Chytil and Kakko have shown chemistry. Maybe Blais Chytil KakkoI think a lot of you are right on the points you're making about where to play Kakko and Georgiev's struggles.
1) It's clear as day that Kakko doesn't fit with Panarin and Strome. He doesn't fit the identity of a Strome cover forward (Goodrow/Fast) or a designated play finisher (Kravtsov). Just doesn't work. He needs to be with a group where he can cycle and use his strength on the boards.
2) Chytil seems to work best on a north-south line with the grinders. I think that's an interesting little data point to consider going forward- he may simply be at his best in a 3C role with guys like Blais and Goodrow long term.
3) Lundkvist's best game as a Ranger, though he's still getting Zac Jones level sheltered minutes.
4) Georgiev hasn't been the same since the incident. In his first few years he was inconsistent, but on balance quite good. Now he's one of the worst in the league. Kinkaid has earned the next game that calls for a backup.
5) There's a very hard decision to be made about where Lafreniere fits in this current lineup. If he wasn't a 1OA pick, he'd be in Hartford right now. He probably still should be.
Roster construction is based on Laf and Kakko taking the next step.There's really not many good line combinations I can see with the group of players on the roster. Goodrow isn't a good fit on either of the 1st or 2nd line, quite frankly he should probably be centering the 4th line. Rooney made a bigger impact at 5v5 last night than Goodrow has all season. Kakko I guess could move up to the top line, maybe with Hunt on the 2nd line as the forechecker/defensive presence. Keep Rooney-Chytil-Blais. Lafreniere-Goodrow-Reaves/McKegg.
At this point, Kakko is always the 1st forward back on defense. He's the 'Center' of that line in a traditional sense. How about we put someone else on that wing with limited offensive capabilities? Goodrow or even Hunt would work.
Panarin and Strome go East West ALL DAY unless Kakko is on the other side of the ice... then... 'it's too risky'.
OR
we break up Strome and Panarin. It's not working.... and I'd put Kreider back on the right where he's scoring off the rush with his snap shot and speed.
Panarin Zibs Kreider
Blais Strome Kakko
Laffy Chytil Goodrow
Hunt Rooney Reaves
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I'm amazed at how much we panic with the puck in our own zone. There's still no 'structure' in getting the puck out. There's still limited to no puck support. Once again, a lot of that comes to our centers. They just aren't good enough. Playing center is a lot more than putting up points and offense.
Is it time to try
KAM Fox
Lindgren Trouba
to help mitigate the puck moving issues?
lost in all of this, Lundkvist had his best game as a Ranger and Chytil had his best game of the season.
Hunt can’t play on the 2nd or 1st line as this guy just DOES NOT PASS THE FREAKIN PUCK EVER!,,There's really not many good line combinations I can see with the group of players on the roster. Goodrow isn't a good fit on either of the 1st or 2nd line, quite frankly he should probably be centering the 4th line. Rooney made a bigger impact at 5v5 last night than Goodrow has all season. Kakko I guess could move up to the top line, maybe with Hunt on the 2nd line as the forechecker/defensive presence. Keep Rooney-Chytil-Blais. Lafreniere-Goodrow-Reaves/McKegg.
It's McDavid he's like the modern Mario. I think only 2 or 3 of those goals were really on Georgie. he played pretty good, but Edmonton is just so big and fast and full of talent and they are better than us. And we almost beat them, brought them to OT. Not a bad performance by the Rangers considering the opponent. We scored 5 goals
I have a feeling that Georgiev may be waived (he would probably be selected) in the next few days. Kinkaid is a serviceable backup. May depend on when Wall is ready to play.
I imagine if Shesterkin was in goal last night and this happened then all blame would be placed on the defense.
I have a feeling that Georgiev may be waived (he would probably be selected) in the next few days. Kinkaid is a serviceable backup. May depend on when Wall is ready to play.
It seems like we've move to a much more aggressive man on man defense. There's major growing pains typically.I have more than a small amount concern that the back end (with the exception of Fox) is regressing from last year. Paging Jacques Martin.
If it was a man getting the same response there would be nothing made of it, everyone wants equality and then when they are treated the same they whine about it. I love Mollie but she shouldn't expect any different treatment than anyone else.
agree completely and I doubt Molly wants to be treated any different than anyone else. If gallant “sweethearted” her instead of giving it to her like he would any one else. That to me would be disrespectful
I saw the same thing. All they needed was a power play, and they got themselves going. Oilers will never be out of a game this year with an offense like that.
Busy scoring 2 goals & 1 assist in his first KHL game of the season
I thought Hunt was one of the guys setting a strong physical tone. He wasn’t poke checking. I felt good with him on the ice.Honestly, my biggest takeaway from last night is that the sooner Hunt is out of the lineup and Reaves is back in, the better.
And, can we stop lazy stick-checking superstars, please? Part of this "get tough" movement should be checking these guys instead of getting undressed by them.