Around the NHL - Part XLIII

[Ben Grimm]

He deserved better than the 2024-25 NYR. I'm happy for him.

 

[cwede]

unreal how tight the WC race is in the east,
NYR play close to potential in 2nd half, they're in easy

 

[TheDirtyH]

Sam has definitely been better in Florida but he was already starting to improve in Buffalo in his last few seasons (60 point per 82 pace). He could always shoot but looking at that clip he seems to have improved his skating.

He's not even skating fast in that clip. You can count the number of strides all three of those flyers' players makes in that clip on one hand.

 

[ArPanet]

Reinhart substantially improved his skating. He also developed a chip on his shoulder.

Imagine that. Our 1 and 2 OAs couldn’t be bothered to work on their skating. It’s easier to just complain about opportunity and coast than it is to take ownership of your own destiny and grind. You were a high pick and you wanna be a high profile NHLer? Put in the work. Reinhart did. He improved tremendously. He’s also a very good two way player now.

Don't worry, Laf will be that guy as soon as he's traded.

 

[will1066]

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

unreal how tight the WC race is in the east,
NYR play close to potential in 2nd half, they're in easy
View attachment 960843

Hopefully they don’t

 

[CLW]

Hopefully they don’t

They will tho. Lots of wonky teams on that list.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Another goal for Kakko tonight. 8 points in the last 8 games.

 

[noncents]

Another goal for Kakko tonight. 8 points in the last 8 games.

my favorite part of this is going to be watching the rongite grumps go through the stages of processing. they're firmly in denial, and will begrudgingly proceed to (r)anger and then borgening. in the end, there will be acceptance that the player who is properly deployed has success.

the true haters, of course, will always deny.

 

[Boris Zubov]

Another goal for Kakko tonight. 8 points in the last 8 games.

Good thing we sold high on him.

 

[LOFIN]

Another goal for Kakko tonight. 8 points in the last 8 games.

Empty netter, but that too shows that he's being trusted to be on the ice when protecting a lead.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

They will tho. Lots of wonky teams on that list.

Some of those wonky teams keep on winning.

 

[CLW]

Some of those wonky teams keep on winning.

The Rangers will outwonk them.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Empty netter, but that too shows that he's being trusted to be on the ice when protecting a lead.

20 min of ice time too. Cursed out the pens after the goal and got a 10 min misconduct. He’s having fun now.

 

[LOFIN]

20 min of ice time too. Cursed out the pens after the goal and got a 10 min misconduct. He’s having fun now.

Confidence is a helluva thing. He's hitting more, also got into scuffles vs Buffalo and Detroit... Starting to look more like the Kakko that was drafted 2OA. And yeah, before some people are coming to throw cold water on that, I'm not saying here that this will last and he's now suddenly becoming the player we drafted him to be. It's been 12 games. But he has shown more engagement and swagger in the last 8 of those games than in 5 years with the Rangers.

 

[n8]

Dorofeyev with a hat trick of the season. 6 points in last two games. I remember a lot of people wanted him. We totally got Zac Jones instead.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I've never seen more bellyaching over a third liner than Kakko. Don't worry he'll have his patented 1 point in 15 games stretch soon enough.

 

[LOFIN]

I've never seen more bellyaching over a third liner than Kakko. Don't worry he'll have his patented 1 point in 15 games stretch soon enough.

Whether or not he continues on this pace, the talk will die down eventually. It was the same thing with Buchnevich for a while.