Confirmed with Link: Rangers agree to terms with Patrick Khodorenko

[Rempe73]

Zucc was pretty impactful no?

Yea I agreed with that

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Not so much "shutdown" role, but PK and pot 10 goals/25-30 pts is basically a description of John Mitchell.

Can we stop arguing about Dan Girardi?

I don't expect Khodorenko to make the team until at least early 2022

 

[bobbop]

Rangers taking a page out of the Penguins playbook. Pittsburgh has had pretty good success signing NCAA players and letting them marinate in the A for a while. Economical way to stock the system.

May work, who knows?

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Girardi ate minutes like cookies but he was never a top pair guy.

An UDFA who almost played 1000 games is an impact player though.

 

[Rempe73]

He was playing top pair minutes before McDonagh was even in the NHL

Never said he wasn’t. Just said he was paired with McDonagh for most of his career. Skjei and Trouba also played first pairing minutes. So did Staal and Pionk.

 

[Rempe73]

Girardi ate minutes like cookies but he was never a top pair guy.

An UDFA who almost played 1000 games is an impact player though.

But there are bottom 6 guys and 6/7 d who have played that many games.

 

[Tawnos]

I don't expect Khodorenko to make the team until at least early 2022

Eh... he's 21 already now. He'll be 22 in the early stages of the 20-21 season. Early 2022, he'll be 24. You'd hope he can make it in sooner, if he's going to.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

If a UDFA becomes a player like that, it's a win.

That's what I was trying to say! Need pieces like that to complete the puzzle on a competing team. Not to mention they are cheap.

 

[Rempe73]

At his peak Girardi was a top pairing d-man.

Eh. Maaaaaybe for a season. But like I said, he was good for 1 or 2 seasons if I remember correctly.

 

[RangersFan1994]

If he turns into a bottom 6 center who can play a shutdown role, PK and pot 10 goals/25-30pts that's a massive win to me.

has he been compared to Casey Cizikas? that is what the description that you gave me.

 

[Ghost of jas]

Getting a top 4 Dman out of an undrafted UFA is a total win. Girardi may have been improperly used, especially towards the end of his tenure as a Ranger, but as others have pointed out, the Rangers could only dream to get the value out of Khodorenko that they got from Girardi.

 

[bobbop]

Eh. Maaaaaybe for a season. But like I said, he was good for 1 or 2 seasons if I remember correctly.

Here's a bulletin...

You don't remember correctly.

 

[darko]

Eh. Maaaaaybe for a season. But like I said, he was good for 1 or 2 seasons if I remember correctly.

Try 3-4 seasons.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

How was he a legit 1D? He was with McDonagh most of his career. Doesn’t make him a 1D. Skjei and Trouba were our first pairing d-men too. But that’s because we didn’t have many options.

Girardi was a first pairing defenseman on the Rangers when they were legitimate contenders. It's not really an arguable point, whether he was an impact player or not. He got all the tough matchups and played PK1 and even some PP too.

Regardless, the point was that it's not really debatable whether or not he had an impact as an undrafted player. He unquestionably did. Whether you think he was good or dislike him as a player for what he was, its inarguable that he was our top RHD for almost his entire time here. Doesn't matter if he was propped up by Staal and McD (he was) or if it was only because we didn't have better options.

You can not be a big fan of his and think he was overused and stuff like that, I certainly have issues with the last few years of his time here. But there's no arguing that he was a key player for many years on the Rangers. Contracts and him falling off a cliff aside, to have an undrafted free agent turn into a player who can play top pair minutes and be a key player for a contending team and even make an all star team and get some norris votes...that's basically among the best case scenarios for players who are UDFA.

 

[Edge]

Solid NCAA Free Agent signing. Absolutely nothing not to like here.

 

[nyr2k2]

Staal-Girardi was a great pairing. Gave Ovechkin fits. McDonagh-Girardi was a really good pairing. For probably six or seven years, Girardi was a legitimately good defenseman. Very good.

Then the game got faster, and he couldn't keep up. The fact that he blocked more shots than anyone and didn't miss a game in four years or whatever probably contributed.

If you think he was good for one or two years, you either have a weird bias against him or were too young to remember/weren't watching hockey at the time.

 

[Whoot Whoot]

Eh. Maaaaaybe for a season. But like I said, he was good for 1 or 2 seasons if I remember correctly.

my dude your kind of off about this

girardi was like a really solid player for five years under torts - all star even one season

 

[nyr2k2]

Anyway, good luck to this kid. Hopefully he makes it.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Eh... he's 21 already now. He'll be 22 in the early stages of the 20-21 season. Early 2022, he'll be 24. You'd hope he can make it in sooner, if he's going to.

It took Aston-Reece until he was 23-24 to reach the NHL and stick. I won't expect too much, too soon

 

[Tawnos]

It took Aston-Reece until he was 23-24 to reach the NHL and stick. I won't expect too much, too soon

True, but hopefully Khodorenko will be more than a bottom end 4th liner along the lines of ZAR.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

True, but hopefully Khodorenko will be more than a bottom end 4th liner along the lines of ZAR.

Don't get your hopes up. Khodorenko is likely an AHL-caliber player who MAYBE reaches the NHL in a bottom 6 role. These UDFAs are the equivalent of 6th and 7th round picks.

 

[Tawnos]

Don't get your hopes up. Khodorenko is an AHL player who MAYBE reaches the NHL in a bottom 6 role. These UDFAs are the equivalent of 6th and 7th round picks.

Thanks for pointing out to me what I already mocked another poster for pointing out to the rest of us. Everyone knows.

Obviously, I was talking about *if* he develops into an NHLer.

 

[CasusBelli]

Huh? The guy was our #1 RD for almost a decade. It's not even remotely debatable.

Granted he wasn't great his last few years but there's a solid 4-5 year window where he was a legit first pairing defenseman. In what world was he not an impact player?

He was an incredible defensive defender when he was healthy. Shot-blocking takes a toll, though. In fact, I was hoping Trouba would be somewhere between Girardi and Pronger when he joined, but it doesn’t look like the case.

 

[CasusBelli]

He was playing top pair minutes before McDonagh was even in the NHL

Staal - Girardi was the ultimate shutdown pair when both players were healthy. No superstar (except Crosby) stood a chance against them when paired.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Staal - Girardi was the ultimate shutdown pair when both players were healthy. No superstar (except Crosby) stood a chance against them when paired.

Everyone agrees with this except one person