Alain Vigneault puts players on notice

[beef 4 lunch]

It's been five games. We're barely two weeks in. Thirteen days. The season is 199 days long.

I'm not basing this on five games. I've watched a hard working TEAM be slowly and deliberately dismantled and the pathetic attempt to plug in low level talent maybe hoping that something clicks. Take a long hard objective look at our roster. It just doesn't look good. Beyond Nash, Stepan, and Callahan and maybe Hagelin I just don't see much up front. But damn. Are we stacked on one side of our defense.

I could be wrong, but this team, regardless if the coach is not going anywhere. The sooner you recognize this the sooner you can start being worried about what happens at the trade deadline.

 

[TheTakedown]

Pouloit Brassard Zucc - horrible line up. No one finishes.

Pyatt Boyle Fast - horrible line up. Fast is holding the puck for 5 seconds behind the net while Boyle and Pyatt are laboring to get out of the neutral zone.

He's putting players in a position to fail and then putting them on notice.

Pouloit should be a spare. Healthy scratch.

Zucc needs to be put on a line with a finisher. Someone who can snipe.

Pyatt should be waived.

what about Richards-Brass-Zucc as a line? Richards can finish, can he not?

 

[alkurtz]

I don't understand what people want here.

Dolan is not going anywhere. I wish he would get into a boat with the Wilpons and sail off for never neverland but it isn't happening.

Dolan loves and trusts Sather. So as long as Sather wants, the job is his. Until he decides its time to leave, he is the GM.

Cry, moan, groan, complain, gnash our teeth...it's pointless. We are powerless to do anything about this. There have been anti-Sather rallies and chants in the past, but he is still here.

There is nothing we can do. Nothing, zilch, zippo, nada.

Does it make me angry? Of course. All I can do is decide to stop watching and rooting. But I can't do that.....for over 50 years its been a lot of frustration.

I don't want to accept it but I see no alternative.

So what do I do? I (as Seinfeld once said) root for the sweater. The Rangers have been a passion for 50+ years. But I can't judge everything by whether they win or not. I have to find my pleasure in them where I may. Even this train wreck, which I know will get somewhat better but not bring us a Cup, is just fascinating to watch. Its entertaining, its distracting, its though provoking.

Of course I want to win. Of course I think our owner and GM are terrible. I don't think our team is very good right now. The fascination for me this year will be seeing whether our young players come up and make it.

I don't want to accept years of failure and poor decisions but what can I do?

Complain here on the boards and to others for sure. Moan and groan and go to sleep aggrevated, for sure.

Its only been 5 games. I don't like what I see. The window I thought this team had to seriously compete for the Cup appears to be closed. But all I can do is complain and continue to root for the team. I don't run it. I have no say in personnel decisions.

If you can't deal with pain as a sports fan, where only one team goes home the winner in the final game; if you can't find some fun and happiness even among the smoking ruins of your team, then honestly sports is not for you.

 

[Blueblood 2]

Sather will renew his Oiler ties and make a deal before he zings AV. Poor Lavi needs time to rest and reflect. He sure as hell wouldn't get that behind the Ranger bench, since half the players are fighting for the lounge chairs already!

 

[Glennsoe]

Found at another message board;

Mats Zuccarello seems to be one of the players in the Rangers top six that Alain Vigneault put on notice as having to produce offense and get on the stat sheet.

Zuccarello told the Rangers website that he is well aware that he has no points in the Rangers five games and is constantly thinking about it. He said that he is playing important minutes and needs to show that he deserves to stay in that role.

He says that he has been producing a lot of chances and that he knows his offense will come, hopefully, Zuccarello said, it comes tonight against the Capitals.

Zuccarello has never gone more than three games in his career with the Rangers without registering a point.

He has gone three games without a point between about half a dozen times in his career in his career with the Rangers.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

Sather will renew his Oiler ties and make a deal before he zings AV. Poor Lavi needs time to rest and reflect. He sure as hell wouldn't get that behind the Ranger bench, since half the players are fighting for the lounge chairs already!

Both Schultz and Yakupov on the **** list. Either could be in play. Wouldn't mind Yaku.

 

[Jersey Girl]

Look at the bright side...Sather will most likely retire in 30-40 years or so, then we can finally start fresh, hopefully with a real GM for a change.

 

[JohnC]

Look at the bright side...Sather will most likely retire in 30-40 years or so, then we can finally start fresh, hopefully with a real GM for a change.

So you're telling me I'll have to bring my kids AND grandkids up as fans of a different team for the sake of their sanity?

 

[Brooklyn Ranger]

So you're telling me I'll have to bring my kids AND grandkids up as fans of a different team for the sake of their sanity?

Or else teach them to be Ranger fans and let them find their own way of coping with the frustration (it toughens them up)--that's the choice you have. Historically, people who follow hockey in NYC have chosen the Rangers, even though the deck (especially before the draft began) was stacked against them. And I'm speaking as one of the grandkids of an original (as in rooting for the team from the first day they stepped on the ice at the old Garden) fan.

 

[Kovalev27]

Haven't seen MZA set up anyone

Saw him hit a post that's it

Brassard has set up pouliot about 5 times and he's whiffed everytime though

 

[Pistachio]

When only one or two players "produce", maybe it's time to look at the coaching instead of the players.

 

[savebyrichter94]

When only one or two players "produce", maybe it's time to look at the coaching instead of the players.

When only one or two players are capable of producing it's time to look at the GM

 

[Pistachio]

When only one or two players are capable of producing it's time to look at the GM

I'm still convinced that most of the problems stem from the incredibly stupid method of moving the puck. Up the boards, dump to the boards. With a team like this, that doesn't work.

 

[Savant]

Having not enough shoot first forwards is one thing, but I think the real problem is that there are not nearly enough NHL level finishers on this team. Also I'm not really sure who fills that void in the pipeline, Kristo? Management needs to find those players or it's going to be the same problems over and over. The only players I am confident that can score on the Rangers are Stepan, Nash, and maybe Callahan and Richards. Everyone else is always looking to pass first or not to play offense at all. The Rangers have players that are good, but need more that are great.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

I'm still convinced that most of the problems stem from the incredibly stupid method of moving the puck. Up the boards, dump to the boards. With a team like this, that doesn't work.

With a team like what? Sooner or later, people are just going to have to admit this team just isn't that good, and stop projecting some sort of false narrative about what they're being held back from being.

 

[Tawnos]

With a team like what? Sooner or later, people are just going to have to admit this team just isn't that good, and stop projecting some sort of false narrative about what they're being held back from being.

Sooner or later, I might stop feeling the need to respond to you every time you say something like this.

Maybe that day is today.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Sooner or later, I might stop feeling the need to respond to you every time you say something like this.

Maybe that day is today.

Right.

Its much better to pretend that the fault lies elsewhere, specifically with the coach.

 

[Tawnos]

Right.
Its much better to pretend that the fault lies elsewhere, specifically with the coach.

Hey, I've never been one to assign blame. There are reasons things happen that often have to do with the way things are managed or run as far as coaching, but some things just are the way they are.

I was more poking fun at this board, including myself, and the tendency to argue in circles.

 

[Savant]

Right.

Its much better to pretend that the fault lies elsewhere, specifically with the coach.

The team is underperforming because they don't look comfortable under the new system. If the team is unprepared I blame the coach.

I don't think AV is a bad hockey coach but I don't think anyone can say he has done a good job thus far, especially including the preseason.

 

[Inferno]

I don't think any sane person would think the rangers are THIS bad/this untalented.

I think that's an easy out.

I think we have talent enough, particularly on the back end and in net to be a top 6 team.

sometimes, that's all it takes, get in, and see what happens.

still disagree with firing Torts though.

 

[savebyrichter94]

I don't think any sane person would think the rangers are THIS bad/this untalented.

I think that's an easy out.

I think we have talent enough, particularly on the back end and in net to be a top 6 team.

sometimes, that's all it takes, get in, and see what happens.

still disagree with firing Torts though.

When did you get a phd in psychology? Just because someone has a different opinion doesn't make them mentally unstable which is what you implied.

Having talent on D and in net can only get you so far, like the '11-'12 team . When people say this team isn't talented enough they are talking about the ability to put the puck in the net, which last time I checked you need to do more than the other team to win.

On the topic of just get in and see what happens, that's what we've been doing for the last several years. That type of mentality can often lead to poor decisions. When does just making the playoffs stop being good enough? Yea, you have to be in it to win it but a good management team knows when the odds aren't in their favor and reacts accordingly.

 

[SixGoalieSystem]

Haven't seen MZA set up anyone

Saw him hit a post that's it

Brassard has set up pouliot about 5 times and he's whiffed everytime though

That's rich. Not saying the dude has played well by any means, but he hasn't set up anyone? Really?

How about Pouliot at the 16 minute mark of the third period last night as an example?

 

[Glennsoe]

That's rich. Not saying the dude has played well by any means, but he hasn't set up anyone? Really?

How about Pouliot at the 16 minute mark of the third period last night as an example?

And where did he shot the puck?

That's right..into the chest of the goalie..

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

I was thrilled to hear some of the buzzwords coming from the coach, commentators, and players last night.

Things like "grind" "energy" "passion" "chip the puck behind the defense" "work below the hashmarks"

Sound familiar? The only way this team wins is it if brings its lunch pail to work every night and wins the battles in the tough areas of the ice. I think Vigneault got a rude awakening when it comes to personnel, and it became apparent over the first 5 games that opening things up is not an option.

 

[NYR Viper]

I was thrilled to hear some of the buzzwords coming from the coach, commentators, and players last night.

Things like "grind" "energy" "passion" "chip the puck behind the defense" "work below the hashmarks"

Sound familiar? The only way this team wins is it if brings its lunch pail to work every night and wins the battles in the tough areas of the ice. I think Vigneault got a rude awakening when it comes to personnel, and it became apparent over the first 5 games that opening things up is not an option.

I think that is the way any team wins. You can infuse as much skill as you want, if you aren't winning the battles in hard areas, you will rarely win.

They looked faster and better than at pretty much any point last year.