Does it feel like 'it's happening' to anyone else?

[norrisnick]

He's been very bad this year, so I'd be a bit careful with him. Riding hype.

The Rangers have been very bad. He's been more than solid prior to this season. I doubt he suddenly fell off at 25yo (he turned 25 last week).

And having a down year, could be a good thing with regards to acquisition and/or extension costs...

 

[RedHawkDown]

The Rangers have been very bad. He's been more than solid prior to this season. I doubt he suddenly fell off at 25yo (he turned 25 last week).

I get what you're saying, but the Rangers are 1 point behind us. Our young Dmen have been fantastic. Lots of guys look great when they first come into the league but quickly get exploited and never return to that form once teams get video on them and can take advantage.

 

[JohanFranzenstein]

Chychrun is not really the style we want as Seider's partner, though - he's a very offense-first player. If not Prov, then someone like Nic Hague fits the bill much better I think. Gavrikov and Pettersson are also good options.

These two have been my picks all season. My ideal is Samuelsson from Buffalo, but I highly doubt they sell their only consistent shutdown guy.

 

[norrisnick]

I get what you're saying, but the Rangers are 1 point behind us. Our young Dmen have been fantastic. Lots of guys look great when they first come into the league but quickly get exploited and never return to that form once teams get video on them and can take advantage.

The only real issue with Miller this season is his counting stats. Defensively he's fine. And he's the D for the Rangers getting all the hard matchups. Not to the extreme that Mo is, but far higher than anyone else on that team. But, either way, this is the type of player you make a play for. Young, still tons of room to grow, that might be struggling a bit in a bad situation. Partly because they're somewhat available. No one is moving a young kid that's firing on all cylinders.

 

[Retire91]

I mean was there ever really any doubt, so many high profile prospects just needed time to start finding their footing. It's nice to see a positive post.

 

[FMichael]

Not really for me...Then again I'm the pessimistic, glass half empty type...After Blashill I never thought we'd see a even more incompetent dickhead coaching this team...And then there was Uncle Fester.

It's gonna take A LOT to convince me otherwise.

 

[Henkka]

Not really for me...Then again I'm the pessimistic, glass half empty type...After Blashill I never thought we'd see a even more incompetent dickhead coaching this team...And then there was Uncle Fester.

It's gonna take A LOT to convince me otherwise.

You should watch the hockey games... be less negative... and enjoy about this era.

Jeff Blashill and his players are not impacting in here.
Derek Lalonde and his systems aren't really impacting anymore.

It's McLellan era and our kids.

Time to believe and enjoy.

 

[RabidBadger]

These two have been my picks all season. My ideal is Samuelsson from Buffalo, but I highly doubt they sell their only consistent shutdown guy.

When he's healthy. I like Samuelson but he's on IR as much as he plays.

 

[chances14]

It's great to see mclellan getting the most out of these young guys. It's a shame the coaching change didn't come earlier.

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

I have hope now, which is awesome. Coaching change really upped the momentum and the team is looking good. I stand by that we need to make the playoffs this year otherwise major changes are still needed.

 

[saska sault]

I have hope now, which is awesome. Coaching change really upped the momentum and the team is looking good. I stand by that we need to make the playoffs this year otherwise major changes are still needed.

Out of curiosity what kind of major changes? I can see fans thinking playoffs are must, nothing wrong with that. I'm in the group that thinks it's great but it may not happen, next year is when the pressure really intensifies. Mainly because McLellan didn't get a full 82 game run at it, but clearly the entire coaching staff and roster has responded and played more to expectations now. Also personally don't think under the best circumstances, they were a lock to make it this year.

 

[RabidBadger]

I'll breathe easier when future goaltending emerges at the NHL level, but yeah, I'm seeing everything coming together. 3 of Stevie's picks are ascendant as high quality players with some solid prospects in the pipeline.

 

[Frk It]

My suggestion wasn't that the team has arrived. We may not even make the playoffs this year based on the hole that was dug in Lalonde's chunk of the season. It was that the rebuild has arrived. Those individual things are all part of a greater whole, one that was planned deliberately. It's no longer just promise and potential of prospects up in that air while the product on the ice is the mediocre placeholders. The plan is coming together. The fruits of the rebuild are the ones driving the team and there are a lot more on the way. Including a few very significant pieces.

The brightest spots on the team are dragging along the mediocre ones. And most of those bright spots are locked up long term and only going to get better. The mediocre ones will be replaced over the next 2-3 seasons with other players who are projecting to be bright spots. At some point soon it's looking like there'll be more bright spots than non-bright spots on the team.

Up until this season we were mostly watching the placeholder team that Yzerman slapped together while patiently rebuilding and developing top draft picks. I think the scales have tipped to where we're now watching Yzerman's rebuild on the ice.

It is easier to see the vision than a year ago, guess I would just caution there are still a fair amount of unknowns/projections before this can all come together.

I think if we can add someone like Provorov, the outline for the team is mostly there.

Cat-Larkin-Raymond
Buchelnikov-Kasper-MBN/Plante
Mazur-Danielson-Berggren/Lombardi
Rasmussen-Copp/Compher-Soderblom

Provorov-Seider
Edvinsson-Johansson
Chiarot-ASP

Cossa
Augustine

You just wait for some of these stop-gap contracts to expire and replace them with some of the plethora of prospects we have, and I can see a good team. But we have to keep in mind guys like ASP, MBN, Buchelnikov, Augustine, etc etc have played 0 NHL games. There is a wide range of outcomes of what they might be in the NHL. Just because Seider/Ed/Raymond hit does not guarantee everyone will.

Then there is the x-factor of what we might do via trades or UFA over the next 2-3 years as well.

So a lot to be excited about, but still a lot of unknowns. Not really sure you can say even the rebuild has arrived, just yet.