Post-Game Talk: Devil IV

[EdJovanovski]

My 3 stars tonight would be
1) Panarin
2) Shesterkin
3) Chytil

 

[DanielBrassard]

Honestly I still bring him back for a 1 year at league minimum deal next year. Pay his medical expenses for his surgery and LTIR him until he's ready to come back around February. Essentially a "free" deadline acquisition.

I also find a way to keep Tarasenko by dealing Panarin's contract to Anaheim and get Pastujov, Comtois, and a high pick back.

No thanks on Tarasenko, enough of the 30+ year olds who don't drive play.

 

[mandiblesofdoom]

Gallant had Kakko and Lafreniere in the top 6 on different lines for the first month of the season and they both still did dick.

Kakko was good with Mika & Kreider.

 

[gravey9]

one more thing. Ray Ferraro can suck a giant XXXXing XXXX. I mean that with all my heart. Hated him as a Ranger. Hate him as an announcer. He makes Ken Daneyko and PK Subban seem objective.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

My 3 stars tonight would be
1) Panarin
2) Shesterkin
3) Chytil

What did Panarin do this game except turn the puck over?

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Bottom line, we made it pretty easy for an AHL goalie to beat us.

 

[PuckLuck3043]

This is another reason I was so annoyed with the regular season. Gallant has his way and he sticks to it, but what was needed was team growth. They had the entire season to try things out, experiment and make things interesting so they could grow like Tampa did. Instead they were happy to sleepwalk into a playoff spot. Lazy.

Try things out how? They gave the kids plenty of minutes and some PP time. He also changed lines up from time to time. A coaches job is to win. The regular season is not preseason. They were a .500 team after 25 games before they went on a roll. Not much time to experiment.

 

[I Eat Crow]

No thanks on Tarasenko, enough of the 30+ year olds who don't drive play.

I'm fine with it if he's used as what he actually is at this point. A 2nd line complimentary player that isn't afraid to shoot. If you pay him for 5 years x 35 million, you're going to have a bad time. Was thinking more along the lines of 3 years x 12 million.

 

[ReddestRum]

Here's a question. If we f*** this up this year, are we gunning for another run the next few years or do we start to rebuild? I don't think we were ever in a full rebuild, just a.. retool.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Try things out how? They gave the kids plenty of minutes and some PP time. He also changed lines up from time to time. A coaches job is to win. The regular season is not preseason. They were a .500 team after 25 games before they went on a roll. Not much time to experiment.

Been saying it since we started the rebuild, we won't win anything until the kids are a big part of it, so since they've been drafted the focus should have been on them, not winning because it's fools gold, if the kids don't become good to star players nothing will happen here, the cap dictates that and every year that goes by without them becoming the players they should be it becomes harder to squeeze everyone under the cap. The more concerning issue is that we have more players Othmann, Sykora and company coming soon, will the organization help them grow or will the same trend continue. Imo this is the organizations biggest flaw.

 

[will1066]

We need more players who are willing to play inside the dots. What other team stays wide even on 2 in 1s or 3 on 2s?

 

[DanielBrassard]

I'm fine with it if he's used as what he actually is at this point. A 2nd line complimentary player that isn't afraid to shoot. If you pay him for 5 years x 35 million, you're going to have a bad time. Was thinking more along the lines of 3 years x 12 million.

I still wouldn't want him back. Would rather go in a different direction.

 

[WojtekWolski86]

Whether the Rangers win or lose this series one thing is clear. The idea that this team would just flip a switch once the playoffs started and they'd change all their regular season inconsistent habits has been proven false.

The old adage: "You are the team your record says you are" holds true to this point. I don't know what's going to happen, but this is absolutely the same team we've watched all year round. Only able to show us their potential in flashes but not with any level of consistency.

I tend to blame the makeup of the squad. But it could be other things. I just don't think we have enough guys who play with the mentality, will or physical makeup to get inside consistently. Say what you want about the Kids, but at least I see them repeatedly trying to drive to the net, get pucks to the net. I think Laffy has been one of our best 5v5 forwards over the first four games.

Regardless, this year's team has not gotten into the habit of showing consistent 60 minute effort. There's been a lot of excuses. There's been a lot of talk about the grind of an 82 game schedule. Lots of reasons on any given night for their lack of consistency. Lots of people on here who choose, perhaps more healthfully so, to focus on the optimistic side.

But all you need to dispel all that optimism is just look at the Bruins all year. They played the right way from post to post in the regular season. And they're showing it in the playoffs now too and Bergeron hasn't even stepped on the ice. If Mika was out, gosh you'd never hear the end of the excuses. Well, if we had Mika... this, that, and the rest.

That's just not how legit contenders are. Lightning, Avs in seasons past and now the Bruins -- the habits you form as a team by playing 82, they matter. Because it breeds trust, team concept and confidence when the games matter most. Players are just always in the right places 95% of the time on a team that's destined to go to the Finals and win it all.

Can a team turn things around mid-season and win the cup? Yes. The Blues, the Kings -- it happens. But once those teams figured it out, they didn't keep un-figuring it out. They just found consistency.

I'm not saying we won't beat the Devils. We might. I'm not saying we wont' win another round. We could. But I feel confident in say the lack of consistency will have an impact and likely catch up to them and burn this team out before they sniff the Stanley Cup finals.

Then again, I thought Drury wouldn't waste assets on adding Kane after Tarasenko and instead focus on a grittier piece. So, who knows, maybe I'm dead wrong or stating the obvious here. If so, I wasted a lot of words. As for blaming individual players -- I don't really care to point fingers. I see too much puck fumbling from too many players to point fingers. I see too much fancy stick work. I see too much dumb/pretty hockey.

Finally, you know -- is it just the Rangers or is it a league wide thing now that you only bench players in the most extreme situations? I don't like it. I think Gallant needed to send some messages tonight by how he used or didn't use certain top 6 players. Instead he just changed the lines. I don't like it. Bench some dudes. Create some urgency.

100% this. I stand by the notion that Kane and Tarasenko were acquired as a clear message to Panarin to put up or start packing.

Panarin is the epitome of this team where he will look like garbage for 85% of his ice time but put up 3 points and all is good.

He's not the only one but people shouldn't be looking at the kid line when our 2 star 90 point players have been nullified.

 

[CLW]

The thing with the Bruins is that they can win with so many different styles of play. You create a flow chart for how a game has to play out for them to be victorious, and the amount of lines you have to draw is incredible. Our formula is way simpler and more limited. And in a 7 game series, a team can figure that out and put an end to it quickly.

There are too many types of games this team regularly loses. Too many styles of play they can’t compete with. Just way too one-dimensional. And they don’t have a coach able to think outside the box to counter whenever the other side seemingly has them figured out.

This is the exact point bleedblue and I were talking about earlier.

 

[PuckLuck3043]

Honestly he's actually trying, i dont fault him so much but i desperately want someone more aggressive on pucks, crashing the net in our top 9, someone to drag us into a game, definitely not Gallagher but someone of his style of play before he broke down. We're way too passive, we don't work to get rebounds, we aren't aggitating their goalie like everyone else does to us. As i said before, Kane is trying, but part of me would just rather have Motte in a top 9 spot instead, but that will never happen with all the "stars" we have.

Cuylle and Berard next year.

 

[bleedblue94]

Kane is insanely frustrating to watch because all he does is float and does extremely little to engage physically. But at least he makes the small plays that can spark goals.

Panarin is a complete black hole while Kane at least tries to play crafty, smart hockey.

I think part of this is Kane is so smart his teammates here still don't know how to read him. It's hard to drop a generational talent into a new team. Huge adjustment for everyone and you still routinely see plays where guys are colliding or both curling away from a puck bc they just don't know how to read each other yet.

 

[I Eat Crow]

Here's a question. If we f*** this up this year, are we gunning for another run the next few years or do we start to rebuild? I don't think we were ever in a full rebuild, just a.. retool.

My honest and objective answer is that I think they go for it one more year and then do a significant retool if they come up short next year. I do think they find a way to bring Kane back using some cap f***ery.

I think Tarasenko barring a Kariya/Selanne like discount with Colorado with Kane to go for it one more year prices himself out. I do think Goodrow is dealt to cover Miller's bridge deal. I think Lafreniere is dealt over the summer for a young but lower ceiling NHL'er that's more carved out for a middle six role. Beyond that, not much change to the core. Panarin gets a stay of execution for one more year for some reason even though I disagree with it.

The team finishes in a wildcard spot and gets drubbed by the Devils again.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I will say there's improvement over the Lundqvist Rangers. The Lundqvist Rangers would have lost 2-0, and not 3-1.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Cuylle and Berard next year.

Ya, but I'm not overly convinced that this organization will bring them along properly either, already imo neither looks like the player they drafted.

 

[I Eat Crow]

Cuylle and Berard next year.

It's a wash at the end of the day. Cuylle replaces Goodrow but Berard is an obvious downgrade to losing Tarasenko. For now at least.

 

[PuckLuck3043]

one more thing. Ray Ferraro can suck a giant XXXXing XXXX. I mean that with all my heart. Hated him as a Ranger. Hate him as an announcer. He makes Ken Daneyko and PK Subban seem objective.

Ferraro is a giant tool but nobody is worse than Slewban the clown.

 

[bleedblue94]

My 3 stars tonight would be
1) Panarin
2) Shesterkin
3) Chytil

No kravtsov?

 

[LeetchisGod]

Cuylle and Berard next year.

Cuylle I could see after his excellent year in Hartford. Berard had a down year at Providence. I would pump the brakes on him.

 

[Kravtsov420]

we hitched our wagon to losing horses in Panarin and co. They don’t play a style of hockey that’s effective post season and that’s why they’re perennial losers that haven’t won shit in the league.

I can’t ever recall Panarin and Mika going to the blue paint once in their ranger career. The McMuffin twins. And that shit rubs off on the whole team. Especially with accountability which has been a joke in the organization since as long as I can remember.

 

[PuckLuck3043]

Ya, but I'm not overly convinced that this organization will bring them along properly either, already imo neither looks like the player they drafted.

Cuylle looks great, scored close to 30 goals this year. I see him as a hard nosed 3rd line menace.