Post-Game Talk: Golden Grasshoppers

[HatTrick Swayze]

Finding a away to not dress Hajek every night would go a long way for this team

 

[Shesterkybomb]

It's also been beaten like a dead horse, but the second unit has done absolutely jack shit with their admittedly limited time. People will use the chicken-and-egg argument, that they'll do *something* if given more minutes, but having done literally zilch doesn't warrant more minutes.

Not for nothing but the 2nd unit is set up to fail because their 'play' is to get it to trouba for a slapshot from the point that rarely hits the net. All through Laf's career he's been a trigger man on the pp, why not use him in that regard.Trouba shouldn't be on that pp. Its should be Laf, Chytil, Kakko, Miller and if you want a net front guy Goodrow. Its all irrelevant anywya cus pp1 takes all the pp time

 

[Brutananadilewski]

…or start watching New Jersey and Long Island games.
Thanking you in advance!

IT MUST BE DONE!

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Despite the ability to get an assist in his sleep, Panarin was better - but he still wasnt great. Even with that one backcheck in the first.

This is what Panarin is, we have to live with it because he's a points generator. He can float through a game and come out the other side with 4 points.

 

[duhmetreE]

Despite the ability to get an assist in his sleep, Panarin was better - but he still wasnt great. Even with that one backcheck in the first.

The way Panarin setup the one timer, that fast puck movement is what we've been lacking.

Fox and Panarin are too slow and deliberate. They need to change the pace once in a while. Quick puck movement is what creates space/lanes.

 

[Pawnee Rangers]

Not for nothing I want this to be clear when we freak out over what line laf and Kakko are on. They still only played around 14 mins each. Without the PP mins they’re never going to get legit “top line” mins. That’s why it doesn’t matter if Kreider and Trocheck are on line 3. They’re still getting major power play mins.

So it’s nice that they get to play with Mika. That’s big. But we’re not going to see full potential until they get on PP1 (in a few years) or the PP mins are distributed better.

And it’s hard to fault gallant here in all honesty. You want your big money stars on the PP. can he get them off the ice a bit sooner? Maybe. But that pp even when not scoring holds the puck in the zone a LONG time. Rare that they don’t set up.

I'm not even sure this is the best line either Kakko or Laff has played on this season.

 

[Boris Zubov]

The sound of sizzling bacon is simply the best thing ever.

Also, if anyone doesn't get the Golden Grasshopper reference, Vegas has had grasshopper swarms run wild on the Strip.

Eddie O was embarassing himself last night when Kenny made the reference. That swarm happened in August of 2019...Grasshoppers are all over the Valley until December, so Domi's story could have some validity. I don't see how a skate wouldn't cut through the bug like a hot knife though butter, however. LOL.

 

[Kovalev27]

It's also been beaten like a dead horse, but the second unit has done absolutely jack shit with their admittedly limited time. People will use the chicken-and-egg argument, that they'll do *something* if given more minutes, but having done literally zilch doesn't warrant more minutes.

It’s true when they do get some time they’ve done absolutely nothing with it to force the coach to do anything differently. Now you put Fox in there instead of trouba probably a big difference

 

[Leonardo87]

That was probably one of their best games of the season.

 

[Kovalev27]

I like Kreider Mika Kakko and frankly I liked laf with Trocheck think laf plays faster with guys that like to give and go with speed.

Mins wise nothing is going to change until Kreider and/or Panarin are wrapping up their contracts. Maybe someone jumps over Trocheck at some point.

 

[Unpredictable1]

Its painfully obvious that Blais is a shell of his former self. That knee injury was devastating.

And while I feel for the guy and would love for him to work things out and be a part of this team I agree there are a few other options I'd rather have in his spot. Vesey would be perfect on that wing. Even Rydahl would provide more speed on the forecheck. Blaid just floats around and tries his best to mix things up physically if can actually get to a player in time. Thats all he can really do

Blais is having trouble making quick cuts, transitions and just doesnt have the power he once had in that leg. Even his hits arent as powerful because he cant drive through the check. Its actually pretty tough to watch every night.

What's annoying to me is the Gallant sends him out on the second PP unit to see if he can get him going with a goal (which would be his FIRST as a Ranger, Jesus what a horrible trade) like it will actually help his game come around. It has nothing to do with scoring.

Nothing but extra rehab time is going to help Blais at this point. How long are you willing to wait? 50 games? And then what? Do they really intend on resigning him?

I feel like they are trying to do him a solid keeping him in the lineup to build up his value in the NHL so he can hit the open market and get paid a little more. I get it. Hes a good guy. But this is the NHL and there are better players who can provide more in his spot. Its tough, but its a business right?

Hit the nail on the head - last night I noticed a couple of times that when he reacted to chase down a loose puck, he literally took the longest way to get to where the puck was going instead of the shortcut to be where the puck will end up. All due to a rainbow curl of a turn.

He still doesn't trust that leg IMO, and I don't blame him because that was a bad injury. I do hope he gets back to form but so far it's been hard to watch.

 

[RagFinMet]

5-1, 7 mins left
We get another PP
Guess who GG puts out there..
Yep the first unit
Ridiculous
Great opportunity for the "kids" to get first PP time
Stat padding for the vets
Cant stand it

All lines were good
But prefer
LZKk
KTC
PGVk
BJbG

Agree MT were very good again
Schneider as well
I know Jones stuggled but he is really worse than Hajek?
How about Robertson?

 

[Kocur26]

Colorado is a huge game .. they are banged up and we are desperate for points and getting in rhythm.
No excuses here .

In fact if we blow a diarrhea squirt - I fire gallant Saturday AM.

Because obviously he’s a meatfaced shitheel who can’t get his club to respect effort back 2 back .

 

[will1066]

Wouldn't that be the same argument as the kids just need to play in the top6? Seems to be proving itself.

The problem isn't so much of the kids but guys like Trouba QBing it. If you put the kids on with Panarin and Fox, I'm confident they would garner results. That's obviously not happening with Zibs and Kreider being our most potent options on the PP. So, it is what it is. If they want to replace a Trocheck for Laffy or Kakko, great...

but the 2nd unit will suck no matter what when Trouba is QBing it and a schlub like Blais on it.

Not for nothing but the 2nd unit is set up to fail because their 'play' is to get it to trouba for a slapshot from the point that rarely hits the net. All through Laf's career he's been a trigger man on the pp, why not use him in that regard.Trouba shouldn't be on that pp. Its should be Laf, Chytil, Kakko, Miller and if you want a net front guy Goodrow. Its all irrelevant anywya cus pp1 takes all the pp time

It’s true when they do get some time they’ve done absolutely nothing with it to force the coach to do anything differently. Now you put Fox in there instead of trouba probably a big difference

Trouba is a point-man imbecile. But I've seen the kids flub their entries and not being able to set up. Maybe they're rushing things because they have a grand 40 seconds of time. They're unable to open up time and space down low, so they have to kick it back to the point for a Trouba play, which usually spells disaster.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

Hit the nail on the head - last night I noticed a couple of times that when he reacted to chase down a loose puck, he literally took the longest way to get to where the puck was going instead of the shortcut to be where the puck will end up. All due to a rainbow curl of a turn.

He still doesn't trust that leg IMO, and I don't blame him because that was a bad injury. I do hope he gets back to form but so far it's been hard to watch.

Yep. Very little stop and starts, has trouble turning corners tight on that one side. It sucks to watch. Hes very ginger on it as it just doesn't have strength.

I'm not surprised that the team is taking a patient approach with him and Im expecting it to continue. But when do the powers that be sit down and say hey, we could be getting more out of this spot in the lineup?

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I wouldn't re-anoint him just yet. He still does a lot of unsightly and lackadaisical things.

Not to mention he had an atrocious first 40 minutes yesterday.

 

[Rangers in 7]

the issue with PP2 is two fold.....they dont get game time to work out the kinks, i mean we've seen PP1 get chance after chance with no success....you can't expect to give them 30 seconds max and for them to work, also they never get the offensive zone faceoff which means every opportunity is on the entries which they dont get to work on

the 2nd issue is trouba, love what hes bringing lately but hes not a PP qb, all he does is get the puck and fires it. you put fox on the 2nd pp and i guarantee they produce, it should really be jones but he will never play because apparently hajek is better?

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Funny how Kakko, Laf, and Chytil all scored their 5th of the season in the same game. Lets do the same for #6 tomorrow.

 

[Levitate]

Finding a away to not dress Hajek every night would go a long way for this team

Yeah I just...man I watched him give up the blueline last night and maintain a shitty gap and Vegas got a chance to cycle the puck because of it and I was just thinking "really who keeps thinking this guy is doing a good job here"

Not for nothing but the 2nd unit is set up to fail because their 'play' is to get it to trouba for a slapshot from the point that rarely hits the net. All through Laf's career he's been a trigger man on the pp, why not use him in that regard.Trouba shouldn't be on that pp. Its should be Laf, Chytil, Kakko, Miller and if you want a net front guy Goodrow. Its all irrelevant anywya cus pp1 takes all the pp time

Also yeah, Trouba may have a hard shot but it's usually blocked and getting him the puck to shoot on the power play is too transparent. Would rather that unit be doing something more creative.

 

[2014nyr]

Not for nothing but the 2nd unit is set up to fail because their 'play' is to get it to trouba for a slapshot from the point that rarely hits the net. All through Laf's career he's been a trigger man on the pp, why not use him in that regard.Trouba shouldn't be on that pp. Its should be Laf, Chytil, Kakko, Miller and if you want a net front guy Goodrow. Its all irrelevant anywya cus pp1 takes all the pp time

they definitely look for that but the pp structurally isn't any diff than pp1, they just use a simple find a shot and use that to break open a pk in scrambles - personally, given they get about 30 seconds a pp and have nowhere near the chemistry of pp1 yet - i don't mind this approach.

but i agree with you, i want the pp running through laf and i want him walking at the net and taking the shot as often as possible. it does usually run through him, though kakko will control the puck as well which i'm good with, but laf always starts out in his favorite spot up high on the left. he's walked down the slot to shoot or dish a handful of times. long story short i don't agree he isn't getting used correctly, but i do agree with the general thesis of wanting him to get a bigger pp opportunity. i just think its ice time rather than the setup itself. on the rare occasion they get a faceoff, and win it, in the o zone, laf is in his office.

one real issue with both pp's is we simply do not have a guy with the hands and skating ability to get into the zone and get things set up quickly. its either a choppy high-danger, small-area series of passes from the red line to just over their blue line and sometimes a puck pokes loose where we can get to it, or dump and chase. it is hands down the worst thing about losing tony d...he was phenomenal at that. really sucks watching how impossible we can make that look and then we got barzal and hughes for neighbors who gain zone entries with their eyes closed.

 

[Ruggs225]

Not for nothing I want this to be clear when we freak out over what line laf and Kakko are on. They still only played around 14 mins each. Without the PP mins they’re never going to get legit “top line” mins. That’s why it doesn’t matter if Kreider and Trocheck are on line 3. They’re still getting major power play mins.

So it’s nice that they get to play with Mika. That’s big. But we’re not going to see full potential until they get on PP1 (in a few years) or the PP mins are distributed better.

And it’s hard to fault gallant here in all honesty. You want your big money stars on the PP. can he get them off the ice a bit sooner? Maybe. But that pp even when not scoring holds the puck in the zone a LONG time. Rare that they don’t set up.

And that is why when u are up 5-1 late in the third and have another PP u run out pp2 to give them a long look.

But no, gallat doesnt care about developing the kids.

Same goes with pulling laf for goodrow for defense.

Its garbage time, those are the perfect opportunities to get the kids mor ice time and develop them without hurting the team.

But this jackass of a coach is a stubborn dinosaur that needs to be let go.

And @chosen, one win doesn’t satisfy me that gallant is a good coach. I think he is crap and wont win the cup with this team, or is good at developing talent.

I dont know who would be a good candidate. I am not familiar with who would be available other than trotz who is a great coach, but i cant stand his style of play. But i do know that Gallant has worn out the welcome and should be shown the door.

 

[will1066]

Funny how Kakko, Laf, and Chytil all scored their 5th of the season in the same game. Lets do the same for #6 tomorrow.

Let's say they all score 1 out of every 2 games for the remaining 54 games, then they'll all be 30+ goal scorers and contribute 96 to team GF.

 

[Levitate]

He has been trashed by a few here for his performance. Do you think the analytics are wrong in this case?

Just trying to get a better grasp on analytics.


Okay.

In my view analytics often captures the bigger overall picture of the game...while Goodrow was on the ice his line did a good job of generating chances and not having chances against them, but it doesn't say a ton about the individual plays he made. So...he could make a ton of bad plays and turnovers but if overall the number of chances is still favorable then analytics will say he had a good game.

I think it's effective both ways...if a guy consistently has good analytics across multiple lines and stuff then he's probably just a good player there who is making things work even if he seems to make mistakes.

In this case I wonder if it's more his linemates covering for him since it's not like he had good analytics before being bumped to this line and he definitely struggled at times tonight. I think over a larger sample size you'll get a better idea of whether he's an asset on that line or if he's a passenger

Not for nothing I want this to be clear when we freak out over what line laf and Kakko are on. They still only played around 14 mins each. Without the PP mins they’re never going to get legit “top line” mins. That’s why it doesn’t matter if Kreider and Trocheck are on line 3. They’re still getting major power play mins.

So it’s nice that they get to play with Mika. That’s big. But we’re not going to see full potential until they get on PP1 (in a few years) or the PP mins are distributed better.

And it’s hard to fault gallant here in all honesty. You want your big money stars on the PP. can he get them off the ice a bit sooner? Maybe. But that pp even when not scoring holds the puck in the zone a LONG time. Rare that they don’t set up.

I think it makes a difference because again, when you know you're not playing with the vets and star players you know you're not really being relied upon and "given a chance". Playing on the kid line or something and these guys know they're the third option, the ones who will get benched, the ones who are expected to be supporting the top two lines.

When you're playing with the teams best center you know your role is to play like the teams top wingers. There's a responsibility to be a top player, not a role player. That's what these guys want and what gives them confidence.

The power play thing is separate from all that to some extent. Yeah it's gonna be tough for these guys to get PP time and that sucks for them. Trochek is the only guy I'd bump from that top PP unit perhaps and I don't think that'll happen now if it didn't happen while they were slumping.

 

[kovazub94]

I know we joke but seriously maybe this team needs to sleep in a hotel the night before a home game lol

Igor does

 

[will1066]

Yeah I just...man I watched him give up the blueline last night and maintain a shitty gap and Vegas got a chance to cycle the puck because of it and I was just thinking "really who keeps thinking this guy is doing a good job here"



Also yeah, Trouba may have a hard shot but it's usually blocked and getting him the puck to shoot on the power play is too transparent. Would rather that unit be doing something more creative.

You're singling him out, which I think is a little unfair. Maybe he doesn't have brand cachet like the others, who are guilty of the same thing. He's been serviceable if not fine as 6D. I watch Fox and Schneider get burned on their heels when they attempt to gap closer. They can't gap closer because they're slow.