Post-Game Talk: #10 - 10/29/19 | lightning @ RANGERS

[duhmetreE]

All creatures pictured are hydras.

You are correct for once.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

You are correct for once.

I like the “derp” version of this leviathan.

 

[nyrage]

Next game will be the moment of truth regarding Staal. I may be naive, but I have a feeling like he has officially become our 7D!

I hope so, but I doubt it. When it comes to Staal, he is Moby Dick to my Captain Ahab.

Staal has been a disaster and I get so mad watching him play. Sure, I appreciate his effort over the years, especially his early years and coming back from injuries, but this is no time to be sentimental. Let him be a player-coach and take over from Ruff for those that still want him to be a mentor. Just don't ever play him again unless there is an injury.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

I hope so, but I doubt it. When it comes to Staal, he is Moby Dick to my Captain Ahab.

Staal has been a disaster and I get so mad watching him play. Sure, I appreciate his effort over the years, especially his early years and coming back from injuries, but this is no time to be sentimental. Let him be a player-coach and take over from Ruff for those that still want him to be a mentor. Just don't ever play him again unless there is an injury.

The Rangers let Mark Messier walk to Vancouver when he was still very good.

 

[Raspewtin]

No, its not.

Stepan was a middle-6 center that was seen through rose-colored glasses because he 'was our own homegrown'

seeing Strome's career as anything other than a consistent tweener disappointment is rose colored glasses lmao

 

[lucky13]

it's not but it is about putting them in positions to succeed where they can exhibit their skills and attributes.

like I don't quite understand how skilled players are supposed to strut their stuff playing with grinders if that's not their game. I have much less of an issue putting a Howden or Andersson with Smith/Lemieux/Haley than I do a Kakko or Chytil.

I wouldn’t put Lemmy in that Smith/Haley sandwich tho.. he’s still young and seems to be improving and can contribute really well in the right role....
Putting highly skilled players can have fantastic results when placed with the right dirty/grinding type of player. I know this is going back almost 30 years but just look at Graves as an example of placing a grinder on the flank to do a lot of the dirty work for more highly skilled line mates....
I personally think Kakko would look great playing with Lemmy on one side and Anderson in the middle. I wish the coach would try it sometime.

 

[chosen]

Agreed. Cooper is very similar to late AV on the Rangers. His team rarely looks ready to play at the start of games and has that "aw shucks, we'll get em next time" attitude when their opponents take the play to them and don't let them play pond hockey. I wonder how much having some of our old leadership group plays into that too.

After the utter embarrassment they had handed to them int he playoffs, you'd think they'd come into this year on fire but they started pretty weak. Hard to say if it's the players or the coach or both but they don't have the fire needed to go all the way.

I think they came into the season understanding that just getting into the playoffs is all that matters.

He took them to the Finals and lost. It probably didn't help that their goalie played with a torn groin muscle for 4 games and that Tyler Johnson played with a fractured wrist.

Too many fans think that if you haven't won it all, it's a mark against the coach.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

re: Howden, I feel like the coaching staffs "different players need different development approaches" is in play here and they feel like he just needs to play his way through his mistakes rather than be sent down, etc. Which I don't really agree with but maybe it's something where he's really good in practice and does all the stuff they want him to do and they feel like he just needs the game time to figure out how to put it together.

Or is it that the leaders that helped make up that team were the former leaders on this team, ie Callahan, Girardi, and McDonagh?

 

[Fitzy]

Strome isn't here for the long run, so I'm all for his having success upping his trade deadline value. Especially if we aren't in the playoff picture. With luck we could maybe pull off a late 2nd rounder for him.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Strome isn't here for the long run, so I'm all for his having success upping his trade deadline value. Especially if we aren't in the playoff picture. With luck we could maybe pull off a late 2nd rounder for him.

I think it depends on Chytil really. If he cant get to a level they are comfortable on a regular basis they may keep him.

 

[Machinehead]

I hope so, but I doubt it. When it comes to Staal, he is Moby Dick to my Captain Ahab.

Staal has been a disaster and I get so mad watching him play. Sure, I appreciate his effort over the years, especially his early years and coming back from injuries, but this is no time to be sentimental. Let him be a player-coach and take over from Ruff for those that still want him to be a mentor. Just don't ever play him again unless there is an injury.

Meh, I still posit that Staal only became an "effort" player since the consensus has become that he sucks.

I feel we just do it to compensate for bad players.

 

[Machinehead]

I think they came into the season understanding that just getting into the playoffs is all that matters.

He took them to the Finals and lost. It probably didn't help that their goalie played with a torn groin muscle for 4 games and that Tyler Johnson played with a fractured wrist.

Too many fans think that if you haven't won it all, it's a mark against the coach.

I don't think it's that at all.

I think it's winning 62 games and then getting swept.

That's particularly alarming because the talent was clearly there if you won 62 games.

 

[lucky13]

Strome has done nothing but good things since being traded here but he still gets vilified by pedestrian Ranger fans . I also like this guys attitude. He is probably one of the most upbeat players on the team. Is he the ideal #2 center ? No. But the guy has produced.

He had a rough few games to start the season.... that’s really not up for debate imo... but he’s been better lately for sure.

 

[Fitzy]

Meh, I still posit that Staal only became an "effort" player since the consensus has become that he sucks.

I feel we just do it to compensate for bad players.

I think we do an alright job of differentiating between player's whose decline is perhaps accelerated due to apathy or diminished motivation (Redden, Gomez, Richards, Nash, St. Louis) and those who keep their work ethic high but simply can't cut it anymore (Staal, Girardi, Drury, Klein, Shanahan)

 

[will1066]

Strome five-game point streak

 

[Machinehead]

I think we do an alright job of differentiating between player's whose decline is perhaps accelerated due to apathy or diminished motivation (Redden, Gomez, Richards, Nash, St. Louis) and those who keep their work ethic high but simply can't cut it anymore (Staal, Girardi, Drury, Klein, Shanahan)

But Staal was never particularly known for being a high work-ethic player.

Not saying he's lazy, but he's not in the Callahan/Girardi/Zuccarello mold of over-the-top effort.

Suddenly, effort is the first thing we say about him.

 

[LORDE]

Strome is a 3rd/4th line center seen through rose-colored glasses because we're garbage and have to play him.

I'm not even a Stepan fan. He did absolutely everything better than Strome.

Except grow hair

 

[haveandare]

I think they came into the season understanding that just getting into the playoffs is all that matters.

He took them to the Finals and lost. It probably didn't help that their goalie played with a torn groin muscle for 4 games and that Tyler Johnson played with a fractured wrist.

Too many fans think that if you haven't won it all, it's a mark against the coach.

I don't think not winning it all is a mark against him, I think his team routinely coming out flat and being absolutely dominated by an objectively worse opponent in the first round is a mark against him.

AV took us to the final and lost too, doesn't mean he wasn't past his shelf life here when he was fired.

 

[Machinehead]

Except grow hair

It all fell onto his chin.

 

[LORDE]

It all fell onto his chin.

Yeesh. Where's the next stop???? Manscape town?

 

[Machinehead]

Yeesh. Where's the next stop???? Manscape town?

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Howden had spurts last night, but overall his game wasn't good. His ice time has dropped and if Andersson does keep doing what he did last night, a swap will be coming sooner rather than later.

Chytil looked like he did in Hartford. Quick to pucks, making plays all over the ice. He does this and there will be no 2C concerns this season. I'd expect it in bursts as well. Hard for a 20 year old to be consistent with that kind of play. If he does, could be something special.

The defense was fantastic last night. Amazing what having 6 guys that can skate can do. Really got pinned in their end only a few times, and the goal was basically given away by Strome not knowing what to do with the puck, with time, and backhand flipping the puck and not clearing it. He might want to stay in NY and is motivated to produce cause of a new contract coming, but we're not going to be the ones to give it to him. Trade bait for a contending team, hopefully. Once Mika is back, he's going to lose his time. Maybe he'll be moved to wing.

I don’t put that goal on Strome. D needs to see that the puck didn’t get deep and the forwards are changing.

 

[chosen]

I don't think it's that at all.

I think it's winning 62 games and then getting swept.

That's particularly alarming because the talent was clearly there if you won 62 games.

But that's just one playoff series. If we judge coaches by one series, we can come to the conclusion that every single coach is terrible.

#8 seeds sometimes beat #1 seeds. Especially in recent memory, regular season success has not correlated that strongly with playoff success.

Teams get hot. Goalies get hot. Injuries happen. Very few things going right or wrong can determine the outcome of a playoffs series. Look at the San Jose - Vegas series last year.

A hit post or deflection or bad call can determine a playoffs series. I think luck is grossly underrated as a predictor.

 

[chosen]

I don't think not winning it all is a mark against him, I think his team routinely coming out flat and being absolutely dominated by an objectively worse opponent in the first round is a mark against him.

AV took us to the final and lost too, doesn't mean he wasn't past his shelf life here when he was fired.

You think Tampa routinely came out flat last season? ******Edit: Just realized you meant against Columbus. I didn't see those games, but I bet Columbus and St.L to win the Cup, so I liked it.

Just looked. Tampa scored first 3 goals in Game 1. That's not coming out flat.

AV isn't a better or worse coach then he was 5 seasons ago. At least there is no way to quantify a coach's impact that I know of.

Once in a while you get a truly horrible coach like Trottier. Those are easy to identify, but they are rare.

In the end it's always about the quality of personnel, health, and luck in the playoffs. Coach is by far the least important part of the equation. If this wasn't so coaches wouldn't be on an endless merry-go-round from team to team.

The one thing a coach can do is instill a defensive conscience and get the players to obey. Trotz is good at that.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Maybe, but those contracts carry many risky “over-the-hill”-years. If we inked TDA now we get all his prime years and then he is off the books totally when it starts to get risky.

Trouba’s contract includes risky years?!?

I’ve said from Day 1 it was a phenomenal deal and every subsequent contract would demonstrate that fact. So far, Chabot and Josi have proved me right.