A Few Words About Kevin Klein

[Cassano]

Aside from getting murdered at ES, my biggest pet peeve is that he can't kill penalties or he isn't being deployed in that role for some reason. You'd think such a smart, strong defensive player would receive consistent PK minutes to help rest the top 4.

What's the reason for his lack of PK time? He averaged over 2 mins a game in Nashville.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

Klein's game would improve with more minutes. It's a luxury that we have this problem.

He would slot in fine on the 2nd pair.

 

[SA16]

Aside from getting murdered at ES, my biggest pet peeve is that he can't kill penalties or he isn't being deployed in that role for some reason. You'd think such a smart, strong defensive player would receive consistent PK minutes to help rest the top 4.

What's the reason for his lack of PK time? He averaged over 2 mins a game in Nashville.

Most likely a combination that our top four is better defensively than Nashvilles combined with we only play four defenders on the PK and maybe they play six.

 

[slipknottin]

What's the reason for his lack of PK time?

Stralman

 

[NoQuitInNewMexico]

Aside from getting murdered at ES, my biggest pet peeve is that he can't kill penalties or he isn't being deployed in that role for some reason. You'd think such a smart, strong defensive player would receive consistent PK minutes to help rest the top 4.

What's the reason for his lack of PK time? He averaged over 2 mins a game in Nashville.

Probably as simple as the fact that McDonagh/Girardi and Staal/Stralman are settled pairings; sometimes guys will be stranded without a change but AV doesn't intentionally criss-cross them too much.

Don't know what's "normal" across the league but yeah, it at least feels like we have a deep PK forward corps and a shallow PK defense corps.

Klein and Moore are a good even strength partnership. It's hard to find a fanbase that really loves their third defense pairing; there are some crazy bad 6Ds in the NHL and no matter how good your bottom guys are you always notice when they get burned. If Klein was even an average puck mover, we wouldn't have got him for Michael Del Zotto, who regardless of his name and what he was worth two years ago was an absolute mess this year.

 

[bl02]

Guy is an absolute upgrade short term over del zotto. Probably for the next 3-4 years as well but we shall see. Just have much more confidence with him back there as opposed to our previous 5/6 d men in previous years

 

[BrianLeetch2]

+8 Leads the team. Enough said. Thread closed.

 

[Fitzy]

Probably as simple as the fact that McDonagh/Girardi and Staal/Stralman are settled pairings; sometimes guys will be stranded without a change but AV doesn't intentionally criss-cross them too much.

Don't know what's "normal" across the league but yeah, it at least feels like we have a deep PK forward corps and a shallow PK defense corps.

Klein and Moore are a good even strength partnership. It's hard to find a fanbase that really loves their third defense pairing; there are some crazy bad 6Ds in the NHL and no matter how good your bottom guys are you always notice when they get burned. If Klein was even an average puck mover, we wouldn't have got him for Michael Del Zotto, who regardless of his name and what he was worth two years ago was an absolute mess this year.

You got it. I don't think one is significantly better than the other but if you paired Klein with Staal, and Stralman with Moore you'd see different stats and results.

 

[Raspewtin]

You could say that about all of them, except Moore and Staal, an even they've been solid. Stralman was the best, till yesterday.

Is that a joke?

 

[Tawnos]

Yes and Yes.

MDZ was getting scratched by the non-playoff bound Preds towards the end of the season - just like he was in NY. Hope he gets his game back, but the Rangers made the right move.

The Preds fans that I'm friends with are all absolutely confused as to why MDZ was scratched so much. Most thought he brought good value when he was utilized. Gotta think Poile was pretty pissed about it too.

 

[Tawnos]

Aside from getting murdered at ES, my biggest pet peeve is that he can't kill penalties or he isn't being deployed in that role for some reason. You'd think such a smart, strong defensive player would receive consistent PK minutes to help rest the top 4.

What's the reason for his lack of PK time? He averaged over 2 mins a game in Nashville.

The Rangers use a strict 4 man unit on the PK to keep a pair completely fresh when the penalty is over. It's not an uncommon strategy. Tie that into AV trying to keep his D pairs set and there you go.

 

[Cassano]

Most likely a combination that our top four is better defensively than Nashvilles combined with we only play four defenders on the PK and maybe they play six.

Probably as simple as the fact that McDonagh/Girardi and Staal/Stralman are settled pairings; sometimes guys will be stranded without a change but AV doesn't intentionally criss-cross them too much.

Don't know what's "normal" across the league but yeah, it at least feels like we have a deep PK forward corps and a shallow PK defense corps.

Klein and Moore are a good even strength partnership. It's hard to find a fanbase that really loves their third defense pairing; there are some crazy bad 6Ds in the NHL and no matter how good your bottom guys are you always notice when they get burned. If Klein was even an average puck mover, we wouldn't have got him for Michael Del Zotto, who regardless of his name and what he was worth two years ago was an absolute mess this year.

The Rangers use a strict 4 man unit on the PK to keep a pair completely fresh when the penalty is over. It's not an uncommon strategy. Tie that into AV trying to keep his D pairs set and there you go.

I see.

Still, I don't think he's an adequate top 4 defenseman that can easily replace Stralman. But he's fine in his role; as a #6 dman.

 

[Tawnos]

I see.

Still, I don't think he's an adequate top 4 defenseman that can easily replace Stralman. But he's fine in his role; as a #6 dman.

I think you haven't watched enough of the player to form a solid opinion. Not unless you watched a lot more of the Preds than I think you did.

I'm not trying to sound like a jerk about it, but there's a pretty decent possibility that I'm the only one on HFNYR who has seen enough of him to do so (edit in: this is because the Predators are my second team from when I lived in Nashville. I watch about half of their games each year). I don't really count his time with the Rangers so far as being a great indication. The Rangers play one of the most difficult systems in the league for a defenseman in his own zone. All the between game practices in the world are no substitute for training camp in this situation. That Klein has been able to be a superb 3rd pairing guy under this condition is actually pretty remarkable to me.

 

[CDiablo]

Barely notice the guy during games, which is good. A solid Defensive D man. Whenever I see people complain about him I usually dont see what they see.

 

[Clausewitz]

A second pairing defenseman who doesn't complain about playing on the third pairing -- and has a positive plus/minus. Unless you're building an all-star team, I don't know what more you could ask of a third-pairing defenseman.

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

I'd like to see Klein be a little more assertive, especially with the puck, but I can't complain. I think he should be on the second pairing next year.

 

[NYR Viper]

His contract still baffles me. How the hell did Nashville sign him to such a long term, low paying deal? Very good pick up.

 

[NJRangers35]

At least half the games he plays in, Stralman is a bumbling idiot. Klein is very solid. He has a game or two a series where he makes a bad mistake in a game. Otherwise, he's been rock solid. He's also able to play it tough when you need him to.

I have watched 97 Rangers games this year, and this statement isn't even an opinion, it is flat out wrong. Stralaman has been extremely good this year. Stralman has been part of top 4 over that past 3 years that has been in the top 3 of the league in goals allowed. I know this thread is not about Stralman, but just had to point out how incorrect this is.

With that said, I don't understand why every time Klein or Stralman get brought up, the other needs to be put down by people on these boards. They are 2 different players and both effective.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I have watched 97 Rangers games this year, and this statement isn't even an opinion, it is flat out wrong. Stralaman has been extremely good this year. Stralman has been part of top 4 over that past 3 years that has been in the top 3 of the league in goals allowed. I know this thread is not about Stralman, but just had to point out how incorrect this is.

With that said, I don't understand why every time Klein or Stralman get brought up, the other needs to be put down by people on these boards. They are 2 different players and both effective.

Stralman is a dude that's not overly physical and doesn't bring many points. It's funny because Klein is like that too, but he's not a "soft Euro". The other reason is, Stralman doesn't spend as much time in his zone, so it looks like Klein is doing better, because OMG shot blocks!

 

[One Winged Angel]

Prior to coming to the Rangers, Klein was a 20 minute a night guy

on a top 10 defensive club in Nashville

Actually, he was top three in terms of minute munching for the Preds since the 2010-11 season.

They have been one of the better defensive teams in the league.

He's not getting enough respect here.

Great 2nd pairing defenceman playing 3rd pairing minutes

I agree with everything except for the "great" part.

Very solid 2nd pairing guy though.

Do weak possession numbers really matter when he's a +8 with John Moore as his partner?

No, because he's the not the kind of guy that's going to rack up great "possession numbers" and sabermetrics are garbage subjective situational analysis of statistics that don't work in baseball, let alone hockey.

They only matter to guys who would rather look at stats than watch games.

CORSI is garbage. 2 years ago, Tobias Enstrom had better numbers than Shea Weber, who should have won the Norris that year.

Good points, but I think Klein doesn't fit the mould of a player in an AV system. He is playing the same role that Aaron Rome was for the Canucks, but at a higher cost and a higher perceived reputation. Klein would be effective in Torts' system though, I assume.

Couldn't disagree more than this. He's not a spectacular or flash defender, but he fills the niche to a T and has been effective in his role. I really don't know what you're watching if you're saying he plays the same role that Aaron Rome did for the Canucks, who was a 7th guy.

I am a firm believer that strong puck possession players obviously correlate with winning probability. The goal should be to have the best skating team out there and AV seems to agree. Klein receives the least ice time out of all defenders, yet is the most praised it seems!

Defensive defenders aren't going to possess the puck nearly as much.

TL;dr Klein is an interchangeable part with a lot of other NHL defenders for AV's strict system.

And who is going to replace him at this very moment?

Just a wild guess, but my fellow Rangers fans defensive stance on Klein reminds me of Canucks fans stance on Keith Ballard when he first joined the Canucks.

And that is?

Don't really dislike him since I don't know the guy personally. I don't think he's that good of a hockey player though. Besides I don't see how suggesting he's doing fine in his 13 min role is suggesting I dislike him. That's exactly how AV is using him in the playoffs.

He's being used as a 3rd pairing guy, he's logged a lot of minutes in the past for Nashville. He could easily step into a top-4 role if need be.

 

[vladmyir111]

How can anyone complain? I was pulling my hair out multiple times a game with DZ in the line up. I don't even know Klein exists really, dude just eats up 14-ish minutes and there's nothing bad you can say about those minutes. What do you want from a bottom pairing D?

 

[Algernop Kreider]

So far, all the good he's done in the playoffs has been negated by his two own goals.

Why he decided it would be a good idea to block a shot with his stick is beyond me.

 

[Rangerfan4life90]

How can anyone complain? I was pulling my hair out multiple times a game with DZ in the line up. I don't even know Klein exists really, dude just eats up 14-ish minutes and there's nothing bad you can say about those minutes. What do you want from a bottom pairing D?

A McD-Girardi or Staal-Stralman pairing

 

[The Lunatic Fridge]

Really good depth guy to have. I sometimes think he doesn't shoot the puck enough honestly. But aside from that solid bottom pairing guy.

 

[Inferno]

His contract still baffles me. How the hell did Nashville sign him to such a long term, low paying deal? Very good pick up.

he doesnt bring anything offensively, and is steady defensively while definitely not being elite.

2.9mil is probably about right imho.

to me, he's a 3rd pairing defenseman. a good one for sure...but no more. i think stralman is WAYYYY better than Klein.