Alright, it's starting to get a bit nutty with the bi-polar opinions on Hank.
- Thread starter Hunter Gathers
- Start date
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broadwayblue
Registered User
Clearly he has not been his stellar self thus far. But it's a bit much when posters are calling him washed up and on the decline when he's been mediocre for less than half a season.
Hunter Gathers
The Crown
Agreed. But I find that just as obnoxious as the guys that can't blame him for anything. Both sides need to pay more attention to things.
Hunter Gathers
The Crown
Yep. One of them needs to click. And fast.
Either Hank needs to get his head out of his ass or the team needs to start scoring. Otherwise we'll start sinking more and more out of the playoffs.
Thankfully we are in a very mediocre division.
broadwayblue
Registered User
You've supposedly been here since 2002. Are you genuinely surprised that people here have radical opinions and will find whatever straws to grasp at to continue their agenda? You should be used to it by now. Every prospect is the next big thing until he gets called up and doesn't score in three games, and then he's trade bait. Derek Stepan is either a 3rd line center or the next Ryan Kesler, with the pendulum swinging in a different direction every day. Three game winning streaks mean that it's time to trade J.T. Miller and a 1st for whatever big name is on the trade market. A two game losing streak means it's time to blow it up. People who decided that they hate Michael Del Zotto were pointing out every missed pokecheck and failed pass in midst of a 40 point season just because they refused to admit that earlier claims of his worthlessness were wrong. This is never going to change. Ever. Best to just sit back, eat some popcorn and enjoy as people drive themselves nuts with hysteria and dramatics.
broadwayblue
Registered User
It needs to be both. Just like we can't be successful with Hank letting in 3 or 4 every night, we can't be successful with the team scoring 0 or 1 every night.
Hunter Gathers
The Crown
I think if one happens, the other follows. So give me just one for now. Baby steps.
Hunter Gathers
The Crown
I've "supposedly" been here since about 1998 or 99 or so (not sure why you wrote "supposedly" there, anyway
).And the board was never this insanely bipolar until about four or five years ago. The stuff with Hank, though, is even worse than any of that. It's just getting to the next level in terms of nutty, now.
What do u mean what's my point?
Lol
Seriously?
Guy gets paid 7 mil going to go up to 8.5 he's one of the worst goalies in the league right now
No debates no excuses
Ryan Miller plays for the friggen Sabres he's got a .923 save percentage
He's embarrassing himself out there. This guy will be a top 5 highest paid player in the league next year. Crosby Malkin ovechkin perry all amazing players carrying their teams. And then there's hank not even the best goalie on the team at the moment
We look the way we do because our best player looks the way he does right now
StepansLabyrinth
Rational Police
- Jul 2, 2009
- 1,845
- 1
mrhockey193195
Registered User
Agreed. It's a vicious cycle. One person says something ridiculous, and then even the most level-headed fans gets sucked into the argument and respond with even more ridiculous statements to counter. It just goes back and forth.
I'm hoping we all can agree that:
1) The team has had it's moments where it looked great defensively, but overall has had a ton of egregious defensive lapses this season and been very poor in supporting Hank.
2) Hank has had a couple games where he has been "on", but overall has struggled and not played up to his standards. He's fighting the puck, and not bailing out the team like he used to. And yes, it's part of his job to make amazing saves because that's what you need to do in order to be one of the best goalies in the world.
3) It's ridiculous to believe that Hank can't turn this around, when he has had an 8-year stretch of HOF caliber play and has been the most consistent goalie during that time period.
Congratulations! You've successfully shown why save percentage is a flawed, inconsistent, unconvincing stat. Way to go!
This is what I mean. It's a waste of time trying to convince people to be rational and level headed. Cable news and ESPN's stupid shows built on "debate" are turning us into a bunch of screaming morons who have to have "hot takes" to stick to, with substance meaning nothing. Just enjoy the irreversible trainwreck.
To be fair, all of the players you listed have actually been less consistent over the past decade. Perry won a Hart trophy, then faded until Getzlaf found his game again. Crosby has missed how many games over the past three years? I don't think he's even played a full season. Malkin has had rough seasons, and before this 50 and 50 hype with Ovi a lot of people thought we were watching the end of his superstardom when he had like 70 in the previous 170. I agree with the op in that the extremism is getting annoying. Hank has by no means been himself, and the timing of his slump may be even poorer due to his extension, but personally, I don't think it's fair to claim that a) he hasn't earned every dollar and year of that contract, and b) that he has been awful.
Since we're referencing other goalies' sv%s, I've got one: Corey Crawford. He's on my fantasy team and he's frustrating as hell, because he's bringing a .907 to the ice every night. I don't hear all the question marks about him. I don't hear that huge extension he got was ********, he had one good stretch this is who he is. I don't hear he sucks. Why? Because his record is 17-6-3. At the end of the day, I guarantee that's all anyone's looking at, and the same should go for Hank. His record is pretty terrible, but I think when you start to think about how good he would have had to be playing to improve it to Crawford's, if Crawford's seemingly playing even worse than Hank, then I think a more realistic and holistic picture develops. That doesn't mean Hank isn't playing much worse than usual, and that we need him to play better, but I think it does go to show that the animosity he's facing from his fan-base might be over the top and a bit unwarranted. If I'm looking for the reason this team has sucked so badly, I've got plenty of name before Lundqvist on my list. That said, If I'm looking for who will be most important in turing this season around, it's all on him.
Your points are valid, but I think they're directed at a small group of people. There are also a ton of us who don't make knee jerk comments in either direction. If those more level-headed folks do chime in you might see a response like, "Before we anoint Talbot the next Zeus and call Hank washed up, let's wait a bit and see how things play out. Hank still has 5 times more shutouts than Talbot has career games played." I think the many more relaxed posters will agree with you that it's important to remember that the collective play and confidence of the whole team has looked like hot feces and it's hard to know what's really what when this team can never get any traction and are in this seemingly endless downward spiral of suck. Lundqvist has been off, but if I had a dollar for every time a group of guys on this team stood there watching the puck and didn't play the guys away from the puck, allowing stellar scoring chances against Hank, I'd be rich. Or if someone could explain why the team can play D like the 70s Habs when Talbot's in net, but look like a cluster **** of Pejorative Slured amputated hamsters when Lundqvist is in net, that would be awesome.
GordonGecko
First Ping Pong Ball
You can't blame the Rangers record on Hank. The difference is that he's not stealing any games for us this year and so far hasn't played up to his track record. He doesn't seem right mentally, hopefully he gets it together by the playoffs
StepansLabyrinth
Rational Police
- Jul 2, 2009
- 1,845
- 1
I've been defending him against the irrational hate but I do recognize that he's not playing well (for him) and that it seems like he lacks confidence. For example, in the shootout tonight, he was just flat out not attacking the puck carrier at all. If he forced the shooter's hands more, he could have stopped two (if not all three) of the shots taken that ended up going in the net. Instead, he moved himself all the way into the net and let the other player dictate how the attempt was going to go. When he's more confident, he does a little more to force the shooter into a bad shot.
On the bright side, I don't see any major flaws with his game. The results aren't optimal but I think he's close to his old form. His positioning is okay and he doesn't look bad physically. I think he just needs to be in the game more mentally and allow his body to take over.
On the bright side, I don't see any major flaws with his game. The results aren't optimal but I think he's close to his old form. His positioning is okay and he doesn't look bad physically. I think he just needs to be in the game more mentally and allow his body to take over.
n8
WAAAAAAA!!!
i think the fanbase just got too used to him STEALING games for us that they forgot that bad defense frequently loses you more games than bad goaltending. also remember how much more defensive Torts system was with the relentless shot blocking, etc. I think opponents had to work way harder to get quality shots off in the old system. I don't have the corsi to back it up but I think teams are just getting more and better scoring opportunities than in previous seasons.
HockeyBasedNYC
Feeling it
I've never seen Lundqvist struggle with confidence as much as hes struggling with it right now. You could read his body language, even when he made stops in the shootout that he was fighting it. It's obvious he isn't pleased with how he has been playing.
The criticism thrown his way is fair for the most part. I just think there is a large part of the fanbase who is willing to give him a break considering hes carried this team on his back, being voted the team MVP for what, 6 years in a row? More?
He's really had some problems. Best thing for him is to play on another team. Sweden. Get away and compete in a different game so he can get back to basics. But while the criticism is fair, it needs to be spread around - to a lot of players, coaches and management. Just like the Giants issues are just Eli's. It goes deeper than that. It always does in team sports.
The criticism thrown his way is fair for the most part. I just think there is a large part of the fanbase who is willing to give him a break considering hes carried this team on his back, being voted the team MVP for what, 6 years in a row? More?
He's really had some problems. Best thing for him is to play on another team. Sweden. Get away and compete in a different game so he can get back to basics. But while the criticism is fair, it needs to be spread around - to a lot of players, coaches and management. Just like the Giants issues are just Eli's. It goes deeper than that. It always does in team sports.
JaeTM
Registered User
The team has in their losses, let up the first goal very early. I guarantee this has been easily frustrating Hank and causing him to think about the game as opposed to just letting it come naturally to him. We do score on him a lot too...the amount of times pucks go in our own defenseman is astounding.
