Post-Game Talk: #5 - 10/18/19 | RANGERS @ capitals

[Ola]

Right now this is pretty much a team of individuals with no idea how to play with each other. Yet. Not that they'll be "good" when they get to that point, but this is kinda what happens with a bunch of young players and roster turnover

Exactly.

My take:

1. Looking back Y2Y all roster turnover always costs us (and I am sure it’s the same for other teams). But especially in the past, we where more vulnerable because we relied a lot on depth. 1-2 players, not even key guys, and it still hurt us because depth lines and special teams etc needed time to adjust.

This year like all lines are fundamentally different, all D pairings are new, special teams are new. Lol everything is new.

2. One argument is that hey look at Vegas, they had a whole new team, and made the Finals. And sure it’s relevant, but it kind of speaks to the point of what we can do. Because Vegas played a very straight forward game. It was a team made up of — very — homogeneous players, all forwards where borderline 2nd line, high end 3rd line, guys. And they had insane depth, not 20-21 guys but closer to 30 guys to chose from. They could ice a team (i) capable of playing a tight game, and (ii) had the depth to wear down the opposition with like four second lines. Almost everyone on the roster where in their prime and so forth.

3. We have all the classic issues struggling rebuilding teams usually have. We check all the boxes.

*Bad commitments carrying over from previous generations (or just bad investments). Vets that just barely belong if at all.

*A number of kids that are finding their way, and not quite ready for the role they are given. Usually having one is doable, but we basically have Kakko, Howden, Lias, Fox and Hajak. That is just a lot, and it shows.

*Our goalie isn’t our best player every night.

*And from the perspective of our performance as a team — by far the most important factor — our focus as a team made up of 20 individual isn’t coherent. Many players feel outside expectations and want to live up to that.

4. We play Washington away after the dumb start we have and all turnover and what not. If we where to win this game it would be by playing an extreme “away game”, right? Why don’t we? For all of the above reasons.

5. The above issues aren’t a little inconvenience that will shave a few pts off our result in the standing. They can end up giving you all kind of problems. Hence why the hard part for rebuilding teams isn’t to gather talent, it’s to build a team and come out of the other end with all body parts intact.

We certainly didn’t “end” the rebuild by signing a big name (great player in this case) and trading for an established D.

6. I think this rebuild needed to happen and in many ways we have gone about it the right way. We have prepared well. Good attitude kids. Good drafting. But it’s not going to be easy.

And let’s not write off this season totally. It’s still early and we are doing some good things.

 

[offdacrossbar]

Hang on.

so ADA is benched for most of the game after some real bad giveaways in his zone.

i saw the game too dave.

However, brady skjei ?? Marc staal ?? I saw them play too. Skjei is a comedy of gaffs and marc staal is perhaps the worst defender in the league.

how do they avoid your wrath for their defensive play or lack there of ?

3-2 game and u play 5 defenders ? While sitting an offensive guy who can make plays while u over play staal and skjei.

The writing is on the wall. if he healthy scratches deangelo and inserts smith this early, after this crazy start and singles him out and begins this crap again, he needs to go.

the decisions this guy makes are curious. The line combos and the example scratches reek of rookie coach power trip stuff. Wheres the accountability across the whole lineup ?

already not a fan. Again

 

[darko]

Our C depth needs to be Ziba/Lias/Strome/Howden.

Bring up Chytil and Krava. No Haley and McKegg.

Panarin/Ziba/Kreider
Buch/Lias/Kakko
Chytil/Strome/Krava
Lemieux/Howden/Fast

 

[JHS]

It’s been 5 games and people are already calling for Kakko to be sent down. WOW, just WOW!! I really wish this site had a better ignore feature.

Here’s the thing, the team has no second line center, no real 3-6 level defensemen, and are filled with young guys. We can’t expect NHL level play just because these are the guys in the NHL— some are not ready.

I will be on this until he’s gone but Kreider has to go ASAP! With his current level of play some GM’s might just believe it’s a slump but if this continues( which I think it will) no one will give the Rangers anything more than low level prospects. He needs to be moved for a solid second pair d man and right now that may be possible to obtain. At the deadline, he might only be worth a third rounder at best. Kreider’s lack of interest in making any difficult hockey play is why he is impossible to to root for in my opinion. He just flips the puck around the ice and lets his linemates do the hard work. That’s why’ve he only does well with top players and makes no one around him any better!

 

[Larrybiv]

Panarin Zib Kakko
Kreider Lias Buch
Strome Howden Fast
Lemiuex McKegg Smith

Its early yet......but man do we have some major under achievers here. I am specifically looking at Kreider, Buch and Fast. Players that seemingly are on the way out. Dont they need to play well in contract years? Are they pulling a Zuccharello? Feelings hurt?

Howden is my other one. I am just not seeing ANYTHING near how Lias is playing. Not tough enough, not playing really
smart and def not on the scoring sheet.
Again, it's early.

 

[haohmaru]

Their passing, as a team, was pretty off last night - pass after pass was a little too long, too short, anticipating where someone would be and they weren't there, etc... and it resulted in a ton of turnovers and contested pucks.

And Marc Staal needs to lead from the press box. Smith is a better option at this point or throw Lindgren in there and let him learn the NHL level game. I loved what he did for the Rangers but it's time. He's not doing the team any good back there.

 

[IronBloodedLion]

This is a really bad possession team. Nobody can keep the puck on their sticks, and their passing is brutal in the offensive and defensive zone.

The PP1 unit does move the puck well, but they don’t generate a ton of scoring chances and is quickly becoming predictable. Just brutal overall.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

I’m surprised people aren’t making more out of Quinn’s postgame comments about Kakko

I am one of Quinn’s bigger supporters but wtf is he doing? He looks like a guy way over his head

 

[SML2]

I wish I could have made the living Marc Staal has made for himself being as bad as he is at it. It's comical. The man has made millions of dollars being a literally terrible version of an NHL defenseman who is slow, makes bad decisions, it far too non-chalant trying to get the puck out of his zone, and is an utter black hole offensively. How he has not only avoided buy out but kept a spot in the line up is truly mind boggling. He must have an awesome personality because he's Frikking atrocious. Truly awful.

 

[HonestGabe]

Kakko needs to work on his skating. Badly. He’s not going anywhere in this league otherwise.

These are the kind of gross overreactions I come to this board for.

 

[Irishguy42]

These are the kind of gross overreactions I come to this board for.

Better than the overreactions to the DQ comments, that's for sure.

 

[LORDE]

Shesterkin was the 1st star

 

[Mike in Houston]

I've come to the realization that no coach will ever be good enough for this fan base. Good grief.

 

[Crease]

I'm guilty of looking at the roster during training camp and seeing potential rather than current reality. Kakko, Chytil, Andersson, Kravtsov, Howden, Fox, and Hajek. These guys have solid to great potential, but they're not there yet. It's going to be a bumpy season and I think they're closer to last place than 8th seed, especially if they move Kreider.

 

[JHS]

I'm guilty of looking at the roster during training camp and seeing potential rather than current reality. Kakko, Chytil, Andersson, Kravtsov, Howden, Fox, and Hajek. These guys have solid to great potential, but they're not there yet. It's going to be a bumpy season and I think they're closer to last place than 8th seed, especially if they move Kreider.

This is very fair and honest. It’s exactly the reason we need to be patient as a fan base with the guys listed above but get rid of the classic underachievers like Kreider. Those guys can’t be around

 

[LORDE]

Team is a bunch of brown bananas and unripe avocados.

Pro tip:
Put avocados in a paper bag (never plastic) to ripen faster. Even faster? Put in bag w brown banana.

 

[Mike in Houston]

Pro tip:
Put avocados in a paper bag (never plastic) to ripen faster. Even faster? Put in bag w brown banana.

 

[bl02]

I know he wasn’t perfect but enjoyed watching Hajek especially in the second period and especially compared to staal albeit that’s not saying much

 

[Ola]

I've come to the realization that no coach will ever be good enough for this fan base. Good grief.

A lot of it is expectation driven. It’s tough, not only for the posters at this place but also DQ and the players and the rest.

But like I said before the season, there are aspects that indicates that we will be better this year than last, but also certainly aspects that indicates that we will be worse this season than last. Like much bigger turnovers. More kids. We are further away from being a ‘winning’ team. More pressure on a lot of hands. And so forth.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

I have a concern with our defensive system more than anything else really. I mean I never got the Pionk hate on here because I thought even in our crappy defensive play he still worked hard and was hard to play against but he looks good in Winnipeg, Shattenkirk looks good in Tampa, Yandle came to life after leaving here and I'd be willing to bet that if we moved Skjei he would become what we thought he could. I can't think of a dman that we let go that looked better in NY without considering age. So what gives here? This is more than a coincidence. Is it Ruff? What is it? Its definately something.

 

[Kovalev27]

Good to see the Rangers do what they always done. Coaching the offensive instinct out of their youngest prospects Chytil Kakko and Kravtsov. They’ll need to learn to be checkers/dump and chasers first. This is an organizational philosophy that’s gone on for generations.

 

[HFsNumber1Heel]

Between bachelor parties, weddings, and work I've watched a total of two periods live on TV and been to one game so here are my hot takes on this game and everything:

-Quinn despite all his crazy line combos an weird decisions for those calling for his head, it's not happening...yet! He gets all of this year and probably next year too and if there's no success, then he's probably shown the door. He better be watching Knoblauch who was brought in to develop, but is already having success in Hartford. That situation will be interesting to follow.

-Kakko isn't going to be perfect and have some bad nights. It's fine. Yes his skating can use some work like Pierre said but don't overblow it. His explosiveness and endurance will improve. His game is similar to Jagr in that he'll never be a speed demon but it's all about the board work. He needs a center to cycle or "do the waltz" with him like Nylander did with Jagr. Ironically that man or kid is in Hartford right now (Chytil). Those two should ideally play together with a vet at some point. Remember, also Joe Thornton and Eric Staal didn't set the world on fire their first years. And Jagr was "washed up" in between Lemieux and Nylander. It's all relative and overblown.

-The Namestnikov trade was necessary in the grand scheme of things, it was what I call "the wormhole of opportunity" (for all you Scifi fans) kind of like when you see a deal online or only have a certain amount of time to ask someone out before they get frustrated or disinterested, Gorton had to take it with Dorian, however short term in killed the depth and.......

-Penalty Kill still stinks and is unclutch. That may be the single biggest downfall this season. Untimely goals. This team doesn't have PK depth or any elite PKers that they had from 05-06--14-15. If someone in Hartford like a Fontaine or a Gettinger can specialize in that and be an average 4th liner, that's a win.

-People hating on my boy McKegg. He's a fine player for the role he's supposed to do a 12th-13th complimentary forward who can transport the puck, expecting more is silly.

-Ditto for Fast. At some point he's going to get hurt again though and that will probably be what leads to his exit cap wise.

-Depth on this team reminds me of the beginning of 2012-13 when Rupp was on the third line and guys like Pyatt, Powe, and Ferrioro were rotating in and out of the lineup. They need one more piece to even things out even if it's calling up Chytil a little early. I mean c'mon is Ho Sang such a bad lockeroom influence that he wouldn't be good on this team? If there's one thing that guy can do it's hold on to a puck.

-Smith hasn't been awful I just hate his face and he's such a dumb player.

-Right move not giving Kreider that contract, he is what he is. He's this generation's Duguay/Kovalev and has made a career or potential while having some clutch playoff runs. He's always going to leave you wanting more. He's an A+ complimentary player and a C+ or occasionally B- line driver.

-At the very least Hartford is playing very well. Shestyerkin is getting acclimated.

 

[will1066]

Can we have a week before the next game? Need recovery time.

 

[MrAlmost]

That’s not how that works

I was being slightly facetious. he looks bad. To the point that he shouldn't be in the lineup.

 

[MrAlmost]

Kakko looks a step behind. But as long as he's not losing confidence and improving I see no reason to send him down. Watching a game from a skybox wouldn't hurt though.

He looks more that just one step behind.