Anton Strålman

[Boruto]

Our pickup from nowhere coming away from Columbus and not extremely well known to the fan base. In a year that started slow and picked up along the way to become one of the most successful year in over a decade, Mr.Strålman provided solid defense presence to our bottom pairings with his experience and straight forward and uncomplicated defensive play. Playing 53 games last year and 44 this year, his presence has been known more often for his solid defensive play and opportunistic offensive skills than defensive lapses and liabilities. When a 4-6th defenseman goes through dozens of games without being mentioned despite playing 17-21 minutes a game, it's a testament to the consistency of play. The emergence of McDonagh as an elite defenseman, Dan Girardi as a shutdown defenseman dominating in minutes and blocked shots and the pedigree of Marc Staal and even the ever mysterious orb of swagger that is Michael Del Zotto, Anton Strålman has taken a back seat in the discussion and praise of NYR fans and on HFNYR.

At the age of 26, Stralman can become a part of our core for years to come given his solid play and the lack of pedigree which should be a upside to Slats' bargaining. Of the player discussions we have ranging between Michael Haley, Stu Bickel, Marian Gaborik, Taylor Pyatt and JT Miller, there is an absence of our of resident Swede on defense. In short, Anton Strålman everybody.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8471873#&navid=nhl-search

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[Chimpradamus]

Fluent skater (mobility is so important nowadays!), good passer, good positionally and can even dish out a hip check once and then. Probably one of our better pointmen of all our defensemen, who isn't afraid to launch the puck if the opportunity is there.

Strålman is an excellent bottom pairing D-man, who can handle top 4 minutes for large stretches if his coach asks him to - and do it well. Which would lead to the conclusion that he's a legit #4 D in disguise as a #5/#6, so Strålman is essential to our defensive depth. So yeah, I praise the guy and not because he's Swedish, but because he's a very solid two-way defenseman. I would actually be happy if Del Zotto would turn into a copy of Strålman's game, especially when it comes to consistency and when to take risks. Torts managed to get some snarl into Strålman's game and become more physical, which turned him into a more effective defenseman in his own zone.

I can only agree that for the minutes he plays and how little you notice him, that's usually a good sign when it comes to defensemen. I have to give some praise for this organization's ability to pick up other teams' thrown out garbage and turn them into legit NHL players (Rozsival, Girardi, Strålman, etc).

 

[Boruto]

Fluent skater (mobility is so important nowadays!), good passer, good positionally and can even dish out a hip check once and then. Probably one of our better pointmen of all our defensemen, who isn't afraid to launch the puck if the opportunity is there.

Strålman is an excellent bottom pairing D-man, who can handle top 4 minutes for large stretches if his coach asks him to - and do it well. Which would lead to the conclusion that he's a legit #4 D in disguise as a #5/#6, so Strålman is essential to our defensive depth. So yeah, I praise the guy and not because he's Swedish, but because he's a very solid two-way defenseman. I would actually be happy if Del Zotto would turn into a copy of Strålman's game, especially when it comes to consistency and when to take risks. Torts managed to get some snarl into Strålman's game and become more physical, which turned him into a more effective defenseman in his own zone.

I can only agree that for the minutes he plays and how little you notice him, that's usually a good sign when it comes to defensemen. I have to give some praise for this organization's ability to pick up other teams' thrown out garbage and turn them into legit NHL players (Rozsival, Girardi, Strålman, etc).

Especially with the upcoming cap, cheap effective players are far more important than a $6.5M player.

 

[5 4 Fighting]

Stralman is the unsung hero of our defense. Never gives up, can be beaten 1 on 1, but makes up for it with effort and production. He's a better passer than Girardi, better positionally than MDZ, and is more willing to jump up in the play than most of our D men. Always liked him, and I think he still has potential to grow. We need to keep him around.

 

[NYRFANMANI]

I don't get the beef with him at times. He is solid.

 

[Vickers8]

Stralman is the unsung hero of our defense. Never gives up, can be beaten 1 on 1, but makes up for it with effort and production. He's a better passer than Girardi, better positionally than MDZ, and is more willing to jump up in the play than most of our D men. Always liked him, and I think he still has potential to grow. We need to keep him around.

I think Strals strength is when he plays more physical and carries the puck out of the zone...I think when Staal comes back he and John Moore will make a nice 3rd pair

 

[Kreider Typical]

his picture is creeping me out. he's underrated this year. last year he was better w/o a doubt, but who wasn't? he's a solid bottom pairing guy for us consistently. easily our #5 this season w/ a healthy roster. filling in as a decent #4 w/o health.

 

[Punxrocknyc19*]

his picture is creeping me out. he's underrated this year. last year he was better w/o a doubt, but who wasn't? he's a solid bottom pairing guy for us consistently. easily our #5 this season w/ a healthy roster. filling in as a decent #4 w/o health.

he was on a bad Leafs and Jackets team so that didnt give us a sample size of what he can do.. he always had talent, his defensive game wasnt that good on those bad teams.... i still dont get why the Devils let him go after their training camp. good thing he didnt fit in with those on the Devils.. solid player....hope he is back next year.. only 26..

 

[The Gloaming]

Don't even realize that he plays over 20 minutes sometimes. That's really good for a 5D. Great pickup. Thanks, Devils!

 

[Vickers8]

he was on a bad Leafs and Jackets team so that didnt give us a sample size of what he can do.. he always had talent, his defensive game wasnt that good on those bad teams.... i still dont get why the Devils let him go after their training camp. good thing he didnt fit in with those on the Devils.. solid player....hope he is back next year.. only 26..

Good point Punx, only 26...excellent young defense we have

 

[Jabroni]

Very solid 5/6 D-man who can fill in top-4 minutes occasionally.

He was one of our best defenders last postseason. Hopefully he continues that into this postseason.

 

[Kokoschka]

Playing a very good game vs the Devils, good takeaway when Kovy tried to dangle him, solid positionally and smart, safe passes. Good stuff.

 

[cd211]

hes good.. soft at times, his best attribute is his skating, but i rather someone more physical on the back end.. this team misses sauer..

i pray that guy could play here again real soon! like next season!!

 

[Boruto]

hes good.. soft at times, his best attribute is his skating, but i rather someone more physical on the back end.. this team misses sauer..

i pray that guy could play here again real soon! like next season!!

Physical like... Stu Bickel?

 

[SnowblindNYR]

People seem to fall in love with traits of players rather than quality of players. People fall in love with "physical tough defensemen" and "big and fast" forwards. What about just wanting good hockey players?

 

[Chaels Arms]

Really good thing we re-signed Stralman. He's like McDonagh lite.

 

[JayQueensNY88*]

26 but looks 46

Anyway I have no problem seeing NyR getting rid of Pyatt,Asham and Stralman,maybe even Boyle

 

[Boruto]

If I recall correctly, he didn't play every game to start the season last year (healthy scratch?) as he only played 56 last year. For a while I didn't know exactly what he looked like, only a rough sense from seeing him on the ice. It coincided with the time period when I watched a lot of The Walking Dead and somehow I started imagining Daryl's face on Stralsy.

 

[NHL Fanatik*]

26 but looks 46

Anyway I have no problem seeing NyR getting rid of Pyatt,Asham and Stralman,maybe even Boyle

??? This post makes no sense..
but regardless, Stralman has been great for what he is asked to do. Most under appreciated player on the team.

 

[cd211]

People seem to fall in love with traits of players rather than quality of players. People fall in love with "physical tough defensemen" and "big and fast" forwards. What about just wanting good hockey players?

bc being physical and fast is the hardest to contain.. stralman is an excellent player for the role he's in.. i just think he's very soft and we have to many mobile dmen and noone that is pure nasty.. the closest we had was sauer for 1.5yrs and i just view strals as a stop gap until McIrath is ready or if sauer (crossing fingers) returns

and deff not under appreciating him or not saying he isn't good.. without him we'd be in trouble..

 

[LittleKev6D9]

I'm not even joking, Stralman might be one of my favorite players on the Rangers. I always love players who never get the credit they deserve. McD and Cally are my two favorites, but Stralman is right behind him. He doesn't play with grit or anything like that, but every now and then he can throw a hit. He's also got that flash of offensive skill and I never finding myself screaming what a stupid play Stralman made.

Would love if he got more PP time. I feel like he's not afraid to let one fly from the point.

It's guys like Stralman that make defensive depth. He's just as good as you can hope from a 5th defensemen. Will never understand why any fans get on him. He's done nothing but good things for the Rangers in his short time here. Happy Rangers resigned him.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

Tonight he was one of our best player I thought.

His breakouts were fantastic. Slick passes and he often used his patience to find the open man.

 

[Boruto]

Tonight he was one of our best player I thought.

His breakouts were fantastic. Slick passes and he often used his patience to find the open man.

When he gets the puck, he thinks and doesn't approach it as an options situation.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

This is a minority of people, but it seems like there are people that hate Stralman for 2 reasons and 2 reasons only a) he doesn't play a physical good ole North American type game and b) he's not a good ole North American.

 

[The Gloaming]

Anton is probably one of the best bottom pairing defensemen in the league.

He played 18:13 today. He averages 17:58 per game. And you don't usually go, "WTF was that, Stralman?" That's freakin' great for a bottom pairing defenseman.