New York Rangers from President's Trophy to Missed Playoffs?

[Fatass]

Most high picks are misses. That's why you keep picking.

They actually signed Panarin before they even had Lafreniere. I think people forget that the Rangers were above .500 going into the Lafreniere draft. They literally only missed the playoffs because of the COVID divisions. They won the Lafreniere lottery with a <2% chance.

You could say it's different if Lafreniere hit but that doesn't change the fact that they got Kaapo Kakko and declared "mission accomplished."

And even if Lafreniere did work out, where does that leave them? He would be the only good player on a team that's still ass and getting old. The only difference is that they would have one piece going into the second rebuild that they're going into anyway.

Also, while Lafreniere could have been a good player in different circumstances, I don't think he was ever going to be a foundational player having watched him for all these years.

Again, that's why you keep picking instead of saying "well I got one lottery pick, when do the Finals start?"

The Rangers had a series of lottery picks; they just missed on all of them. Don’t know who the GM was at that time, but his poor drafting is the main factor in the current state of an old core. Those high picks, if made properly, are supposed to push those older players down the lineup or out the door in trade. Those picks just didn’t turn out. And yes, even lottery picks miss.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

I'm sure Joel Quenneville will fix the Rangers next season

 

[Machinehead]

The Rangers had a series of lottery picks; they just missed on all of them. Don’t know who the GM was at that time, but his poor drafting is the main factor in the current state of an old core. Those high picks, if made properly, are supposed to push those older players down the lineup or out the door in trade. Those picks just didn’t turn out. And yes, even lottery picks miss.

Right, so you don't go and sign a bunch of free agents and start trading draft capital to try and contend before you know what those picks are.

If they kept rebuilding, they might have a foundation in place by now. Instead, they spent three years not winning the Cup and haven't even started making changes yet.

They're wasting my time.

 

[Fatass]

Right, so you don't go and sign a bunch of free agents and start trading draft capital to try and contend before you know what those picks are.

If they kept rebuilding, they might have a foundation in place by now. Instead, they spent three years not winning the Cup and haven't even started making changes yet.

They're wasting my time.

Are you suggesting the Rangers should have just kept on losing and picking top 10 until those young drafted players develop into the core?

 

[Osakahaus]

Unless you knew the Rangers were absolutely dependent on the power play and badly needed Shesterkin to mask up a ton of errors, this comes to a surprise to nobody besides...rangers fans and super casuals in the NHL. Kreider and Zibanajed are the biggest examples of power play merchants, and NHL casuals will say "draisaitl" instead. The only reason the Rangers are "still" in the race is because the rest of the east is horrible and Artemi Panarin is a very good player. Chris Drury also is a horrible general manager, and Lafrenierre has been horrendous this season. 3 goals in his last 30 games.

 

[24 others]

They overachieved last year. How they managed to win the Presidents is beyond me. A fluke?

Didn't you ask exactly the same question in the Bruins thread?

 

[Machinehead]

Are you suggesting the Rangers should have just kept on losing and picking top 10 until those young drafted players develop into the core?

No, I'm suggesting they should have just kept on losing picking and top 10 until they drafted good players.

Or even if you're not a believer in just sucking for a long time, I'm not even necessarily saying you have to do that.

It's hitching your wagon to mediocrity and not having vision as far as getting to where you want to be.

They dove into contention with no real plan because Panarin became available. The team never fleshed out an identity or set a standard for their core and it shows.

 

[Machinehead]

Unless you knew the Rangers were absolutely dependent on the power play and badly needed Shesterkin to mask up a ton of errors, this comes to a surprise to nobody besides...rangers fans

You don't talk to any Rangers fans.

 

[Homelander]

I guarantee you, as today is Tuesday, that if Lafreniere was on any other team, he would be producing

 

[Rebels57]

The Rangers had a series of lottery picks; they just missed on all of them. Don’t know who the GM was at that time, but his poor drafting is the main factor in the current state of an old core. Those high picks, if made properly, are supposed to push those older players down the lineup or out the door in trade. Those picks just didn’t turn out. And yes, even lottery picks miss.

Picking in the Top 10 four consecutive drafts and walking away with:

Lias Andersson
Vitali Kravtsov
Kaapo Kakko
Alexis Lafreniere

Is absolutely BRUTAL.

If the Rangers have any scouts leftover that were there between 2017-2020, they need to be fired. They also need to take a close look at their Player Development Program.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Picking in the Top 10 four consecutive drafts and walking away with:

Lias Andersson
Vitali Kravtsov
Kaapo Kakko
Alexis Lafreniere

Is absolutely BRUTAL.

If the Rangers have any scouts leftover that were there between 2017-2020, they need to be fired. They also need to take a close look at their Player Development Program.

Lafreniere had everyone fooled. The other three were mistakes.

The Rangers have been the worst scouting team in the league for a long time, and it's not particularly close.

 

[UnSandvich]

The veteran core got upset that management traded away a couple of their (severely underperforming) buddies and decided to tank the season.

This combined with the organization’s stunning inability to properly develop young players has them in the position they’re in now.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

The veteran core got upset that management traded away a couple of their (severely underperforming) buddies and decided to tank the season.

This combined with the organization’s stunning inability to properly develop young players has them in the position they’re in now.

Anyone who does the bolded is in the wrong line of work.

 

[thebeernerd]

If you talk to the average Rangers fan, you'd be led to believe that this worst-case scenario has always been happening, even when they made Conference Finals. No one is harder on their own team.

It's a deep-rooted franchise issue. We've seen this story one too many times. It's an organizational issue. It's either a ton of bad coincidences or there's something fundamentally wrong in the development of prospects/young players.

When I was lurking one of the threads in HF Rangers, someone opined that Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt are the kind of homegrown players that Devils fans could hang their hats upon for about 15 years, and that the last time the Rangers had one of those times was Rod Gilbert. It's something deep-rooted for sure, but what?

 

[le_sean]

JT Miller has been there for one-third of the games that Kreider has played and he already has more points than him. Woof. How can he only have 5 assists?

 

[Voight]

View attachment 1008835

Always cracks me up

Same vibes

 

[seafoam]

 

[Osakahaus]

Lafreniere had everyone fooled. The other three were mistakes.

The Rangers have been the worst scouting team in the league for a long time, and it's not particularly close.

same guy who operated those drafts is with the Canadiens and has found plenty of productive and incredible players so far. Maybe the issue is the man up top, not the scouts.

 

[DVision44]

I guarantee you, as today is Tuesday, that if Lafreniere was on any other team, he would be producing

Just like Lias Anderson, Kratsov, Chytil, and Kakko right?

 

[Megustaelhockey]

same guy who operated those drafts is with the Canadiens and has found plenty of productive and incredible players so far. Maybe the issue is the man up top, not the scouts.

Nah, he still sucks, but I'm glad you're so thrilled with the result.

The Rangers' problem far, far, far predates Gorton.

 

[Homelander]

Just like Lias Anderson, Kratsov, Chytil, and Kakko right?

Kakko has played well for Seattle and Chytil was playing well up until he got injured.

And Andersson and Kravtsov were reaches. So yeah, not sure what your point is.

 

[Homelander]

same guy who operated those drafts is with the Canadiens and has found plenty of productive and incredible players so far. Maybe the issue is the man up top, not the scouts.

Who's the man up top? James Dolan?

 

[DVision44]

Kakko has played well for Seattle and Chytil was playing well up until he got injured.

And Andersson and Kravtsov were reaches. So yeah, not sure what your point is.

Kakko was drafted #2 overall. Has he played like a #2 pick? He was also a reach! That’s my point…

 

[Homelander]

Kakko was drafted #2 overall. Has he played like a #2 pick? He was also a reach? That’s my point…

He wasn't a reach because he was the consensus second best player in the Draft. Andersson and Kravtsov were not consensus top-10 picks...

 

[TGWL]

Picking in the Top 10 four consecutive drafts and walking away with:

Lias Andersson
Vitali Kravtsov
Kaapo Kakko
Alexis Lafreniere

Is absolutely BRUTAL.

If the Rangers have any scouts leftover that were there between 2017-2020, they need to be fired. They also need to take a close look at their Player Development Program.

2 of those picks were absolutely going there by nearly all NHL scouts. Even if you want to argue a spot lower, 2 of those weren't just bad scouting.

The other 2 of those absolutely sucked, I won't argue that. But again, some NHL scouts would have taken Wahlstrom in that spot. The smarter would have taken Dobson and pumped their chest. This runs a lot deeper than scouts.

Chytil at 21 is a great pick. Unfortunately, he couldn't stay healthy and had some on-ice awareness issues.