Confirmed with Link: Head Coach Vacancy Pt III: How's your spelling? (Eakins/Vigneault/Messier/Gretzky)

[PlamsUnlimited]

The hope is that a 30th place finish is finally enough for Dolan to sweep Sather and Co. out of management.

I'm gonna flat out ask. Why do you insist on tanking? You do realize that this sets us back even more. I don't care who we would get. They still have NHL experience to learn before they can be steady nhlers. It's... Such a backwards step... Renew hope with a new coach that some form of intellect will come. You can't just go and have no hope for this team. The new HC. The rookies. Hank. This team is in no position to give up and start to suck and tank.

 

[AlternateSideParking]

The talent to achieve what though? Step outside the coaching issue for a second and look at the roster. The talent to be top 4, top 8 in the league like the last 2 seasons? Sure.

Championship caliber? Ha. Keep fooling yourself.

OK, professor so what's your solution?


Sign a ton of UFAs and trade for aging stars at the deadline like Carolina did?

Be bottom feeders for almost a decade like Chicago, Pittsburgh, just to get top-3 picks?

Miss the playoffs 6 straight years like the Kings did, then trade every top prospect you have for massive contracts Richards and Carter? Trade two 1sts and a 3rd for Penner?


There's only one model the Rangers can follow -- Boston/Detroit.

It took Detroit 20 years to develop into a powerhouse in the early 90s -- and even then they were habitual playoff chokers until 1995. Before winning the Cup, Boston hadnt been past the 2nd round in 18 years. 18 yrs without a CF.


Nash 28
Callahan 27
Staal 26
Brassard 25
Hagelin 24
McDonagh 23
Del Zotto 22
Moore 22
Stepan 22
Kreider 21


Yeah...all have hit their ceiling.

 

[chosen]

I see no reason why Miller cant be as good as Kesler. Kid was a top 15 pick and held his own for most of the season as a 19 year-old with no NHL training camp. He showed flashes of being a stud, and his defense will come in time. Kesler had two 70+ point seasons and then hovers around 50-60. I can easily see Miller hitting the 50-60 mark regularly.

He may become Kesler-like, but the only reason I can come up with is that he is young. He could also be a career AHLer. No one has a clue yet.

 

[chosen]

Our offensive system actually's isn't that bad. The problem is that we spend most of the game in our own zone. They actually score at a quiet a good rate for how little time they attack every game

The reason the Rangers spend most of the game in their own end is that their defensemen do not have the skill sets to quickly carry the puck put of the zone.

They are excellent defensively but their carry skills, not to mention their overall offensive game, is weak.

 

[chosen]

I'd easily take any combination of those two over Lundqvist just my opinion.

Not just two draft picks lol. 2 #1 picks that can completely change the complexion of a franchise moving forward.

With Lundqvist, you have a player who is too good and too elite that he drags crap teams into the playoffs. Without Lundqvist, you'll have a crap team battling for #1. #1 picks in today's age guarantee a franchise player to build around. I would rather take my chances with #1 picks moving forward than have Lundqvist constantly drag mediocre teams into early playoff exits. Perpetual mediocrity.

I think Hank is one of the two best goalies in the game, but without him, assuming that they get the #1 pick is nonsense. Anything could happen, but removing any player from any team in no way assures where you will pick in the draft.

Your view would be a possible valid one if we could set up a guarantee that dumping Hank would result in two #1 picks, but if there is a way to do that, I don't know it.

 

[RangerBoy]

Those Black-and-Blueshirts, led by franchise goalie Henrik Lundqvist and directed by stern coach John Tortorella, were here to stay. They were going to compete for a Stanley Cup every season, and were going to reengage the city in a hockey fever that hadn’t existed since 1994, the year they broke their 54-year championship drought.

But those days and that sentiment of hope is now entirely in flux. Last Wednesday, Tortorella was unceremoniously shown the door. Two days after losing to the Bruins in a five-game Eastern Conference semifinal, Lundqvist hedged on his desire to re-sign with the team once he becomes a free agent after this season.

So now it’s on general manager Glen Sather to make the biggest decision of recent memory. He has to decide on a new coach, someone he hopes can take his team over the hump and back to the glory land. The wrong decision, and all of the franchise building done over the past decade — the development of Lundqvist above all else — could go by the wayside.

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/rang...Z5sGxd5dkL?utm_medium=rss&utm_content=Rangers

Sather needs an experienced/professional head coach. Not someone who hasn't coached a single game outside of some obscure tournament or someone who hasn't coached in four years.

The Rangers need someone to build on what Torts did by adding to it.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

I think Hank is one of the two best goalies in the game, but without him, assuming that they get the #1 pick is nonsense. Anything could happen, but removing any player from any team in no way assures where you will pick in the draft.

Your view would be a possible valid one if we could set up a guarantee that dumping Hank would result in two #1 picks, but if there is a way to do that, I don't know it.

With our luck, we'd lose the lottery anyway.

 

[NikC]

I truly wish that we never committed to a Jagr era, regardless of the fun we should have laid low.
I dont believe that this team will ever finish last overall, but should Lundqvist leave after next season we might finish low enough to draft some high talent.

If Hank leaves Sather will try and sign another goalie. When Sather finally retires there no guarantee the next management team would embrace finishing last rebuilds. Ownership wants profits above all.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

I truly wish that we never committed to a Jagr era, regardless of the fun we should have laid low.
I dont believe that this team will ever finish last overall, but should Lundqvist leave after next season we might finish low enough to draft some high talent.

If Hank leaves Sather will try and sign another goalie. When Sather finally retires there no guarantee the next management team would embrace finishing last rebuilds. Ownership wants profits above all.

A city the size of New York - and the branding of the Rangers - should always be a sellout, no matter where the Rangers are in the standings. I mean, geez, it's not like it's a 50k ballpark they're trying to fill, it's just an arena. I really don't see a scenario where MSG would ever be half empty, or even close to it.

While I don't like the idea of intentionally finishing last (no integrity in that), there really does need to be a renewed commitment to restocking the franchise. Have to get Hartford and the Rangers on the same page in terms of development - same systems, same terminologies, same expectations. That is the key to success in Detroit.

 

[NikC]

A city the size of New York - and the branding of the Rangers - should always be a sellout, no matter where the Rangers are in the standings. I mean, geez, it's not like it's a 50k ballpark they're trying to fill, it's just an arena. I really don't see a scenario where MSG would ever be half empty, or even close to it.

While I don't like the idea of intentionally finishing last (no integrity in that), there really does need to be a renewed commitment to restocking the franchise. Have to get Hartford and the Rangers on the same page in terms of development - same systems, same terminologies, same expectations. That is the key to success in Detroit.

I'm responding to the idea of icing a team bad enough to finish last overall to draft first overall as a method of righting all wrongs.

Should Lundqvist leave we could be seeing some dark days

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

2014: Suck for Sam (Reinhart)
2015: Crumble for Connor (McDavid)

2 #1 picks propelling the Rangers into legitimate contenders, only by blowing 2 seasons.

great 2 prospects with no guarantees whatsoever. they could end up with a career ending injury, not fill out and be to small to compete at the nhl level etc. even if they did pan out, whos gonna stop the puck, ask Philly about a team built on offense with no. goalie

 

[TheRightWay]

I LOVE it when people passive aggressively complain about how things played out, as if without the Jagr era we'd automatically be a superior team now. Look at the Islanders, Blue Jackets, and Panthers as evidence of the contrary. Hell, even the Blues and Capitals, who are at best on par with us. The reality is that there is no sure way to become a top team. We are the only team in the Eastern Conference who has made it into the second round in each of the last two seasons, and while obviously the priority is to win (at least) one Cup over having multiple pretty good seasons, we're still in a pretty damn good spot right now. We can do the "what if" game for the 2005-2006 season and come up with 1 million different alternate universes. Realistically, though, the vast majority of them play out on par with or much worse than where we stand today in actuality.

 

[AlternateSideParking]

All the coach options suck. Shows you how much Torts was not trusted.

Smith coveted Keenan, Pat Burns and Demers. Two were available after 92. Demers won a Cup in 93 and Burns resurrected the Leafs. He couldn't have gone wrong with any of the three.

AV, Ruff, Boucher, Maurice are garbage options. Maybe they're waiting to see if Bylsma gets fired.

Boudreau, Carlyle or Laviolette would be perfect for this team.

Laviolette is close with Leetch and Richter. Who knows. Maybe the guy Sather hires is a stop gap until a better option is available

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

I'm responding to the idea of icing a team bad enough to finish last overall to draft first overall as a method of righting all wrongs.

Should Lundqvist leave we could be seeing some dark days

True, but if the bottom line is profit, Rangers have no worries.

But, to be brutally honest, having a good system in place can make a good goalie look like a great one. Just look at Ottawa. Anderson had a 1.69 GAA (.941), rookie Lehner was close with 2.2 (.936), and Bishop was at 2.45 (.922) with the Sens. Do you honestly think Craig Anderson is elite? or that somehow Ottawa magically managed to get 3 great goalies by magic? Despite what my fellow Sens fans think, the answer is no. These guys are good...but not great.

When you have a really good goalie-friendly system in place and some competent defensemen, you can survive with an average goalie for a few seasons. The main problem is most Ranger fans are spoiled by Hank, and would compare all subsequent goalies to him.