Post-Game Talk: lame

[DialUp]

Maybe Laf will pull a Tage Thompson and become a god in a few years.

 

[Crease]

Even before the deadline, last year’s team were third period warriors. Not so much this year.

 

[17futurecap]

Sammy Blais was on the ice for 19 shot attempts against in 7:37 five on five.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Maybe Laf will pull a Tage Thompson and become a god in a few years.

After we move him to center

 

[2014nyr]

Sammy Blais was on the ice for 19 shots against in 7:37 five on five.

im not even mad...thats amazing

 

[LokiDog]

I will take an on pace for a 40 goal season bipolar player every day of the week.

Mika actually had a great game. He does so much more than just scoring.

I like Mika. But right now that entire veteran core is part of the problem. Like I said, if he got to play second fiddle to a genuine elite 1C or just superstar who could carry the spotlight he’d probably be one of the best supporting role types in the entire league. Unfortunately Panarin isn’t that guy since his first year here. If Mika had MacKinnon, Matthews, Crosby, etc. taking the spotlight and pressure off him, he’d be a stellar piece of a good team. He’s just not (seemingly) capable of being that top engine.

 

[DialUp]

Sammy Blais was on the ice for 19 shot attempts against in 7:37 five on five.

That is my vote for Stat of the Year, and it's only Jan 7th

 

[Machinehead]

It's always upsetting to lose to the Devils but reading this thread, you would think we lost 10-0, not a close game in overtime.

The biggest actual issue, for me, continues to be that every time we play this team, Hughes singlehandedly wins it or singlehandedly keeps them in it depending on the result. Our young players are still waiting for their first such performance that's just another Wednesday for Hughes.

 

[Machinehead]

I like Mika. But right now that entire veteran core is part of the problem. Like I said, if he got to play second fiddle to a genuine elite 1C or just superstar who could carry the spotlight he’d probably be one of the best supporting role types in the entire league. Unfortunately Panarin isn’t that guy since his first year here. If Mika had MacKinnon, Matthews, Crosby, etc. taking the spotlight and pressure off him, he’d be a stellar piece of a good team. He’s just not (seemingly) capable of being that top engine.

Yes, if we had a first ballot Hall of Famer on the first line, and a player pacing for almost 90 points on the second line, we would be better than we are.

It would also be nice if I had 6 billion dollars and bought out Dolan but here we are in the real world.

 

[Cmox]

But both guys are leaps and bounds better than Laf. So it's not all development. Laf's just a lemon.



I hate when Devils fans post in our post game threads especially when we lost but this 100% spot on.

We saw flashes of what Laff could do during the playoffs. He definitely has regressed but we got to remember Laff lost a lot of important development time. Has that effected him more so than others? He definitely should’ve done a stint with the pack like Schneider just to get his feet wet. He just turned 21. I just don’t think he should be written off yet.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

We saw flashes of what Laff could do during the playoffs. He definitely has regressed but we got to remember Laff lost a lot of important development time. Has that effected him more so than others? He definitely should’ve done a stint with the pack like Schneider just to get his feet wet. He just turned 21. I just don’t think he should be written off yet.

He was a good 3rd line player in the playoffs and barely an NHLer otherwise.

 

[bl02]

Was a semi Blais defender. His career has just become shit since the dirty knee injury. When Brodz is back put him in at least he has ok speed to catch up to someone.

 

[Machinehead]

At the end of this season, Mika might have more points in 22-23 than Lafreniere and Kakko each have in their careers.

We're walking around with no arms and saying "gee, I'd be able to reach things if my stupid legs could jump better."

 

[LOFIN]

It's always like this, whenever Gallant gets flustered he starts to make the most bizarre decisions. We've seen this time and time again. It was tone deaf as well to start Laffy in OT when it's clear he isn't in a great place right now, just weird.

Not sure what to think about this. On the other hand, it's good that he was given the opportunity. On the other hand, this was a very important game and could've used that extra point.

 

[Fitzy]

There are some baffling choices but the fact that Gauthier has been promoted over Reaves and Brodzinski over Carpenter (to a lesser degree Vesey over Blais) is a sign of some meritocratic elements that we haven’t seen in a while.

Next step has to be goodbye Blais. He’s just a black hole.

 

[17futurecap]

Also, Ben Harpur’s Corsi % is the third lowest among all Rangers, behind only Ryan Reaves and Dryden Hunt, both no longer Rangers

Same for his XG.

He should be dumped on waivers tomorrow, and never look back.

 

[Machinehead]

There are some baffling choices but the fact that Gauthier has been promoted over Reaves and Brodzinski over Carpenter (to a lesser degree Vesey over Blais) is a sign of some meritocratic elements that we haven’t seen in a while.

Next step has to be goodbye Blais. He’s just a black hole.

Honestly, I feel like Gallant has managed ice time fine this year. You listed all of the good examples.

The others don't deserve to be playing more. Sorry.

With the exception of Chytil, and that's not on Gallant. Signing a lucrative-contract 2C we really couldn't afford instead of just rolling with Chytil was the front office's decision. And that's not a knock on Trocheck.

Chytil can legitimately claim he's been held down. The others don't deserve to be playing more.

 

[Machinehead]

We saw flashes of what Laff could do during the playoffs. He definitely has regressed but we got to remember Laff lost a lot of important development time. Has that effected him more so than others? He definitely should’ve done a stint with the pack like Schneider just to get his feet wet. He just turned 21. I just don’t think he should be written off yet.

He had 2 goals in the playoffs in 20 games.

That's pretty much Lafreniere from where I'm standing.

 

[LokiDog]

Yes, if we had a first ballot Hall of Famer on the first line, and a player pacing for almost 90 points on the second line, we would be better than we are.

It would also be nice if I had 6 billion dollars and bought out Dolan but here we are in the real world.

I don’t know that they have to be a first ballot hall of famer, or that it means Mika has to be the 2C. Larkin seems like he can handle being “the man”. Prime O’Reilly or Backstrom. Designating line 1/2 is stupid anyway as we have Panarin on the “second” line. The point is Panarin gets 12M but isn’t “the man” either. Even if the guy was a winger like Kaprizov and played on the same line as Mika, the point was simply that Mika is better off as a sidekick. He can’t be the guy, and since Panarin just wants to play patty cake (and the types of guys I’m talking about aren’t growing on trees) we’re not in the best spot.

By the way, I never said “oh what we need is a real 1C”. I said Mika is a bipolar player who can’t carry the mail. Someone else chimed in to say Mika has been good and I responded with I like Mika, I just wish he didn’t have to be the go to guy on this team because he’s not well suited for it. He’s like a Backstrom to someone’s Ovie, Zetterberg to Datsyuk, Zucc to Kaprizov, Marner to Matthews, Rantanen to Mackinnon type. All of those guys are great players, but one has the top billing. Malkin had Crosby. Draisaitl has McDavid. Kucherov, Stamkos, Point all have each other. Mika has Panarin. Neither is proving capable of being THE guy.

 

[bondra]

He had 2 goals in the playoffs in 20 games.

That's pretty much Lafreniere from where I'm standing.

Yeah and also the legend and myth of kid line was born from the same playoffs.

 

[Machinehead]

I don’t know that they have to be a first ballot hall of famer, or that it means Mika has to be the 2C. Larkin seems like he can handle being “the man”. Prime O’Reilly or Backstrom. Designating line 1/2 is stupid anyway as we have Panarin on the “second” line. The point is Panarin gets 12M but isn’t “the man” either. Even if the guy was a winger like Kaprizov and played on the same line as Mika, the point was simply that Mika is better off as a sidekick. He can’t be the guy, and since Panarin just wants to play patty cake (and the types of guys I’m talking about aren’t growing on trees) we’re not in the best spot.

By the way, I never said “oh what we need is a real 1C”. I said Mika is a bipolar player who can’t carry the mail. Someone else chimed in to say Mika has been good and I responded with I like Mika, I just wish he didn’t have to be the go to guy on this team because he’s not well suited for it. He’s like a Backstrom to someone’s Ovie, Zetterberg to Datsyuk, Zucc to Kaprizov, Marner to Matthews, Rantanen to Mackinnon type. All of those guys are great players, but one has the top billing. Malkin had Crosby. Draisaitl has McDavid. Kucherov, Stamkos, Point all have each other. Mika has Panarin. Neither is proving capable of being THE guy.

If Lafreniere and Kakko were solid top six players -not even Jack Hughes- just solid top six players, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Zibanejad and Panarin have been put in a situation where their supporting cast was traded to give the kids no resistance at all towards grabbing spots and they still couldn't do it, so now their supporting cast has just disappeared.

Hughes might be "the man" it's easier to be that when you have Hischier, Bratt, Sharangovich, Mercer.

Who do we have? It's still Chris Kreider nine years later. For God sakes it's Goodrow and Vesey at this point.

 

[Fitzy]

Gonna go off topic for a minute here and suggest that the biggest thing this roster is missing isn’t grit or compete- it’s speed.

Kreider (sadly slower now) and Trocheck have above average speed. Gaut is fast.

But there’s not much of a deep threat to stretch defenses amongst this crew. It used to be one of the go to strategies under AV. Not saying we want to go that route, but I’d be looking at a forward with a turn of pace at the deadline.

 

[hackeyman]

Miller Fox is the future pair, Lindgren will be gone this summer.

Why do you think Lingren will be gone ? That makes no sense.

 

[Machinehead]

If you've ever really followed a sport closely at a college or junior level, you realize what a massive jump it is to the top, and it really doesn't matter how good the prospect is -- it's still massive.

You'll become familiar with all the stars around the league or conference and like 1 out of 20 actually make it.

Every single guy in the pros was the guy you hated your college/junior team going up against. Vesey, Goodrow, even Jonny Brodzinski was a guy college opponents gameplanned for.

It's a ridiculous jump and the Rangers don't seem capable of fostering young players to make that jump without them becoming third liners.

 

[Fitzy]

He’s right. I remember playing Hugh Jessiman and thinking he was for sure the next Todd Bertuzzi.

Take every element of the game and try to do it 30% faster at each consecutive level. It’s not easy. Poor Nigel Dawes can attest.