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Player Discussion Alexis Lafrenière

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Profet said:
That commercial is from the 80's. The original 6 are from the 20's.

Mods please ban.
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The Commercial might be, but DD has been around well before the 80s, being named Dunkin Donuts in 1950. And Original 6 when it comes to talking NHL was 1942. So I stand by what I said.
 
TopShelfSnipes said:
Honestly, at this point, this organization doesn't get the benefit of the doubt anymore in my eyes. At all.

Maybe when they prove that, for once, they can actually draft and develop top flight forward talent, in house, they'd deserve that again.

Cuylle can and should be top 6 this year, you'll get no argument from me on that. Kreider and Zibanejad should have been dropped down in the lineup a long time ago, and the Reilly Smith move never made sense.

As someone who's sick of wishful thinking and naive optimism ("we just have to get into the playoffs and then anything can happen teehee" kind of thinking), I want to see this team build a legitimate contender. The kind they would have been in 2014 and 2015 if Torts hadn't insisted on trading Gaborik (rather than phasing him down into a support role) and holding back guys like Kreider and Zuccarello before he left, and AV hadn't compounded things by obsessing over plugs like Tanner Glass and overestimating what he had in Staal/Girardi.

This organization has been in the same endlessly stupid cycle of "Rebuilding" and then immediately reneging on that the second is collectively prematurely ejaculates over the next big UFA or name on the trading block, only to mire the kids down on the depth chart until they're well into their 20s.

Lafreniere is young and might still figure it out. He's 23. But at this point, so what? You don't win Cups playing FMV for players - you need bargains and steals, and you need players who are worth the money too. Lafreniere wasn't drafted to be a third liner. Neither was Gabe Perreault, and neither is Brennan Othmann. Yet every time a young player comes up in this organization, that's exactly where they find themselves, stuck in this idiotic trade union mentality of incrementally earning dues with seniority...toiling away on the third line, forgetting how to work a powerplay for multiple seasons, just magically hoping the offense that has been there at every step of a player's career will magically reappear when it's time to pay them.

I'm sick of blaming players and coaches for an organization that seems to stand alone in futility in this regard. Seemingly every other team shows itself capable of developing top flight talent at least enough that you can make a compelling case the busts are the player's faults.

No Ranger forward has ever been drafted and developed within the organization and scored 100 points or 50 goals. No homegrown Rangers forward in the draft era is in the Hall of Fame. That's a remarkable streak of futility.

This fish is rotten from the head, and fans like me are sick of buying are way into an ECF appearance every few years with mercenaries and TDL acquisitions, while largely relying on goaltending and puckluck.

I want to f***ing dominate. I want to have the best line in the entire NHL. I want multiple 100 point scorers on the same line. I want an offense that can score off the rush and the cycle. I want to win a Stanley Cup instead of pretending all playoff berths are equally created lottery tickets and we should just be happy to be there. I want a homegrown guy with a cap hit under 3M vying for the league lead in scoring and posterizing NHL defenders nightly. I don't want to be arguing about ice time for top prospects who've produced at every single level until coming to this team, to this organization, because some lazy, allergic to contact vet somehow merits a season and a half of leash to "figure themselves out" and the blue chip prospect gets benched for every meaningless turnover in an October game.
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That's a well done response. But perhaps I watch the games from a little different angle than most.

Where you say, "I want to f***ing dominate," my thinking is, you aren't on the ice playing and you don't actually win, lose, or dominate anything. Not hating, I just recognize I am not on the team and am keenly aware that I do not win or lose anything when a team I don't play on wins or loses.

Again, not hating. People can and should enjoy things in whatever manner they want to. For me, hockey - whether that be the Rangers or going to an ECHL game - is a form of entertainment. I simply love the game. And the NYR for me have not been entirely horrific from an entertainment standpoint. Fourth most playoff and fourth most regular season wins over the last 20 years. No Cup, sure. But I believe that's true for 19 or 20 other teams over the last 20 years.

Regardless of all that, I do grasp where you're coming from and you did lay out a well explained response. For that, props and thanks! Even if I may not entirely align with the typical fan's perspective, I do appreciate well executed thoughts and efforts.
 
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Mandar said:
Kreider did.

(reply will be....okay...only one in like forever...)

But I see you're on a roll....please continue.
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A decade into his development, which is kinda my point.

Can't wait for Laf to figure it out at 30 on the Glacial Development Plan, just in time for the physical decline to set in.
 
TheWrongWay said:
That's a well done response. But perhaps I watch the games from a little different angle than most.

Where you say, "I want to f***ing dominate," my thinking is, you aren't on the ice playing and you don't actually win, lose, or dominate anything. Not hating, I just recognize I am not on the team and am keenly aware that I do not win or lose anything when a team I don't play on wins or loses.

Again, not hating. People can and should enjoy things in whatever manner they want to. For me, hockey - whether that be the Rangers or going to an ECHL game - is a form of entertainment. I simply love the game. And the NYR for me have not been entirely horrific from an entertainment standpoint. Fourth most playoff and fourth most regular season wins over the last 20 years. No Cup, sure. But I believe that's true for 19 or 20 other teams over the last 20 years.

Regardless of all that, I do grasp where you're coming from and you did lay out a well explained response. For that, props and thanks! Even if I may not entirely align with the typical fan's perspective, I do appreciate well executed thoughts and efforts.
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I love the game too, and honestly - that's what beer league, sticks and pucks, and open hockey is for. This year's team being unwatchable is why I've spent a lot more time this season watching PWHL (see avatar), AHL, FPHL, and college hockey - because I fundamentally don't like the composition of the team right now.

I take no joy in Mika padding his powerplay stats and watching Othmann get garbage time, while Laf still can't sniff a regular role on PP1 for more than a few games at a time no matter how bad that abomination of a first unit has been. There is no amount of Igor being decent, or Johnathan Quick milestones, or lucky Will Borgen shots from distance that find the twine that can overcome the fact this is a bad and uninteresting team, it's not a serious contender, and watching it play most nights is like watching paint dry. Give me Toronto/Boston PWHL. Let's see what the Wolfpack are up to, or what's up in college hockey. Hell, even Danbury Watertown on a weeknight in Fed league action is better. At least those guys leave it all out on th ice.

No, I'm not the one who'd be "dominating" when I watch the Rangers if they actually had their shit together, but I'd love to see a team that's actually worth watching. Where the top players are likeable talented and hard working, not floaters like Zibanejad, or guys like K'Andre Miller who's still trying to figure out his game when he had it much better 2 seasons ago...and where young players can develop instead of floundering in mediocrity until they get traded. I mean, what the hell is even the point of getting excited over prospects anymore? Kakko gets traded and is producing at his highest level yet since the trade, but couldn't do that here. JT Miller couldn't get top line and was billed as a "two way" 50 point guy, then goes to Vancouver and figures it out after being traded to TBL in one of the worst trades in Rangers history. Meanwhile, the Rangers are happy to pay 4 million dollars for grit guys like Goodrow and Lindgren who are basically replacement level or worse, or inexplicably sign guys like Reilly Smith who don't even fit in here and give them top 6 minutes instead of a kid like Cuylle who, frankly, proved he deserved a longer look last year.

Are we really that naive to think Gabe is gonna get tossed on that first line RW when Mika's contract is still here? Or does the team try and make a "big splash" as usual cuz the cap is going up, and try to pay Rantanen to expand his "4 teams he'll play for" or make a pitch for Marner, or go for another vet that'll take up space behind Mika like Boeser, Jason Zucker, or Palmieri?

Meanwhile, Dolan sits there smirking, selling a shitty product, getting his playoff revenue, and far be it from me to fund this disaster at this point, especially now that Fanatics is making the jerseys. And yet the fans by and large eat it up - >$100 bucks a ticket to watch a dead rubber game against the San Jose Sharks and sit in the nosebleeds? Ooh, but we might get into the playoffs and anything can happen, right? Well, I'm not buying that crap, and I'd rather lose, and suck, and force the hand than live in delulu land where "anything can happen" but never does.

I respect your opinion, but there's a reason this franchise is the laughingstock of the league, and fans like me are sick of it.
 
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TopShelfSnipes said:
Meanwhile, Dolan sits there smirking, selling a shitty product, getting his playoff revenue, and far be it from me to fund this disaster at this point, especially now that Fanatics is making the jerseys. And yet the fans by and large eat it up - >$100 bucks a ticket to watch a dead rubber game against the San Jose Sharks and sit in the nosebleeds? Ooh, but we might get into the playoffs and anything can happen, right? Well, I'm not buying that crap, and I'd rather lose, and suck, and force the hand than live in delulu land where "anything can happen" but never does.
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Me, you, and most savvy fans are not naive to think anything because you hit the real nail on the head in the above paragraph. The problem is, when 1 person closes the wallet, there are always 2 new ones willing to spend. And it will likely remain this way, cuz what real impetus does NYR or TML ownership have to change. Sadly, certain franchise values will continue to shoot up no matter how those teams perform. It's why I have largely detached from it all and often prefer to go see any iteration of youth play. At least the kids are playing with passion and heart.

Lafreniere... the reason I put most of it on him? Why am I gonna sit here making excuses for him or feeling sorry for a dude who's making millions, in a dream job, when he can't even bother to backcheck half the time?
 
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Can I say that I think Lafreniere is going to be fine once we actually start using him like a top option offensively? Play him with JT the rest of the way and hope some of that game rubs off on him ( I think it will). and really what does this guy have to do to get PP time? The excuse that PP1 has been too good to take anyone off has been irrelevant for months.

Laffy kinda reminds me of Lindor prior to last season. yes he might rub some people the wrong way, but we paid him a lot of money for a long time so best we learn to like him and put him in a position to succeed. The kid clearly has talent because we've seen it.
 
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haohmaru said:
Entirely speculation.

Kovalev is another one who had 95 points elsewhere and probably the best pure talent the Rangers have ever drafted at forward.
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...and never had even 60 points in two stints as a Ranger, nor was consistently a first line player at any point.

And no, the season he already had 60 points before coming to the Rangers before his production plummeted after the trade doesn't count.
 
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TopShelfSnipes said:
...and never had even 60 points in two stints as a Ranger, nor was consistently a first line player at any point.

And no, the season he already had 60 points before coming to the Rangers before his production plummeted after the trade doesn't count.
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Kovalev is the perfect parallel for Laf. Everytime you think "Ok he's finally putting it together" they end up regressing right back to their rookie season. The biggest difference is that Kovalev was arguably their 2nd best forward in the 1994 playoffs and was clutch as hell in their Cup run. Messier doesn't pull off his magic against the Devils in Game 6 with Kovalev's goal and 2 assists. Also, Kovy was always a playoff performer with the Rangers. Come playoff time, we saw the Kovalev we wanted to see in the regular season. It was like the inverse Artemi Panarin experience.

Kovy won a cup and was an integral part of it. For that, he gets a much bigger pass.
 
Guy is so damn lazy. Unreal.
The third period he barely tried along the boards. When is the last time he went to the middle of the ice
 
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