Injury Report: Derek Stepan (11/6: Will return Saturday)

[Championship*]

Look...if you can't see that every point in the season is important, then i don't know what else to tell you. You are trying to debunk that winning is important...?

You can't definitively tell me that any lost points won't effect their playoff chances at the end of the season.

All i am doing is pointing out that missing our #1 center, plus potentially having two rookie centers, or a player (who i like) who wasn't in the NHL last season, or a guy who was our 4th center last season, all could be at times our #2 and #3 centera for a big enough portion of the season...could be a big issue.

Could the collection of Moore, Miller, Lombardi, Lindberg, Hayes keep the team afloat? Anything is possible. Is it probable? Luckily for the Rangers, the rest of the division is going through injuries to top players.

Changing coaches, having a long travel schedule to start the season...could be a big issue. 6 in one, half a dozen in the other.

Again, you wanted to bring up Jokinen. Great start to that season. Did they make the playoffs?

Even if they had Stepan, Richards, ect lost points could happen. That's like saying don't leave your home because you might get hit by a car.

Are they going to lose every game in October? Or is it logical to think that the strengths on this team, which brought them through the playoffs, can help them win a few games?

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

Well we can only go off of what we are told. 4-6 weeks was the official from the team. 10 games is 6 weeks. Could be less. Could be more. Right now we know 10 games. Kreider didn't miss a beat after his injury.

Which injury? The ankle effected his play a lot.

The hand? It was a hand, not his leg. So he could keep his fitness up.

Stepan will not be able to do much. His leg will habe to heal 100% and then he will have to rehab his leg to get its strength back. Then he will have to get his fitness level back to game shape. Then he will have to get past the timid stage where he tests the leg out in games. Then he will have to shake the rust off and get his game back to where it needs to be...

Its a process, its not like he will be able to jump straight into a game and not miss a beat. Its not a hand, finger, arm, shoulder, its his leg. He can't do anything at all for over a month.

4-6 weeks recovery, how much for rehab, regaining strength and fitness, how much to get his game back.

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

Changing coaches, having a long travel schedule to start the season...could be a big issue. 6 in one, half a dozen in the other.

Again, you wanted to bring up Jokinen. Great start to that season. Did they make the playoffs?

Even if they had Stepan, Richards, ect lost points could happen. That's like saying don't leave your home because you might get hit by a car.

Are they going to lose every game in October? Or is it logical to think that the strengths on this team, which brought them through the playoffs, can help them win a few games?

Its probably in the middle...the defenseMEN and goaltending will help steal some close games. Team defense including forwards...Stepan is a huge part of our PK and our forward contribution to team defense. As was Richards. The question is, who will replace them not only in that area, but also who will replace their offensive production? You still have to out score your opponent. Thats 100 points (about 50 points each, season total) subtracted from the center position as it stands right now. Are Moore and Lombardi replacing that? Miller and Lindberg? Thats a tall task.

My hope going into the season was no injuries, at least until the young guys got their feet wet. Now they have to jump straight in, without much protection, and fill roles that are maybe a little above their head.

Im not panicked. Still think this is #2 in the Metro (Pittsburgh) and #3 in the East (Boston, Pittsburgh).

 

[Championship*]

Its probably in the middle...the defenseMEN and goaltending will help steal some close games. Team defense including forwards...Stepan is a huge part of our PK and our forward contribution to team defense. As was Richards. The question is, who will replace them not only in that area, but also who will replace their offensive production? You still have to out score your opponent. Thats 100 points (about 50 points each, season total) subtracted from the center position as it stands right now. Are Moore and Lombardi replacing that? Miller and Lindberg? Thats a tall task.

My hope going into the season was no injuries, at least until the young guys got their feet wet. Now they have to jump straight in, without much protection, and fill roles that are maybe a little above their head.

Im not panicked. Still think this is #2 in the Metro (Pittsburgh) and #3 in the East (Boston, Pittsburgh).

The best PKers on this team are still the D and G. Stepan wasn't setting the world on fire in October last year. Even with Stepan in the lineup, is this an offensive juggernaut? They still are going to win the majority of their games by scoring 2 or 3 goals and relying on the D and G to get things done.

Again, are they going to lose all 10 games? If they lose all 10 games the problems on this team are deeper than just losing Stepan.

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

Don't know what you originally said, but, dang those wrong things!

Look, i am optimistic about the season and this team. I'm just discussing my concerns now that Stepan, IMO our most important forward and our 3rd most important player (Henke, McD), is out with a broken leg for a month, at least. He wasn't a burner of a skater to begin with.

Really, I feel Miller is ready offensively to be about a .5 ppg player (40 ish points). And Lindberg ready defensively enough to PK and take faceoffs.

Lombardi, i hope gets pushed to wing, and gets used on the PK and takes faceoffs when needed. He will be important. Chip in offensively.

Stempniak can PK and chip in as well.

We have solid depth all around. Just worried about center for now.

 

[SupersonicMonkey*]

Cripes its 2:20am already....going to be a groggy morning.

 

[Placid]

Cripes its 2:20am already....going to be a groggy morning.

pffffft, thats when a lot of games START for us EU viewers

 

[TheTakedown]

Especially since the first month isn't really all that difficult of a schedule overall.

Agreed. CBJ, NYI, TOR, CAR, NJD are pretty much locks to be won... that's 12 of 20 points... EC needs to stop crying. If these 10 games in OCTOBER are the reason we don't make the playoffs then dear god, last year was totally a fluke....

That will not happen though. The reason why this is NOT an issue is because of the versatility and flexibility of this roster. Lots of guys, both prospects and vets, that can step in and pick up the slack when needed. Sure, there are some question marks, but we're certainly not in a position where we are handing a spot to a prospecct

 

[chosen]

I don't necessarily disagree. But, we were going into the season with those guys competing for a spot behind Stepan and Brassard. Now they are competing for #2 center.

If Stepan is out for about 20 games, that's about a quarter of the season, that is enough time to dig a hole too large to climb out of.

I realize most teams in our division have injuries to marquee players, but we should strive to be better.

Honestly, I would look to deal from a position of strength to fill a position of need. Staal for a center. Conor Allen fills in on the left side and he and Moore split the ice time.

Otherwisewe are looking at:

Brassard
Miller
Hayes/Lindberg/Lombardi
Moore

Stepan was never a burner of a skater. And this injury will keep him from being able to keep his game shape. He will miss a lot of games, and then have to build his stamina and physical strength. He may not be himself until very late in the season.

This is a tricky situation.

You would deal a top pair D because you lost a player in September for six weeks? !

Amazing.

 

[nyr2k2]

Its probably in the middle...the defenseMEN and goaltending will help steal some close games. Team defense including forwards...Stepan is a huge part of our PK and our forward contribution to team defense. As was Richards. The question is, who will replace them not only in that area, but also who will replace their offensive production? You still have to out score your opponent. Thats 100 points (about 50 points each, season total) subtracted from the center position as it stands right now. Are Moore and Lombardi replacing that? Miller and Lindberg? Thats a tall task.

My hope going into the season was no injuries, at least until the young guys got their feet wet. Now they have to jump straight in, without much protection, and fill roles that are maybe a little above their head.

Im not panicked. Still think this is #2 in the Metro (Pittsburgh) and #3 in the East (Boston, Pittsburgh).

Haha, really? Everything you've said in the past 24 hours has been negative and about how tough this will be. Talk of Stepan missing months, nonexistent center depth, dealing a top defenseman to cover for the injury, missing the playoffs--it actually does sound like panic. I mean ****, if this is you being confident in the team, what do you look like when you're actually nervous about things?

 

[Savant]

To put it simply, in my opinion, if the Rangers thought it was a major issue Joe Thornton would have been on the red eye to JFK.

 

[Zil]

To put it simply, in my opinion, if the Rangers thought it was a major issue Joe Thornton would have been on the red eye to JFK.

What cap space and trade assets are they using to land Joe Thornton? If he were actually that easily available then he should already be a Ranger regardless of Stepan's injury.

 

[Savant]

What cap space and trade assets are they using to land Joe Thornton? If he were actually that easily available then he should already be a Ranger regardless of Stepan's injury.

Are you saying that you can't visualize Sather trying to make it work?

 

[nyr2k2]

Are you saying that you can't visualize Sather trying to make it work?

I'm sure he's considered it. When you have a need at a position, it's the GM's job to explore all avenues to address the need.

However, Sather has never really been one to make panic moves. Not to my recollection anyway. If we acquired Thornton, it would likely be because Sather has been working on it for some time, not because Stepan went down.

 

[Zil]

Are you saying that you can't visualize Sather trying to make it work?

I'm saying Joe Thornton's one of the very best centers in the game and if it were feasible for us to acquire him then we would've done it before Stepan even got hurt.

 

[Levitate]

Which injury? The ankle effected his play a lot.

The hand? It was a hand, not his leg. So he could keep his fitness up.

Stepan will not be able to do much. His leg will habe to heal 100% and then he will have to rehab his leg to get its strength back. Then he will have to get his fitness level back to game shape. Then he will have to get past the timid stage where he tests the leg out in games. Then he will have to shake the rust off and get his game back to where it needs to be...

Its a process, its not like he will be able to jump straight into a game and not miss a beat. Its not a hand, finger, arm, shoulder, its his leg. He can't do anything at all for over a month.

4-6 weeks recovery, how much for rehab, regaining strength and fitness, how much to get his game back.

These guys are pro athletes with access to the best medicine money can buy (legal or not!) and the best personal trainers and rehab specialists in the world, not to mention they have spent their entire lives training and pushing themselves beyond what normal people do.

Their recovery time and ability to get back in game shape and past any mental blocks is far beyond what most people do...I'd honestly say Stepan is back in the lineup and contributing well by week 6. Maybe not completely 100% but that's just mainly because of missing training camp and all that

 

[offdacrossbar]

were already weak down the middle even with stepan.

the kings crapped all over us in the scf. they were bigger and faster at center.

if were doing brass, miller, and then some combination of lindberg, hayes and moore for 6-8 weeks then were in trouble. and im not confident that we can go out and get help via trade.

everything starts up the middle. forget the pk with step out and boyle and stralman in tampa.

while i want to believe we will be ok as is with the young guys, the reality is that other than brass and dom moore, we dont have a centerman with any real nhl experience at all.

thats just not gonna work for 2 months.

 

[Made Dan]

were already weak down the middle even with stepan.

the kings crapped all over us in the scf. they were bigger and faster at center.

if were doing brass, miller, and then some combination of lindberg, hayes and moore for 6-8 weeks then were in trouble. and im not confident that we can go out and get help via trade.

everything starts up the middle. forget the pk with step out and boyle and stralman in tampa.

while i want to believe we will be ok as is with the young guys, the reality is that other than brass and dom moore, we dont have a centerman with any real nhl experience at all.

thats just not gonna work for 2 months.

It sucks having to rely on two rookies to compose half your center corps, but what other options do we really have? Don't think Lombardi being the 3C will be much better, if at all. Would really prefer Dom to stay in the 4C role. It's a tough situation.

 

[Gardner McKay]

were already weak down the middle even with stepan.

the kings crapped all over us in the scf. they were bigger and faster at center.

if were doing brass, miller, and then some combination of lindberg, hayes and moore for 6-8 weeks then were in trouble. and im not confident that we can go out and get help via trade.

everything starts up the middle. forget the pk with step out and boyle and stralman in tampa.

while i want to believe we will be ok as is with the young guys, the reality is that other than brass and dom moore, we dont have a centerman with any real nhl experience at all.

thats just not gonna work for 2 months.

Happen to agree. Although Miller has tons of potential and showed some great stuff in his first pre-season game, the fact of the matter is that he is still a wild car. Moore may offensively handicap a line however, he will not make the same defensive mistakes that a rookie will make. I wouldn't mind giving Miller some time at 2C just to get his feet wet if he is playing well but, that is about it.

 

[offdacrossbar]

XXX
brass
XXX
moore

thats what weve got

it will prob be

brass
XXX
moore
XXX

now we fill in the blanks.

brass
miller
moore
lindberg


its not pretty.

 

[Beer League Sniper]

We'll survive. Perhaps our rookies will be able to hold down the fort playing on pure adrenaline until Stepan returns. We're still a playoff team.

 

[silverfish]

I think it'll go:

Moore
Brass
Miller
Lombardi

to the tune of...

Kreider - Moore - MSL
Nash - Brass - Zuc
Hagelin - Miller - Stempniak
Glass - Lombardi - Malone
Mueller

Moore was given an extended offensive role in the Canadiens series, and he did just fine. 3 points in 6 games. He gave us good minutes that series.

I posted this on the Trade Rumors Forum, but if Stepan takes the full 6 weeks, it's 12 games. 8 of those games are home games. AV can match up how he pleases 8 out of 12 times.

I'm cautiously optimistic the Rangers can maintain a .500 record in that span without Stepan.

EDIT - Further thought, wouldn't be surprised to see Mueller in the lineup night in and night out over someone on the 4th line. Considering the way AV used him on the PP in the Devils game. I believe he was working a point and shifting to the half-wall. AV probably likes his offensive instinct, and the fact that he's a right-handed shot. Could take Stepan's space on one of the PP units. Just a random thought.

 

[Levitate]

were already weak down the middle even with stepan.

the kings crapped all over us in the scf. they were bigger and faster at center.

if were doing brass, miller, and then some combination of lindberg, hayes and moore for 6-8 weeks then were in trouble. and im not confident that we can go out and get help via trade.

everything starts up the middle. forget the pk with step out and boyle and stralman in tampa.

while i want to believe we will be ok as is with the young guys, the reality is that other than brass and dom moore, we dont have a centerman with any real nhl experience at all.

thats just not gonna work for 2 months.

If we believe the timeline given for Stepan's recovery, it will be a month at most...it's still two weeks before the start of the season, so if he misses 6 weeks he should be back near the beginning of November

I suspect they can manage for that period of time until Stepan is back. The first month of the season is usually sloppy and all over the place anyways and if the Rangers can stick around .500 or better, they'd be off to a better start than they were last season.

Also, it's not ideal but it's not incredibly horrible either, you gotta be able to give your young players some trust and responsibility at some point. Miller was going to be a 3C for this team anyways and I suspect with Stepan out it's more that Dom Moore will get more icetime in important situations and less that Miller will be relied upon to do more than he originally was slated to.

Lindberg as 4C isn't bad at all IMO, the real issue is missing a PKer

 

[Doctyl]

XXX
brass
XXX
moore

thats what weve got

it will prob be

brass
XXX
moore
XXX

now we fill in the blanks.

brass
miller
moore
lindberg


its not pretty.

It really shouldnt be that bad. It will only be about 10 games and weve gone into seasons with worse than this. Our wing depth should help carry the top 6 anyway.

 

[AHB*]

were already weak down the middle even with stepan.

the kings crapped all over us in the scf. they were bigger and faster at center.

if were doing brass, miller, and then some combination of lindberg, hayes and moore for 6-8 weeks then were in trouble. and im not confident that we can go out and get help via trade.

everything starts up the middle. forget the pk with step out and boyle and stralman in tampa.

while i want to believe we will be ok as is with the young guys, the reality is that other than brass and dom moore, we dont have a centerman with any real nhl experience at all.

thats just not gonna work for 2 months.

First off, it's not two months. It's one month of the season, potentially less then that.

Injuries happen, we should actually be relieved that this injury is coming when it is instead of in the middle of a playoff race or god forbid in the playoffs.

Also, the first month of the season has nothing to do with the SCF. This is a LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG season. I don't even understand how you can compare a SCF series against the best team in the league to the first month of a season where teams are learning new players, systems etc. We actually have an advantage since we have many returning players and a coach who has established his system with arguably the most vital players on this team.