Post-Game Talk: Rangers @ Lightning: Live from the Lair of Manbearpig

[Baby Punisher]

I'm tired of quietly thinking it, so I'm just gonna say it:

Zucc is the best player on this team.

You are not alone, I have been saying it for a while. I'm not really surprised at all. The kid had a ton of talent when he first came up a couple of years ago. Torts jerked him around a little bit, but Zucc really wanted it & showed he has the character & mental toughness to make it in the NHL to go along with his bountiful talent.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Say what you want about AV. The team has obviously taken a step back. BUT, McDonagh, Kreider and Zucc coming into their own has given the AV signing redeeming value. I think it's disgraceful that people think we should fire AV already, less than a half season in. He's done some good things. I want to give him at least a season.

 

[Ex Officer Friendly]

Say what you want about AV. The team has obviously taken a step back. BUT, McDonagh, Kreider and Zucc coming into their own has given the AV signing redeeming value. I think it's disgraceful that people think we should fire AV already, less than a half season in. He's done some good things. I want to give him at least a season.

Agreed, it is difficult when at the start of the season 3 of the top 6 are hurt (Nash, Callahan, and Hagelin) Hank is obviously having an off year. To say that AV should be fired already is crazy.

You have to give him at least a season and a half, reason being we can write this season off because while the team is talented in its own sense the team was built for a Torts system. AV's system needs to have good quality offensive defensemen, his best year in Vancouver (the 2011 season) he had Edler with 33 points, Hamhuis with 23 points, Beiksa with 22 points, and Erhoff with 50 points (which was tied for 5th on the Team).

Kesler with 73 points had a fantastic year behind the Sedins (Hendrik had 94 and Daniel had 104 points), and they got contributions from people like Mikael Samuelsson with 50 points. Forget the combined 271 points of the top 3 scores. With this Rangers team who could honestly put up 50 points Nash (should be), Richards (should be), after that however, who? Callahan, Stepan and.... Hagelin? Kreider? McD? Brassard? They also had good scoring behind that 50 point mark, Burrows had 48, Raymond had 39, even Raffi Torres had 30 points.

The way that I see it, the GM group should be sitting down with AV and figuring out who they would need on the team to make them have success. Building a team around a couch is a good idea for this because building an offensive system is more difficult and harder to do than a defensive system. Now unfortunately for the Rangers they will not be able to draft twins this season that are able to put up a combined 198 points but with some changes they could be able to replicate the scoring with other scorers. IT will be difficult but it can be done and as a fan base we need to be patient and allow them to make changes.

 

[ajdj10]

Say what you want about AV. The team has obviously taken a step back. BUT, McDonagh, Kreider and Zucc coming into their own has given the AV signing redeeming value. I think it's disgraceful that people think we should fire AV already, less than a half season in. He's done some good things. I want to give him at least a season.

Is it normal for people to not give their new coach at least a season or two before they start talking about getting rid of them in American sports?
Or just this board...?

 

[Ex Officer Friendly]

Is it normal for people to not give their new coach at least a season or two before they start talking about getting rid of them in American sports?
Or just this board...?

Barry Melrose was fired 16 games into a season in 2008

P.J. Carlesimo - Oklahoma City Thunder was only 13 games

Magic Johnson was also fired after 16 games

Even Yogi Berra was fired 13 games into the season once

 

[Kokoschka]

I'm happy about the win. But this whole win-loss-win-loss-win-loss thing is giving me headaches. Everytime we win a part of me, that cannot be reasonable when it comes to the Rangers always gets its hopes up. Perhaps this time they've turned the corner? Of course, my brain knows better than that, but this is annoying as hell.

 

[NYRFANMANI]

Just watched the highlights. Fell "asleep" after two periods.

So great to see Hank stacking the pads. I loved it! Great win!

 

[jniklast]

Zucc and also Brassard are the main reasons why our PP finally is respectable. We haven't had that much passing and playmaking skill in years. And on the PP passing is pretty much everything.

 

[Machinehead]

Say what you want about AV. The team has obviously taken a step back. BUT, McDonagh, Kreider and Zucc coming into their own has given the AV signing redeeming value. I think it's disgraceful that people think we should fire AV already, less than a half season in. He's done some good things. I want to give him at least a season.

I agree, I live AV and I like some positive aspects we're seeing. I think we should be patient and give some time for management to hopefully mold the roster more towards his game.

We can't rush anything. When we rush things is when Sather makes mistakes.

 

[RangerBoy]

Fire the coach? The personnel needs to change. That's on management. Its a .500 hockey team with 40 games played. Stepan had his best game in a month because Don Waddell of the USA Olympic team management group was at the game to look at Stepan. The US roster will be announced on Wednesday. Stepan went from being on the team to being a bubble guy with his play. He shouldn't make it. Kreider leads the team in goals and he missed the first seven games of the season. Richards has played all 40 games and he has nine goals. The Rangers need more from everyone. The coach can't be kicking these guys in the ass every night to get them to play.

 

[ranger_nick]

the color guy for tampa (BOBBY TAYLOR) is unwatchable.

 

[silverfish]

Not reading through the thread, but I thought Hank was outstanding last night. Maybe you want to see him save goal #2, but otherwise, he was the reason the Rangers won this game. Some phenomenal saves in crunch time and throughout the game.

Liked Allen's game. I think guys like Falk/DZ underperformed last night due to having to play the right side of the ice. Del Zotto was lost a few times. Allen looked good on the right though. When Staal comes back, I hope DZ is moved or Falk is scratched. Let's keep seeing what Allen can do.

Thought Nash was good.

Zuccarello is on top of the world right now

Means nothing if we don't win Tuesday.

 

[JHS]

I'm tired of quietly thinking it, so I'm just gonna say it:

Zucc is the best player on this team.

And that right there is why the Rangers are a .500 team. Zucc has been awesome recently but if he's the Rangers best player,...... Not good.

I'm excited the team seems to have gotten out of the malaise they were in. I'm glad Hank looked like Hank again and was much better on his angles and was not on his stomach as much.

I'm worried that when Callahan comes back all the great line chemistry we are seeing will go away. Seriously where does he play when he comes back? Who sits? The obvious choice is Miller but he's looked good( at times) playing center on his line. I'm at a loss as to what AV will do when Callahan is ready. My hope is that he is traded, but I know that will never happen.

 

[Vickers8]

I think we got something with Pou in front on the PP, Conor Allen was very impressive in his 1st game, can carry the puck, makes smart passes, poised...

 

[RangersHank*]

I hope Callahan gets traded or something. So sick of seeing him bring down every line he is on this year

 

[Levitate]

Say what you want about AV. The team has obviously taken a step back. BUT, McDonagh, Kreider and Zucc coming into their own has given the AV signing redeeming value. I think it's disgraceful that people think we should fire AV already, less than a half season in. He's done some good things. I want to give him at least a season.

He needs to figure out how to get the defense working better consistently. I like what the Rangers are doing offensively, in theory, but their shoddy defensive efforts kill their offensive efforts.

And that right there is why the Rangers are a .500 team. Zucc has been awesome recently but if he's the Rangers best player,...... Not good.

I don't totally agree with this...Zucc is proving to be a very good offensive player in the NHL and I think pretty much any team at this point would love to have him in their top six. He's the kind of guy I used to see on other teams and ask "why the hell can't the Rangers find a creative player like that and why are all their players just throwing long shots at the net and cycling along the boards?"

He is very damn good, in some ways I could see him becoming a 70 point player if he can remain consistent. But he certainly can't do it himself and if he's the only one out there looking impressive then it's not enough.

 

[Callagraves]

I hope Callahan gets traded or something. So sick of seeing him bring down every line he is on this year

yeah. he's really bringing staal and stralman down in that press box.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Love what Im seeing from Zuccarello, Kreider, and McDonagh so far this season. Unfortunately, nobody else on this roster has risen their game.

And despite Zuccarello and Kreider angling themselves towards being important pieces in the future, heres the cold reality - if those 2 are your BEST forwards forwards into the future, you're going to continue to see a middling .500 hockey team.

 

[McDonagh27]

Say what you want about AV. The team has obviously taken a step back. BUT, McDonagh, Kreider and Zucc coming into their own has given the AV signing redeeming value. I think it's disgraceful that people think we should fire AV already, less than a half season in. He's done some good things. I want to give him at least a season.

One thing that hasn't been stressed enough is that AV and his coaching staff have done wonders with the Rangers' Special Teams. If you told me that the NYR would be .500 with a #8 ranked PP and PK, I would tell you you're crazy. AV deserves at least another season in order to let management get the right pieces in place to help shore up 5 on 5 play where the Rangers rank 26th in 5 on 5 GF/A ratio.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

One thing that hasn't been stressed enough is that AV and his coaching staff have done wonders with the Rangers' Special Teams. If you told me that the NYR would be .500 with a #8 ranked PP and PK, I would tell you you're crazy. AV deserves at least another season in order to let management get the right pieces in place to help shore up 5 on 5 play where the Rangers rank 26th in 5 on 5 GF/A ratio.

Agreed, unfortunately most of the game is played at 5 on 5.

Sure seems like it would've been easier to keep the previous style this team played and thrown everything at improving the PP. Because heres the thing, I dont think the switch to man to man defense, which has been a disaster and led to consistently plus scoring chances against, has done much at all to aid 5 on 5 offensive production.

 

[RangersHank*]

yeah. he's really bringing staal and stralman down in that press box.

I didnt know we had a line of Staal-Callahan-Stralman, wow.
Callahan has no offensive flow this year, he hasnt been himself

 

[Ex Officer Friendly]

I didnt know we had a line of Staal-Callahan-Stralman, wow.
Callahan has no offensive flow this year, he hasnt been himself

He is currently on a line with two Dmen

 

[OverTheCap]

Agreed, unfortunately most of the game is played at 5 on 5.

Sure seems like it would've been easier to keep the previous style this team played and thrown everything at improving the PP. Because heres the thing, I dont think the switch to man to man defense, which has been a disaster and led to consistently plus scoring chances against, has done much at all to aid 5 on 5 offensive production.

Teams can compete and win games on a consistent basis if they are great 5-on-5, but if special teams are the only things clicking and 5-on-5 is a mess, you see the sort of inconsistency we've had this year.

As usual, it's one step forward and two steps back for the Rangers. As good as the PP has been, that advantage is basically negated by our shoddy 5-on-5 play.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

BTW, anyone else amazed at Kreider who has missed a few games leading the team in scoring after being one of the most snakebitten players on the team? I know leading us in scoring is not that much, but that's still amazing. I feel like the guy can get 35 goals a season if his shot starts hitting. The guy gets so many chances that he gets goals just by showing up sometimes.

 

[TheTakedown]

With Allen's solid play, I feel like it now allows AV to push glen to considering a trade of MDZ for a forward straight up, and almost nothing more...

That's very, very good