the puck, get open, play defense, shoot, score. It's not like any system is THAT much different from any other system to the point where it's going to completely transform a team - ESPECIALLY when the transformation you're looking for is from a team that couldn't create **** offensively to an offensive powerhouse.

It's only been one game so we don't know how this AV thing will pan out... but it's the same players as last year and IMO the team aint gonna look too different from last year.

BTW: There were tons of dump-ins last night. I bet some of you thought those would be all but eliminated under AV.

 

[Cake or Death]

Back when Torts was here I was the one saying that the team's problems were not caused by the coach but the players themselves. The players are the ones playing the game.. regardless of any "system" that is implemented, it's still HOCKEY. You still do the same basic things: move the puck, get open, play defense, shoot, score. It's not like any system is THAT much different from any other system to the point where it's going to completely transform a team - ESPECIALLY when the transformation you're looking for is from a team that couldn't create **** offensively to an offensive powerhouse.

It's only been one game so we don't know how this AV thing will pan out... but it's the same players as last year and IMO the team aint gonna look too different from last year.

BTW: There were tons of dump-ins last night. I bet some of you thought those would be all but eliminated under AV.

Who, exactly, is saying the team will be completely transformed or that anyone is looking for or even expects that? I think what a lot of people are seeking is a system that doesn't cripple and hem the D in their zone, that operates more in a 5 man unit as opposed to the 3-on-5 offensive zone method it ran under where our forwards and D were disconnected and there was no net front pressence, and maybe a PP and transition game that slightly resemble a PP and transition game.

You may not think there is a difference, or a big difference, but when I watch any team coached by Mike Babcock, his 4th line and 3rd D pair moved up the ice better and played with more cohesion than anything I'd consistently seen out of the Rangers in a long while. I'm not suggesting AV is Babcock, but we had to try something. The team got stale and predictable, and hit a point where it certainly didn't look very difficult to play against.

Regarding dump-ins, I'm not sure I grasp your point. They're gonna happen when the situation warrants it, there's no way around that. But overall, it's one game in and judging how anything will go is extremely premature.

 

[Doctyl]

I was only putting the sedin twins into the elite column, but they are two people so multiple. And they're both far and away more talented than Loser Nasher, so there's that.

Why was that 11-12 year POs the furthest we'd get with that group? Did you forget that elite scorer Gabby played most of those playoffs with one arm? It was a young team that would have only been better the next year. Trading for the perennial loser made us worse the next year. Objectively.

You hope we "get back" on a tear? We haven't been on a tear since we traded for, Rick "we don't want you" Nash.

so nash is a loser because he was the only nhl player on a **** team for a decade?

 

[SlingshotVv]

I see only minor issues with our current line-up. Nothing that should really be holding us back. The things that are going to be glaring this season, the scabs people are going to pick at will be:

Nash, if he doesn't have an elite scoring season. We traded away a lot of ice-time for him. Then he made Gabby expendable. The expectations on him are massive. He needs to hit those expectations the way Jagr and Gaborik did in their first full seasons here.

Stepan return to last years point producing form. Let's face it, we saw how it became the HF boards never ending discussion when Dubi held out, got his contract and then his game fell off. We'll read about it all season long on every damn website if Stepan doesn't produce.

Hank's sv%. He's going to be expected to make a lot more saves this season. With AV wanting players to attack the puck on defense, we could see a lot of what we did vs Phoenix. Players winding up out of position, and Hank expected to shut down the open man's blasts. Also, will his rebound control become an issue, with many more pucks making it through to him, with players remaining on their feet? Smaller pads, etc. Hank needs this season, but it's a contract year. I'm sure his focus is diamond solid right now.

Defense. Mostly MDZ. With the defense being activated much more, expect to see MDZ doing one of three things (1) activating every opportunity he gets and putting up career numbers. (2) activating at every opportunity and getting burnt regularly. (3) MDZ getting burnt a few times early, and playing half-way hockey for a long stretch of the season. 2/3's of those options are bad for him. We're going to see exactly what we have in a point producer from the blue-line this season.

PP. If Torts' PP in Vancouver excels and ours struggles, you know we'll hear about it all the time here. Despite the fact that Vancouver has a history of PP dominance and personnel that have excelled in PP situations for at least the past 6 years. The NYR have no culture of successful PP's except in like '05. Newell Brown didn't come with AV. People expecting the Nuck PP may be sorely disappointed. A disaster PP will also pile-on to the Richards NYR legacy.

Boyle. If our PK is elite this season, and if his face-off percentage is like last season, the complaining should be minimal. If our PK is struggling, and all we're noticing Boyle for is the amount of times offensive opportunity dies on his stick, he'll be mentioned on every page of every analysis thread.

I hope that about covers it. That's the stuff I'm expecting to regularly be reading here in the event our season isn't magical.

 

[Synergy27]

The excuse is that this is a bad hockey team. Torts just masked that and tricked your crowd into thinking they were actually good.

What a horribly biased, misinformed statement. Only someone with an agenda could call a team backstopped by Lundqvist with a top 5 defensive corps a "bad hockey team". I suppose Torts tricked all of the professional analysts and pundits as well being that many of them picked the Rangers to win the Cup last year?

 

[RangerBoy]

Dubinsky hasn't done much since the fall of 2010. Go look at his numbers from 10-11. He struggled in the 2nd half. He still got his money. In 11-12,it was struggle for him to hit double digits in goals. He suffered a high ankle sprain in game seven in the Ottawa series and didn't return until game five against Jersey. Columbus put him back in the middle after Tortorella put him on the left side. Jenner and Gaborik are his linemates.

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

The excuse is that this is a bad hockey team. Torts just masked that and tricked your crowd into thinking they were actually good.

On paper it lookx quite decent up and down the lineup atter Cally gets plugged in, on ice you're right there's a desire / execution problem and as we know games are played on the ice. It can be sorted out however. I wouldnt be surprised though to see a big trade in the 1st 1/3 of the season. It'll be 2-3 of our good players for a "star". Cant wait to see the "traded away depth" posts.

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

Dubinsky hasn't done much since the fall of 2010. Go look at his numbers from 10-11. He struggled in the 2nd half. He still got his money. In 11-12,it was struggle for him to hit double digits in goals. He suffered a high ankle sprain in game seven in the Ottawa series and didn't return until game five against Jersey. Columbus put him back in the middle after Tortorella put him on the left side. Jenner and Gaborik are his linemates.

Its maddening to see the over-, under- rated battle back and forth. I like Dubi, he is what is is - a decent 2LW, very good 3LW, who can fight a bit, put up 50 pts on a good year, PK, 2PP unit, take some faceoffs, has desire, etc. Im afraid thats his upside and would still take him on any team preferrably at more like 3-3.5 mil. Lets see what Pouilet does at 1.3.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I was only putting the sedin twins into the elite column, but they are two people so multiple. And they're both far and away more talented than Loser Nasher, so there's that.

Why was that 11-12 year POs the furthest we'd get with that group? Did you forget that elite scorer Gabby played most of those playoffs with one arm? It was a young team that would have only been better the next year. Trading for the perennial loser made us worse the next year. Objectively.

You hope we "get back" on a tear? We haven't been on a tear since we traded for, Rick "we don't want you" Nash.

Gaborik was garbage the next year. Gaborik has had 2 awful seasons in 4 and 2 bad injuries. He was also one of the most injury prone players in the league before joining the Rangers. You're being optimistic if you think that Gabby would never get injured again. Also Richards fell off the map. Our 2 best players being dead wood had way more to do with last year's finish than getting rid of depth players. In fact without Nash I GUARANTEE we don't make the playoffs last year with Gaborik and Richards doing nothing. Nash was our best forward in the regular season, oh and our second best forward in the regular season was a guy that was just ok the season before and didn't have that much success. There's also no proof that they would have "only gotten better". They barely survived the Ottawa Senators that year who lost one of their best players. They needed a blown call in game 6 to score 2 PP goals and win the game, otherwise they would have gotten eliminated and needed a miracle from Richards to beat the even more mediocre Caps. Then they got destroyed by the worst finals team since the Oilers in 2006 in the Devils. That team was not that good.

 

[Ail]

Ignoring your qualifying terms, the answer is because we were last a contender when we had them. I think the better question is why doesn't everyone realize that 11-12 team was better than the sum of its parts? We traded winners for a loser.

Haha, not even that this team sucks from a talent perspective? And they fired a coach who realized that to bring in a coach who is used to having multiple elite offensive forwards at his disposal night in and night out?

What a joke. You're all going to realize by the time this year is over that we ****ed up a good thing we had going.

I'm all for supporting your team and being positive, but not when it's completely absurd. And we're at that point. Sucks to suck but that's where we're at.

Yeah it was super awesome, we won so many cups.

You will be very wrong by the time Rick Nash leaves NY. Also, you can start talking about how bad things are when they are last in the division come December, not the first week of October.

 

[fredrikstad]

Rangers dominated much of the game early, awful in the third period. It's early, wouldn't panic. Lundqvist always starts slow, so this crappy game doesn't worry me. Remember, last year everyone wanted to trade Stepan until he caught fire in the last twenty games.

They do play terrible in front of their net, however. And there is far, far too much dead wood on the team.

Everyone is bashing Miller, he plays like he's afraid he'll be benched if he makes one mistake. Needs to play more instinctively and let the chips fall where they may.

Know Kreider deserved to be sent down, but they need his speed and size. Can he be worse than Taylor Pyatt?

Probleby not, but having him up, could destroy or slow down his development.