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GDT: Game 76: New York Rangers vs New Jersey Devils, 7pm ET (Game is on TNT or Max)

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McRanger92 said:
Is fox playing in sheltered minutes now? I get wanting him to play more I guess but is that going to correlate to more wins? Its hard to win more than the Rangers have the past couple months. I don't think the Trouba situation is a coaching issue as much as its the player failing to live up to the expectations placed on him. He will be the sacrificial lamb in the summer if the playoffs go poorly. Lavi may love him but hes not a guy Drury bought into the organization and we've seen him take the coaches toys away a couple times already this year.
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Sort of, yeah.

I get that we've won. That's fine. It's bothersome he's going to do the same thing in the playoffs. There's no 4D chess. Coaches use the guys they use because they like those guys. Players are typically in the role the coach believes they should be in.

It's not so much the minutes, it's that he radically shifted matchup responsibility from Fox to Trouba, and I absolutely don't believe that he's going to shift it back and it was all a ploy to keep Fox fresh. Trobua is taking #1 responsibility because Laviolette believes he's the guy to take it. It's always Occam's Razor with coaches.

Had we used them in those roles under Gallant, I wouldn't put it on Laviolette to come in and change their established roles. That Laviolette came into a situation where the best defenseman in the league was facing the hardest competition, and he took that responsibility away from that player, is kind of obnoxious. It reeks of "but this other guy is tall and throws huge hits."
 
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Machinehead said:
Sort of, yeah.

I get that we've won. That's fine. It's bothersome he's going to do the same thing in the playoffs. There's no 4D chess. Coaches use the guys they use because they like those guys. Players are typically in the role the coach believes they should be in.

It's not so much the minutes, it's that he radically shifted matchup responsibility from Fox to Trouba, and I absolutely don't believe that he's going to shift it back and it was all a ploy to keep Fox fresh. Trobua is taking #1 responsibility because Laviolette believes he's the guy to take it. It's always Occam's Razor with coaches.

Had we used them in those roles under Gallant, I wouldn't put it on Laviolette to come in and change their established roles. That Laviolette came into a situation where the best defenseman in the league was facing the hardest competition, and he took that responsibility away from that player, is kind of obnoxious. It reeks of "but this other guy is tall and throws huge hits."
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Are our underlying numbers better this year than the past 2 with Uncle Fester? I'm not being facetious I just want to understand the full picture. They definitely have the look of a better team. I don't think its crazy thought that playing Fox slightly less and against lesser competition has made the rest of the team look better as a whole. The Trouba/Miller pair has had some very noticeable nuclear meltdowns, but it hasn't directly correlated to losing.

I will say this, playing Trouba a ton when Schneider is right there does have potential to unravel in the playoffs like when AV refused to play Brady Skjei over Holden and Staal in 2017 against Ottawa. I don't think Laviolette is a dummy like Gallant but he should at least be testing out alternate D pairs.
 
McRanger92 said:
Are our underlying numbers better this year than the past 2 with Uncle Fester? I'm not being facetious I just want to understand the full picture. They definitely have the look of a better team. I don't think its crazy thought that playing Fox slightly less and against lesser competition has made the rest of the team look better as a whole. The Trouba/Miller pair has had some very noticeable nuclear meltdowns, but it hasn't directly correlated to losing.

I will say this, playing Trouba a ton when Schneider is right there does have potential to unravel in the playoffs like when AV refused to play Brady Skjei over Holden and Staal in 2017 against Ottawa. I don't think Laviolette is a dummy like Gallant but he should at least be testing out alternate D pairs.
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It's probably about the same although this year, we've trended better in the second half, whereas Gallant's teams got worse. Overall, though, there probably isn't a noticeable difference.

I mean, the team kind of is what it is, and I've never been somebody who believes matchups determine success over large samples against random opponents. Trouba's meltdown in one game against the Penguins is meaningless.

In a 7-game series, I'm deeply concerned about a matchup against a not-random opponent where Trouba jumps over the boards every time Brayden Point or Dylan Larkin or Sebastian Aho does.

The other factor, for me, has nothing to do with the Rangers. It's that the path is a lot easier this year. Last year, we knew we were playing the Devils almost the whole season. I loathed that matchup and I gave up hope in January. This year, the East is kind of ass, and two big boys (Florida and Carolina) we've kind of played well against.

I think this team has a realistic path to the SCF unlike last year, but that path probably involves Fox being on the ice a lot.
 
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Machinehead said:
It's probably about the same although this year, we've trended better in the second half, whereas Gallant's teams got worse. Overall, though, there probably isn't a noticeable difference.

I mean, the team kind of is what it is, and I've never been somebody who believes matchups determine success over large samples against random opponents. Trouba's meltdown in one game against the Penguins is meaningless.

In a 7-game series, I'm deeply concerned about a matchup against a not-random opponent where Trouba jumps over the boards every time Brayden Point or Dylan Larkin or Sebastian Aho does.

The other factor, for me, has nothing to do with the Rangers. It's that the path is a lot easier this year. Last year, we knew we were playing the Devils almost the whole season. I loathed that matchup and I gave up hope in January. This year, the East is of kind ass, and two big boys (Florida and Carolina) we've kind of played well against.

I think this team has a realistic path to the SCF unlike last year, but that path probably involves Fox being on the ice a lot.
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Agree with most if not all of what you said but if we are eliminated early I don't think we're going to point to Fox's icetime or lack thereof as the reason. In all likelihood its going to be based on Kreider, Zibanejad and Panarin's play. Plenty of Cup teams get by with a bad defender or 2 as long as the stars perform.
 
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Shit man, that ESPN game against Florida a couple of weeks back? Give me 7 games of that.

I don't even care if we lose, I just want to compete at that level and enjoy it.
 
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McRanger92 said:
Agree with most if not all of what you said but if we are eliminated early I don't think we're going to point to Fox's icetime or lack thereof as the reason. In all likelihood its going to be based on Kreider, Zibanejad and Panarin's play. Plenty of Cup teams get by with a bad defender or 2 as long as the stars perform.
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I wouldn't disagree with that. If we lose Carolina or Florida, I might start micro-analyzing it.

If we lose to Philadelphia or Detroit, we f***ed up.
 
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You know what? Tampa too.

They stink.

Hedman is just taller Trouba at this point.

I know it's an unpopular take, but we've outplayed them 7.5 out of 9 periods this year, and then Point went on a bender.

The only way we lose to any of the dreck in the first round is if Panarin doesn't do any scoring.
 
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Machinehead said:
You know what? Tampa too.

They stink.

Hedman is just taller Trouba at this point.

I know it's an unpopular take, but we've outplayed them 7.5 out of 9 periods this year, and then Point went on a bender.

The only way we lose to any of the dreck in the first round is if Panarin doesn't do any scoring.
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There is a mental hurdle with Tampa Bay that the Rangers need to overcome before Id be confident in beating them. Its a little like the Mets always losing in Atlanta when the games matter. We havent been able to protect a lead there in a decade.
 
Machinehead said:
If the Devils decide to just shit can somebody with a dirty hit, they're going to do that whether Rempe is in the game or not.
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It's not about deterrence, it's about Rempe being the target. Could be that the Devils try fishy things anyway. Or maybe they won't.
 
McRanger92 said:
There is a mental hurdle with Tampa Bay that the Rangers need to overcome before Id be confident in beating them. Its a little like the Mets always losing in Atlanta when the games matter. We havent been able to protect a lead there in a decade.
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If you want to win the Cup, you have to step up to the plate.

It's one thing I'm confident this team can do. They can beat Tampa.

We saw it against Pittsburgh in 2022. We saw it recently when Florida scored a backbreaker and we immediately tied the game.

One thing this team doesn't do is give a f***. They have stones.
 
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Machinehead said:
If you want to win the Cup, you have to step up to the plate.

It's one thing I'm confident this team can do. They can beat Tampa.

We saw it against Pittsburgh in 2022. We saw it recently when Florida scored a backbreaker and we immediately tied the game.

One thing this team doesn't do is give a f***. They have stones.
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Imagine Crosby sneaks into the final spot and makes us his bitch again

When it comes to these types of players, I wish they'd just go Torts' and have everyone collapse down low. Take away the slot/middle of the ice.
 
Machinehead said:
If you want to win the Cup, you have to step up to the plate.

It's one thing I'm confident this team can do. They can beat Tampa.

We saw it against Pittsburgh in 2022. We saw it recently when Florida scored a backbreaker and we immediately tied the game.

One thing this team doesn't do is give a f***. They have stones.
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YUP.
 
duhmetreE said:
Imagine Crosby sneaks into the final spot and makes us his bitch again

When it comes to these types of players, I wish they'd just go Torts' and have everyone collapse down low. Take away the slot/middle of the ice.
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That’s a series that would have the potential to be so aggravating. But I think if Laviolette just kept Trouba away from Crosby we would win.
 
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I understand player rotation but Jones has had most of the season off, and is learning a little more each game. He should be playing- for Lindgren or Miller if not Gus.
 
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