Devils or Rangers: Who has the better future?

[The S5]

Does it really matter? Devils will always be the red headed stepchild in the NY Metro hockey sphere.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

But they're also replacing Buchnevich and Blackwell, who are both unquestionably better than any of the new guys Drury brought in. You'll have a hard time convincing anyone that this forward group is better than the one last year.

Not sure that's true about Blackwell. I believe that Kakko and/or Kravtsov can duplicate his production. And while one player may not make up for Buch's individual production, they have 3 players who internally should be able to. The forward group may not be as skilled, but it is more diverse, better balanced and improved defensively.

I must have missed the part where Buchnevich became an All Star.

The Rangers are banking hard that the kids are going to grow up and fill in the gaps and IMO that's not a smart bet. Forcing kids into positions they're not ready for is always a recipe for disaster

Playing their most-skilled young players with their most skilled players is giving those young players their best chance to succeed. But thanks for your concern.

 

[HBK27]

Does it really matter? Devils will always be the red headed stepchild in the NY Metro hockey sphere.

Yeah, it really weighs on Devils fans that we never win the NY Metro NHL Team Popularity award.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to live with the consolation prize of spending significantly less money on tickets to go see my team play.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

Yeah, it really weighs on Devils fans that we never win the NY Metro NHL Team Popularity award.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to live with the consolation prize of spending significantly less money on tickets to go see my team play.

Ranger fans enjoy the lower prices for tix at The Rock, too!

 

[njdevscup30]

Does it really matter? Devils will always be the red headed stepchild in the NY Metro hockey sphere.

Don't mind being a step child if it means we win a Stanley Cup more than once in 80 years

 

[goonybird]

You guys think Prince Harry minds being the red-headed step-child?! Guy's killing it right now!

 

[AfroThunder396]

Not sure that's true about Blackwell. I believe that Kakko and/or Kravtsov can duplicate his production. And while one player may not make up for Buch's individual production, they have 3 players who internally should be able to. The forward group may not be as skilled, but it is more diverse, better balanced and improved defensively.

I must have missed the part where Buchnevich became an All Star.

I mean he was 34th in points among forwards last year, tied with Bergeron, Pastrnak, and Point. Just a hair under a point per game. Only 4 fewer ES points than Panarin.

It's weird to me that Rangers fans are so eager to throw a homegrown 1st line forward in the bin so quickly, but if you're happy about it then more power to you. This thread will certainly be fun to revisit in a year.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

I mean he was 34th in points among forwards last year, tied with Bergeron, Pastrnak, and Point. Just a hair under a point per game. Only 4 fewer ES points than Panarin.

It's weird to me that Rangers fans are so eager to throw a homegrown 1st line forward in the bin so quickly, but if you're happy about it then more power to you. This thread will certainly be fun to revisit in a year.

Sure—all that would be fair if Blackwell was 1) homegrown and 2) a first line forward.

 

[Wierzbowski426]

Yeah, it really weighs on Devils fans that we never win the NY Metro NHL Team Popularity award.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to live with the consolation prize of spending significantly less money on tickets to go see my team play.

And way more success over the life of the franchise. Like, its not even close.

 

[saintunspecified]

There's too much uncertainty here for me. If the Devil's centers get better consistently, I like their team construction better? But will they?

 

[HugeInTheShire]

Ranger fans enjoy the lower prices for tix at The Rock, too!

I may be a Devil fan but this right here is a quality chirp

 

[Machinehead]

People talk about Panarin like he's this blowout limited Yu-Gi-Oh card that we have a 1/40 chance of drawing and not a guy that will just play 23 minutes if he has to.

 

[Machinehead]

LOL - from Dom Luszczyszyn's article in The Athletic looking at which teams got better or worse this offseason:

NHL offseason by the numbers: Which teams have improved the most (and least)?

27. New York Rangers
Wins Added: -3.6 wins
Salary Added: $1.1 million

In: Barclay Goodrow, Dryden Hunt, Sammy Blais, Patrik Nemeth, Ryan Reaves, Jarred Tinordi
Out: Pavel Buchnevich, Tony DeAngelo, Colin Blackwell, Philipp di Giuseppe, Brendan Smith, Brett Howden

No team had a more baffling offseason as the front office seems to have gone all-in on the tougher to play against mandate. The Rangers spent an extra $1.1 million to be nearly four wins worse. Not a single player brought in is a significant needle mover and that includes Barclay Goodrow who will look much worse when not playing next to Gourde and Coleman. Ryan Reaves, at this stage of his career, hurts much more than he helps while neither Sammy Blais nor Patrik Nemeth offers much value above replacement.

It’s a whole pile of nothing but toughness. It has a place, but the Rangers should prefer players who are actually good on top of being in tough, like Wilson, to solve their Wilson problem. They overpaid to curb a hyper-fixation on one player and arguably set the team back to do it.

The Rangers should still be in the playoff mix after this, they had a strong base to begin with, but they didn’t make things any easier for themselves trading away Pavel Buchnevich. That’s a legitimate top line forward traded for a low pick and someone who hits. Great work.

He's not taking into account that while Hajek isn't an "outgoing player," Nemeth is going to take all of his minutes. Hajek is a drain of multiple wins over 82 games.

Including DeAngelo as an outgoing player is extremely disingenuous. And yes, that's lost value, but it's value the Rangers lost early last season for non-hockey reasons.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

He's not taking into account that while Hajek isn't an "outgoing player," Nemeth is going to take all of his minutes. Hajek is a drain of multiple wins over 82 games.

Including DeAngelo as an outgoing player is extremely disingenuous. And yes, that's lost value, but it's value the Rangers lost early last season for non-hockey reasons.

There’s value in losing DeAngelo.

 

[Guttersniped]

Devils actually were garbage. The rangers were average both times

read the room

The Rangers had the 6th worst record when the won the 2nd pick, that’s not too fluky.

The Devils had the 5th worst record in 2017 and 3rd worst in 2019.

The Rangers weren’t specifically gifted the 1st in 2020, the NHL was just very determined to completely f*** up the lottery in order to put something on tv in June. So the morons came up with the split lottery so the suffering masses could have the balm of a seven team lottery to keep spirits up in the early dark plague days.

Team E won, which if I remember correctly, means Winnipeg won, but f*** them this a decoy spot that sets up the most ridiculous draft ever.

After the qualifying round, the eight losers all had a 12.5% chance to win the 1OA pick, which is better odds than every team in the real draft except Detroit (18.5%) and Ottawa (13.5%) in the first two spots. Great idea guys.

 

[aufheben]

Well the Rangers are apparently now aspiring Broad Street Bullies, so…not us.

 

[Baaaaaaaaaaaaah]

Hughes/Holtz will be the most hated duo in NY for a decade. NJ with the edge.

 

[LetsGoIslanders]

The Devils are turning into the Sather's Rangers. Buy/trade for every possible free agent and throw them together let's hope it works.

The NHL doesn't work this way. You can't win this way. As an Islanders fan I'd be pissed if I was a Devils fan.

 

[MtoD]

The Devils are turning into the Sather's Rangers. Buy/trade for every possible free agent and throw them together let's hope it works.

The NHL doesn't work this way. You can't win this way. As an Islanders fan I'd be pissed if I was a Devils fan.

They signed 3 UFAs, two of which for short-term and won't even be around for when they contend. Heck, the Isles are rumored to be signing as many UFAs..

One of the most bizarre takes I've ever seen..

 

[Eggtimer]

The Devils are turning into the Sather's Rangers. Buy/trade for every possible free agent and throw them together let's hope it works.

The NHL doesn't work this way. You can't win this way. As an Islanders fan I'd be pissed if I was a Devils fan.

So we sign two UFA’s and we are Sathers Rangers? So rather than actually use the 25 + mil in cap space we are supposed to sit on it and wait until our kids develop and earn raises ? You have an odd take on the Devils.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

The Devils are turning into the Sather's Rangers. Buy/trade for every possible free agent and throw them together let's hope it works.

The NHL doesn't work this way. You can't win this way. As an Islanders fan I'd be pissed if I was a Devils fan.

 

[Platano King]

The Rangers are banking hard that the kids are going to grow up and fill in the gaps and IMO that's not a smart bet. Forcing kids into positions they're not ready for is always a recipe for disaster and the Rangers don't have a good track record of developing forwards over the past half decade to begin with.

Laf, Chytil, and Kakko are definitely ready for top 6 roles. The main reason why people think they don't is their stat sheet, which is the direct result of David Quinn giving them shit for ice time.

Kakko was an excellent defensive forward last season and drove play when he was on the ice. He had some poor puck luck and shooting % of 11, which is bound to increase. Laf scored 21 even strength points last season, the same amount as HF darling Stuzle. He also had an awfully unlucky 15 game stretch in the beginning where he only scored 1 goal despite making several great plays. Chytil scored 22 even strength points in 42 games. All three players were stuck on the third line, with very little powerplay time, and with a coach who gave them no freedom to make mistakes and was generally awful for their development.

 

[Blueblood2]

Let's say that they give Shesterkin 6m ... they will have roughly 18-20m in space at the end of this season. Strome is for sure gone in this scenario, but Fox's 925,000 is going up to 9m, and you will have to give Blais, Kravtsov and Kakko their RFA deals. Let's assume they all get modest bridges and come in somewhere around 6m total (I suspect it will be higher but I'll lend to your argument) that means that they are going to spend about 15m. Even if they had 22m in cap space, 7m is probably not enough to get Mika, and even if it were, you have to consider Chytil, Laf and Miller are all going to be due for their next contracts the following summer and they have less than 5 million in cap expiring and an extra 3.5ish from their retained contracts/buyouts expiring.

Reasonably speaking, the Rangers if they are competing at the TDL will add rentals with their cap space. If they are not, I suspect Mika and Strome will both get moved due to the upcoming cap crunch. Unfortunately, having Panarin at 11.6, Trouba at 8, and and a 10 million dollar third line is going to cause cap issues for the Rags.

Matthews, Marner, Eichel, Petey, Laine, Nylander, Hischier and many other high performing, top picks, are getting big contracts right out of their entry deal. Yes, it is feasible that Laf and Kakko bridge, especially Kakko who has been relatively underwhelming thus far, but if Laf has a good season and then pots 60 or 70 the following year, there's no chance he is seeking a bridge deal. It is nice to imagine a world where all of your star prospects take bridge deals, but the NHL at large suggests that is not going to happen (Makar contract, wait and see Hughes/Petey with big deals too) ... budgeting 20m for Fox/Laf/Kakko's next deals is probably pretty generous (see above scenario)

If I am the Rangers, I am trying to keep Laf and Kakko and offering something like Kreider/Miller/Schneider/Chytil/2022 1st for Eichel 10-25% retained and going all in this year. You have the space and the assets to go all-in, and you have an impending cap crunch coming (this is the issue with running a rebuild and a retool in the same three years). I think the Rags are stuck with Trouba and Panarin (the latter is not really 'stuck') because using that allure of New York to draw in free agents to then flip them before the halfway point of their contract is a bad look and might prevent them from getting other FAs in the future. Flip Strome somewhere for another defenseman, and trade for a 3C.

Thanks for the well thought out response. I agree that after Fox (winning Norris hurt us lol) is about $9M and Shesty around $6M (publicized). Strome will be gone (Barron 3C) and i do think that they have to unload Kreider $6.5M (either trade deadline or offseason and we are fairly deep at LW) to open some cap space for the future. Kravtsov and Kakko will have to take bridge deals (I happen to think Kreider and Kakko are part of a deal for top C but just gut feeling) if they arent traded. I dont think we resign Blais although I admit I am not very familiar with his game. I dont want to trade Miller if at all possible. Would love to see Fox-Lindgren, Trouba-Miller, Nemeth(replaced in few years by youth)-Lindqvist, and B. Schneider (next 1-2 years) as D core. I dont believe you go 'All In' with Eichel this year because i just dont see him being effective after having some type of neck surgery. If he was completely healthy 'yes' but he is not. Also I agree that max retained by Buffalo for Eichel will be 10-25% especially if he trades him in conference. I dont envy Drury with all the decisions he has to make in the next few years but it will be interesting.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

I'm just happy we should have a bright future, whether or not it's as bright or more bright than the rangers.

 

[Zeeker]

I'm just happy we should have a bright future, whether or not it's as bright or more bright than the rangers.

Well, yes, every team that’s been on the bottom for a while will have accumulated enough high draft picks to be touted as having a potentially bright future.

It’s just a matter of whether that bright future comes to fruition.