Post-Game Talk: PS #2 - 09/20/19 | RANGERS @ devils | 7:00 - MSG

[HatTrick Swayze]

I can’t say I’ve been surprised by what I’ve seen thus far. I cringed a little when people would talk playoffs and taking the next steps beyond this season.

There’s still a lot of work to be done before either of those two possibilities are on the radar. I have no doubt they’ll get there, I’ve just always felt there’s been there this “push” by fans to have to happen sooner.

I don’t think there’s a full understanding of just how young this team is. I mean this is going to be a REALLY young team the next couple of years.

I mean I’m not saying you’re wrong in total (no they are not a Cup contender and the young talent needs time to marinate) but at the same time its preseason game 2.

The NYR just shelled out an $11M+ contract in UFA and have a HOF goaltender in net. There are moving pieces but “making the playoffs” should be decently in range, perhaps a stretch - or WTF are they doing diving neck deep into the UFA pool. It has to be a reasonable goal, if a stretch. How can you possibly support signing Panarin and “this team is just too young to contend for a PO spot”, it’s logically incompatible.

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

There should be an image like this at the top of every GDT this year to remind people to temper their expectations despite the fact that some of Gorton's moves this summer appeared to "accelerate" the rebuild. It's still a long term project. Avoid the temptation of the quick fix.

They signed a $11m+ UFA...they certainly “accelerated things” unless you are a head in the sand apologist

 

[Matt Rentfree]

Just finished watching the DVR of the game. It wasn't nearly as horrific as it sounded while I was following the GDT from work, but then again, when Marc Staal is the second best defender on the ice you can't set the bar too high.

Chytil was noticeable all game - if he can play that way during the regular season, we MAY have a 2C.

Huska and Reunanen both looked solid.

Buch looked like he thought the 1RW spot was already his - he'd better light a flame under it.

Nice deflection aside, Howden had a bad game.

Keane isn't ready for the big time yet - no sin in that.

Why on earth were Morrow and Geertsen even allowed to suit up? They were both godawful.

I know other people posted this already but at the risk of being redundant, WTF is up with these starts? Do they need a motivational speaker in the locker room before game time? It has become a bad habit of this team to play the first 2 minutes of the game completely flat and unprepared. I don't know what needs to happen in that locker room, but someone on the coaching staff had better figure it out and fix it.

 

[Barnaby]

I can’t say I’ve been surprised by what I’ve seen thus far. I cringed a little when people would talk playoffs and taking the next steps beyond this season.

There’s still a lot of work to be done before either of those two possibilities are on the radar. I have no doubt they’ll get there, I’ve just always felt there’s been there this “push” by fans to have to happen sooner.

I don’t think there’s a full understanding of just how young this team is. I mean this is going to be a REALLY young team the next couple of years.

I think a lot of people are getting ahead of themselves. I think that there will be some really exciting nights, and some jaw droppingly bad nights. I could see them having a Mets type season... a lot of middling... then they’ll hit a run at some point where they will be 4 games out with 15 to play. We’ll get pumped, and they’ll be in that 8ish from the bottom slot when all is said and done.

 

[Morten]

this game was whatever, we iced an absolutely terrible roster against most of their best players so I didn't expect much.


Hoping our boys Panarin/Zib/Kakko plays tonight though!

 

[eco's bones]

A Mermis is an evil, malicious male mermaid.

It's also a species of worm.

 

[eco's bones]

FWIW the Devils came with many of their best players and we didn't and it showed. Staal was our only regular defenseman--one of Reunanen or Lindgren might make the team. Reunanen was good moving the puck and played smartly but seemed a little overmatched physically to me. Lindgren played pretty well. I like his edge. The others including Keane were somewhere between bad and terrible.

And basically we played our 3rd and 4th liners--the exceptions being Buchnevich and maybe Chytil and Pavel's more of a passenger top 6 player than a driver.

I thought Huska was really good and that Lindgren and Reunanen showed enough to stay in the picture. Names and Howden played pretty well and that's about it. The rest were kind of between blah and bad. Like the other night we start off chasing the game.

 

[Mike in Houston]

No where to go but up for Henrik. I had a feeling he'd be under siege when I saw that lineup a couple of days ago. But as usual the better overall lineup gets the home games in preseason. I only saw the Hughes and Hall goals last night. My goodness that was beautiful shot by Hall.

 

[Siddi]

Just watched the replay of the game and man was it fun to watch "a" Rangers team again. The end result was obvious with the line up Rangers iced tonight. Hank was meh but we all now he is rusty early on. (except for last season when he was on fire from the get go) Not saying he will be good or bad but like other posters mentioned already, it is too early to pass judgment on him.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Liked what I saw from Chytil and Reunanen but other than that, the only conclusion I could draw from last night’s game was that I don’t ever need to see that lineup again.

(EDIT: Huska was good too.)

 

[Vitto79]

I can live with Smith and Staal this year but they need to move them at the deadline

Ruenanen and Lindgren need to be up next year and we haven’t seen Rykov yet

Figure Hajek makes it unless he has a Crawley / Keane type game

They are gonna waive the PTO Dmen that stunk tonight

 

[haohmaru]

I can live with Smith and Staal this year but they need to move them at the deadline

As much as everyone wants to fantasize around here, Staal has a full NMC. He's not going anywhere unless he wants to and I highly, highly doubt that he wants to and that can be further compounded with the fact that if he did, it would probably be to a contender, and a contender won't have any use for a Marc Staal.

He's here for two more years unless he retires. Get used to it.

 

[haohmaru]

Keane is probably still shaking his head this morning at his game last night. Not that he was going to make the team anyway, but I'm sure he's going to blaming himself and last night for the reason the eventual cut comes.

 

[Mike in Houston]

He's here for two more years unless he retires. Get used to it.

Exactly. He's going to finish his contract and likely call it a career. Just wait it out.

 

[AIexisLafreniereNYR]

As much as everyone wants to fantasize around here, Staal has a full NMC. He's not going anywhere unless he wants to and I highly, highly doubt that he wants to and that can be further compounded with the fact that if he did, it would probably be to a contender, and a contender won't have any use for a Marc Staal.

He's here for two more years unless he retires. Get used to it.

I think we should just honor Staal, was a warrior for us. Rn we’re rebuilding, the best case is just having Staal’s and Smith’s contract expiring in 2 years. That’ll free up over 10m I believe.

 

[Kovalev27]

Watching the replay and I feel the same way about Keane as I did at traverse City. I don’t get the media saying he’s been good. He was awful last night for the same reasons he was awful in traverse. He’s bigger and skates well but he’s got a long way to go to be anything at this level. I thought he’d be a first cut surprised he’s still here

 

[Inferno]

The problem with Henrik right now is what plagued him early in his career...high glove side.

Early on that became where to beat him till he worked on it and made his glove side good ......not great

But in the last like 2ish seasons his glove has gotten slower and slower and the way he keeps his arms on tight to cut down on his lower shots has left the amount of room he has to cover high harder to maintain at his age. He's basically just a hair slower up high, and with the way he cheats low, that makes it a big old red bullseye for NHL shooters to pick apart

High glove. Just watch it this season, I'd be willing to wager money that it's going to become a meme like birons 5 hole was.

 

[kovazub94]

I commented knowing that:

We’re still playing against the Devils and not a powerhouse

Other teams lineups are also going to get better, tighter and less rusty

Staal, Skjei, and company are still going to struggle against a lot of offenses

Lundqvist is still 37

Our forward group is still incredibly young

We still have a lot of unanswered questions at center

Trouba is not going to have nearly the support he had in Winnipeg’s lineup

Even if young talent takes significant steps forward, that there’s an ebb and flow to their development

That time is still going to be a major factor in traversing the road ahead of us, and that hasn’t changed despite our desire for it not to be.

All of these factors are well known so it is just peculiar that you chose to make your posts with a reference / following last nights game that featured largely JV squat, especially exposed on D where Staal was the most prominent feature.

 

[Kovalev27]

Chytil looked great. Solid defensively and good on faceoffs from my eye test at least.

 

[Kovalev27]

The problem with Henrik right now is what plagued him early in his career...high glove side.

Early on that became where to beat him till he worked on it and made his glove side good ......not great

But in the last like 2ish seasons his glove has gotten slower and slower and the way he keeps his arms on tight to cut down on his lower shots has left the amount of room he has to cover high harder to maintain at his age. He's basically just a hair slower up high, and with the way he cheats low, that makes it a big old red bullseye for NHL shooters to pick apart

High glove. Just watch it this season, I'd be willing to wager money that it's going to become a meme like birons 5 hole was.

This year will be eli manning for hank it will be hard to watch. It's been getting harder to watch the last few seasons

 

[Kovalev27]

Hank spent half the game screaming at Joey Keane lol

 

[Ola]

This game hardly serves as a reality check when 2 top 6 forwards were playing and 1 top 6 dman was playing. Let’s relax on that talk Jesus.

However what scares me and has scared me for a few years now is hank Lundqvist basically is the hockey equivalent of Eli Manning at this point. He’s going to hurt us. He couldn’t make a save tonight. Which is becoming par for the course. Especially early.

@Kovalev27 you are the voice of caution as usual and I couldn’t agree more.

Heck I thought Reunanen and Lindgren mostly played well. Like their poise. As did Staal. We gave up 4 but 2 where great snipes and the others, well I don’t know. Hughes pwned Hank.

I think Chytil played a good game, more patient than last season. Howden is Howden. Galloping legs but not much more. Buch made some good plays.

Fast didn’t have the most visible game.

 

[Kovalev27]

Fast is the other one who I think his time has come and gone. He’s not the same guy.

Huska I love. You look back a few years and I had Huska over any other goalie as my fav of them. Then he went to UConn for some reason which was an awful decision.

But you need size in the net. You do. Guys are too good you need some net coverage can’t just be reflexes and speed. We have all these small goalies and none of them save Georgiev plays a calm game. Huska gives you a calming presence. I think Allaire is going to do wonders for this kid. He’s probably been the best goalie in camp

 

[NernieBichols]

Watching the replay and I feel the same way about Keane as I did at traverse City. I don’t get the media saying he’s been good. He was awful last night for the same reasons he was awful in traverse. He’s bigger and skates well but he’s got a long way to go to be anything at this level. I thought he’d be a first cut surprised he’s still here

Keane is a year, year and half out. Don’t get why you hate on the guy other than maybe it’s something you said early so you keep banging the drum. He got tools you can’t really teach, he’s a righty, hes willing to play chippy.

You want him making all these mistakes in training camp and to begin with at hartford bc if he’s gonna learn what will work and what’s gonna get him burnt at the NHL league it’s gonna be by trial and error. He’s probably able to do what he wants at a lower level and that allowed him to get confidence to play the way he does. His road to being an NHL player is now about getting schooled and awakened to what will/won’t fly.

The penalties are more botherisome in the here/now. He was getting a lot of penalties in traverse. Now I get it’s bc he plays a certain way, but just like game situations and picking your spots. It’s training camp, it’s your ice time, if you see your hot and the ref is watching you closely, dial back that side of the game until the ref acknowledges it and then isn’t looking at you during every sequence.

Mistakes like the lazy pass crawley made is a different story. Spoke to him not being present and just going through motions

 

[Kovalev27]

Keane is a year, year and half out. Don’t get why you hate on the guy other than maybe it’s something you said early so you keep banging the drum. He got tools you can’t really teach, he’s a righty, hes willing to play chippy.

You want him making all these mistakes in training camp and to begin with at hartford bc if he’s gonna learn what will work and what’s gonna get him burnt at the NHL league it’s gonna be by trial and error. He’s probably able to do what he wants at a lower level and that allowed him to get confidence to play the way he does. His road to being an NHL player is now about getting schooled and awakened to what will/won’t fly.

The penalties are more botherisome in the here/now. He was getting a lot of penalties in traverse. Now I get it’s bc he plays a certain way, but just like game situations and picking your spots. It’s training camp, it’s your ice time, if you see your hot and the ref is watching you closely, dial back that side of the game until the ref acknowledges it and then isn’t looking at you during every sequence.

Mistakes like the lazy pass crawley made is a different story. Spoke to him not being present and just going through motions

Actually no I was a huge fan of his game a year ago. But his season was a wash and this summer is more of the same. Really disappointed in him. Thought he was a smarter player and he’s become the opposite