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Post-Game Talk: RANGERS @ Maple Leafs [mod warning post #378]

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3 Stars of the Game

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SnizzMitch said:
12-4-1 since Sheldon Keefe is the coach, out shooting and out possessing the opponent almost every game despite having multiple injuries, but I guess it’s just a good run right? :laugh::help:
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The Leafs are going to be regular season darlings. When the post season starts and the grown folks show up, they're going to be handing over their lunch money like they do every other year.
 
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SML2 said:
Brady Skjei is the hockey equivalent of a really good looking girl who isn't very smart. At first glance you figure it won't be an issue, but when you deal with him day after day, you realize that this probably isn't going to work out. They need to move on from him before the rest of the league figure this out.
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hockey smarts is perhaps the most underrated skill in hockey. the great one is the best example of this. undersized and not particularly fast. but damn, his mind.....

the league is littered with Allstar skills guys who couldn't feel the game come to them. speed with out smarts is just skating fast. hands without knowing where to be is just a 3rd line tweener without a role and size without any idea of what to do when you don't have the puck is just a big slow guy who fights.

brady skjei. he dumb
 
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Ola said:
What a fantastic game to watch.

But I think DQ/management is starting to really take one big wrong turn here for the first time in terms of our on ice play. After every game, every practice, DQ is crying about the same things. We only score pretty goals. We don't score simple goals. We overthink things. We complicate things. Cry cry cry.

It would be so advantageous for this team right now and also for the future if DQ and co stopped focusing on the negatives and weakness of this team and started to try to take full advantage of its strengths.

Sure, there will be the odd instance of over passing offensively. It is downright idiotic to think that this team's big problem is effectiveness with the puck. Right? Like what is our big problem? Its that we can't handle the top lines of the opponents, that we end up getting run over. That we give up way way to many high danger scoring chances. Anyone who got good track of the metrics for this team can definitely fill in the blanks, I would believe that they speak their clear language.

But facts are that we currently are putting a tremendous amount of attention to something else.

So why is this problematic? Our real struggles could be helped if we played more to our strengths.

One example: Go back and watch the last 10 minutes yesterday. Toronto is dead tired and loses the puck all the time. But I don't know how many times we without being pressured at all just moves up the puck to the redline so that we can put it deep and give Toronto a shot at going right back at us.

Another example is that its hurting the players confidence. They know they are getting a boat load of crap if they can't get a shot off. But in the game today its not easy at all to get shots through. Sure we are erring on the wrong side in many situations, but its far from as big of an issue that these guys are making it out to be. We shouldn't have bad confidence offensively, we are doing so many things well offensively. Why the heck is someone like Buch skating around out there without a lot of confidence? He is playing well with and without the puck. Its our so called developments doing.
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In terms of metrics, we are in a league of our own when it comes to 5v5 xGA and HDCA - by far the worst in the league.

I agree on the areas of focus too. I've always been a proponent of maximizing strengths and only focusing on weaknesses when they are unacceptably bad and cripple your entire performance.

Is passing up shots killing our offence? Definitely not, the assertion is absurd on its face as a team that wins on the back of goal scoring and goaltending. We are overpassing, but it is not nearly the biggest issue with the team and it is a style that fits many of our best offensive players. Let them figure it out and focus on defensive structure. We have for years been the worst team in the leauge at defending the neutral zone, how about we figure that one out so we aren't letting the opposition enter our zone with possession every single time? There was a pretty funny moment last night where Staal was backing up and DeAngelo suddenly decided to cross the ice and check the Toronto player entering the zone - I guess he had enough of the passive style we've been playing. To add insult to injury we are using our best NZ defenceman as a 4th line wing.
 
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Leetch3 said:
it should be noted that we are now approaching the point in the season that NCAA kids in their first pro season hit the 'wall' and struggle a bit. since they aren't used to playing this many games...I think he's been fine lately but a dip over the next 20-25 games would be pretty standard for rookies out of college
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You can see signs though: a bit more mistakes with decision making, a bit less creativity with the puck, etc. Christmas break helped a little, at least there was a higher energy level against Hurricanes.
 
So Buchnevich has pts in 1 of his last 15 games playing all with Panarin or Mika and he keeps getting rewarded with mins? Didn’t Kakko lose a top 6 spot for only putting up assists in those spots?

this is the guy to move.
 
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chosen said:
What is NZ?

Can't imagine that Smith is best at anything.
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Brendan Smith is one of the best defencemen in the NHL at defending zone entries.
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And yes, I was referring to neutral zone defence.
 
You know who was another highly skilled Russian on the Rangers who was super frustrating to watch because he couldn’t often convert on his high quality scoring chances that he was able to produce with great regularity? Buchnevich is obviously not at the same level talent-wise but I’m sure his confidence (and scoring touch) will return eventually. And trading him because of this frustration and being impatient will also only return cents on a dollar, but the frustration part will return (because why he couldn’t do it here during his stay?)
 
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Kovalev27 said:
So Buchnevich has pts in 1 of his last 15 games playing all with Panarin or Mika and he keeps getting rewarded with mins? Didn’t Kakko lose a top 6 spot for only putting up assists in those spots?

this is the guy to move.
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See my post above, and with your handle - this is pretty ironic.
 
Buch did well with Chytil, Kakko did well with Panarin and Strome, Fast did well with Kreider and Mika. Just go back to those lines:

KZF
Panarin-Strome-Kakko
Howden-Chytil-Buch
 
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Kovalev27 said:
So Buchnevich has pts in 1 of his last 15 games playing all with Panarin or Mika and he keeps getting rewarded with mins? Didn’t Kakko lose a top 6 spot for only putting up assists in those spots?

this is the guy to move.
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He's snakebitten but cmon man I'm pretty sure he's generated the most high danger scoring chances of any Ranger the past 5 games. He's been flat out flying, winning nearly every puck battle, driving to the net, drawing penalties, and just having a stretch of brutal luck. The last few games I've been watching the other teams feeds, and they were all raving about Buchnevich and all the chances he's getting and talking about how he just can't buy a lucky bounce
 
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Yeah, Buch is at a weird crossroad right now. He’s doing everything well on the ice - especially in the defensive end - but can’t buy puck luck to save his life right now. He made some great defensive plays to pressure TOR forwards into turnovers that kickstarted transitions that led to quality scoring chances for us. He also got some really good chances in tight on Andersen but couldn’t convert.

The issue is that everyone will remember him coming down the RW with time and space, cutting to the middle, and losing the puck before he got a shot off. A confident Buch cuts that through and rips that bar down over Andersen’s shoulder like Mika’s first goal yesterday.

The correct play and processes are there, and the results will follow. The monkey off the back celebration shows how much the kid is carrying trying to score. He just needs a couple of bounces to go his way to regain his confidence.
 
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Mac n Gs said:
Yeah, Buch is at a weird crossroad right now. He’s doing everything well on the ice - especially in the defensive end - but can’t buy puck luck to save his life right now.
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When something happens for 4 seasons, can it still be bad puck luck?
 
I rolled my eyes at that Tony tweet last night
chosen said:
When something happens for 4 seasons, can it still be bad puck luck?
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Buchnevich is what he is.

Maybe the folks that don’t like him should re-adjust their expectations of him based on that.
 
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