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Michael Del Zotto

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Check out this minutes comparison on the left side of the Rangers’ defense from Friday night’s 2-1 overtime loss in Game 5 at the Verizon Center: Ryan McDonagh (29:11), John Moore (25:04), Michael Del Zotto (15:29).

John Tortorella has developed a high level of trust in Moore, even though the 22-year-old just got here at the trade deadline from Columbus.

Moore was the defenseman standing in front of the net when Mike Ribeiro scored the game-winning goal, but there wasn’t much he could do on such a strange deflection. Plus, seconds before Moore had laid down and blocked a bomb from Caps defenseman Mike Green at the point.

Moore finished with five blocked shots, one behind McDonagh for the team lead, playing mostly with Anton Stralman on the second pairing but also rotating up with Dan Girardi as Tortorella split his pairs to combat the Capitals’ adjustments. Del Zotto has struggled in the defensive zone also, contributing partially to Moore’s increased opportunities.

Moore played 14:26 in Game 1, 22:08 in Game 2, 15:50 in Game 3 and 15:36 in Game 4, so Friday night’s minutes mark his career postseason high for ice time.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/ra...n-game-5-loss-john-moore-logging-more-ice-tim
 
I feel like trading DZ is going to bite us in the ass — but if we can get a young first line scoring forward in the deal, I'd do it. Proven, young defenseman are very valuable in this league — look at what Alex Goligoski/Erik Johnson returned.
 
Brian Boyle said:
I feel like trading DZ is going to bite us in the ass — but if we can get a young first line scoring forward in the deal, I'd do it. Proven, young defenseman are very valuable in this league — look at what Alex Goligoski/Erik Johnson returned.
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Yes. It can go either way for us. Right now he's playing like crap but that isn't saying much because the whole team, save a few, are playing like crap. We also need to make sure the scorer we hypothetically got doesn't get ruined.
 
Say what you want about Del Zotto, but if it was him watching as Ribeiro scored the game winner this board would explode.
 
Pugs35 said:
Say what you want about Del Zotto, but if it was him watching as Ribeiro scored the game winner this board would explode.
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Well, I called out Moore on his lack of positioning on the winning goal, but I also thought he played an excellent game aside from that. Del Zotto was better last night than in game four, IMO, but as RB posted, his ice-time took a significant dip.

If Moore isn't pushing him out of the lineup already, than one of even two of Skjei/McIlrath hopefully will. The Rangers lack scoring, and if they can get a goal scorer that doesn't disappear in crunch time, well, then I think you gotta make that move.
 
Despite all the heat he gets thrown his way, some of it warranted, but the dude's finished 28th, 18th, and 33rd in scoring among d-men and he's only 22 years old. We can't always complain about weaknesses and perceived weaknesses without also giving due credit for successes. And to finish that high in scoring, as young as he is, it's honestly pretty impressive. I'd like to let this guy develop a bit more before we hastily flush him down the toilet.
 
Cake or Death said:
Despite all the heat he gets thrown his way, some of it warranted, but the dude's finished 28th, 18th, and 33rd in scoring among d-men and he's only 22 years old. We can't always complain about weaknesses and perceived weaknesses without also giving due credit for successes. And to finish that high in scoring, as young as he is, it's honestly pretty impressive. I'd like to let this guy develop a bit more before we hastily flush him down the toilet.
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I'm not ready to trade him and I was preaching patience last season when it came to MDZ, but the numbers above aren't great for a guys whose strength is supposed to be the offensive part of his game..

Lets take a look at those numbers...

This season MDZ #33 21 pts PP/TOI/G 2:38 38% of points on the PP...McD #41 19 pts. PP/TOI/G 0:38 5.2% of points on the PP. MDZ played 1 less game.

11-12 season MDZ #18 41 pts PP/TOI/G 4:11 34% of points on the PP...McD #34 32 pts PP/TOI/G 0:37 6.25% of points on the PP. MDZ played 5 less games.
 
I would be fine trading him and it's nothing against him. He's improved dramatically since he first came up but the fact of the matter is our strength is defense, Staal/McDonagh/I think Moore eventually are all better than him, Stralman is very good, weakness is offense, we have a lot of high potential defensive depth in the minors (Skjei/McIlrath) and we don't have much of that offensively.
 
SA16 said:
I would be fine trading him and it's nothing against him. He's improved dramatically since he first came up but the fact of the matter is our strength is defense, Staal/McDonagh/I think Moore eventually are all better than him, Stralman is very good, weakness is offense, we have a lot of high potential defensive depth in the minors (Skjei/McIlrath) and we don't have much of that offensively.
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MDZ for the 7th pick and Paajarvi from Edmonton makes a lot of sense. They desperately need a LHD and we can pick up a high end forward Nichushkin/Monahan/Lindholm with the pick.
 
Brian Boyle said:
Well, I called out Moore on his lack of positioning on the winning goal, but I also thought he played an excellent game aside from that. Del Zotto was better last night than in game four, IMO, but as RB posted, his ice-time took a significant dip.

If Moore isn't pushing him out of the lineup already, than one of even two of Skjei/McIlrath hopefully will. The Rangers lack scoring, and if they can get a goal scorer that doesn't disappear in crunch time, well, then I think you gotta make that move.
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Moore's pushing him out of the lineup? No he's not. He's just pushing him down to the 3rd pairing. We don;t have enough defensemen of quality to push DZ out of the lineup.

You can't bank of Skjei and McIlrath yet. Neither of them have proven anything at the NHL level.
 
3rd Guy High said:
Moore's pushing him out of the lineup? No he's not. He's just pushing him down to the 3rd pairing. We don;t have enough defensemen of quality to push DZ out of the lineup.

You can't bank of Skjei and McIlrath yet. Neither of them have proven anything at the NHL level.
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Yea and having Del Zotto on the third pairing is sort of an unnecessary luxury and managing scared and worried about injury. Not having him doesn't mean we will be stuck with someone like Bickel. We can sign a cheaper bottom 4 type defenseman while also using Del Zotto as an asset to improve our offense.
 
It is the amazing how things change on HF. One year ago MDZ was untouchable and part of the core. Now lots of posters want him traded?
 
Kershaw said:
MDZ for the 7th pick and Paajarvi from Edmonton makes a lot of sense. They desperately need a LHD and we can pick up a high end forward Nichushkin/Monahan/Lindholm with the pick.
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Edmonton might like Del Zotto but I'm not sure they'd give up the 7th overall let alone + Paajarvi for him.
 
Brian Boyle said:
I feel like trading DZ is going to bite us in the ass — but if we can get a young first line scoring forward in the deal, I'd do it. Proven, young defenseman are very valuable in this league — look at what Alex Goligoski/Erik Johnson returned.
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Why would that bite us...Goligoski got Pens Neal and Nistaken who is probably better than Glow sticks.

Johnson got the Blues Shattenkirk and Stewart.

If trading Del Zaster got us either of those returns you take it in a heart beat.
 
Orr Nightmare said:
Why would that bite us...Goligoski got Pens Neal and Nistaken who is probably better than Glow sticks.

Johnson got the Blues Shattenkirk and Stewart.

If trading Del Zaster got us either of those returns you take it in a heart beat.
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I wasn't really comparing the players — just their league-wide stature.

Obviously you make those deals — I just think that MDZ is going to be a very, very good player in the near future. He'd flourish on a team like Detroit or Ottawa.
 
The thing with MDZ is, for an offensive defenseman his shot is just nothing at all to speak of. Accuracy, velocity, timing/shot selection.

He would hold a TON of value around the league. And rightfully so - he's 23. Lot of moving parts with Moore's unproven-ness and Staal's health/UFA status.
 
Brian Boyle said:
I wasn't really comparing the players — just their league-wide stature.

Obviously you make those deals — I just think that MDZ is going to be a very, very good player in the near future. He'd flourish on a team like Detroit or Ottawa.
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You think a new coach/system would help Del Zotto?
 
Jabroni1994 said:
You think a new coach/system would help Del Zotto?
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I think he would become a huge, important asset to a team that plays a fast, quick transitional game, like Detroit/Ottawa does. He is one of the better transitional defenders in the league, IMO, he does a great job of joining the rush and has a great outlet pass.

The Rangers breakout, on the other hand, is terrible. To be frank. It's something that can be fixed with coaching, too, IMO. They try to use the boards far too often and the players never carry the puck with any momentum. It's easy to keep them from entering the offensive zone.
 
Brian Boyle said:
I think he would become a huge, important asset to a team that plays a fast, quick transitional game, like Detroit/Ottawa does. He is one of the better transitional defenders in the league, IMO, he does a great job of joining the rush and has a great outlet pass.

The Rangers breakout, on the other hand, is terrible. To be frank. It's something that can be fixed with coaching, too, IMO. They try to use the boards far too often and the players never carry the puck with any momentum. It's easy to keep them from entering the offensive zone.
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Agree with this. I actually think that all our D outside of Girardi can be pretty good at the transition game, for whatever reason, Torts disagrees and has them play the most frustrating/ineffective breakout style
 
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