Post-Game Talk: Rangers @ Sabres: A PGT worth 59.5 million dollars

[DelZottoHitTheNetJK]

Noted.

That touch pass he made to Nash was a thing of beauty. That's the type of play an elite offensive player makes and I hope Stepan can keep doing it because Nash deserves someone who can put the puck on his tape

 

[aufheben]

People know that Buffalo has a new coach now right? Rolston isn't the HC anymore.

 

[Cake or Death]

Not sure about trading Pyatt... the race between him and Hank to see who ends up with more points is captivating

 

[Placid]

Not sure about trading Pyatt... the race between him and Hank to see who ends up with more points is captivating

Well, as someone said in the GDT, with his massive payday, it was only fair that Hank started to score some goals

 

[Cake or Death]

Well, as someone said in the GDT, with his massive payday, it was only fair that Hank started to score some goals

Man, he played a monster game. As much as every athlete will always say contract talks don't affect their play, the talks typically do. He certainly looked like a small nagging weight was off his shoulders.

 

[Kwayry]

The way the team plays offense makes me wonder what AV was talking about earlier. Every dman except McD needs to step up?
He called out Girardi, Stralman, Staal, DZ, Falk and Moore. that's 6/7 of your defensive corps.
If 6/7 of your Dmen are not playing up to par, maybe you should take a look at the Defensive coach or the system?

This team's problem is not D, it's scoring goals. He was brought in to upgrade the offense, which he has failed to do thus far but he calls out his Defense. The man is losing credibility with me.

Between John Moore, DZ and Falk, I find it pretty hard to believe that they are scratched for any little thing, yet Pouliot and Pyatt fail to produce anything and keep getting chances to play. I heard Joe mention in the telecast that the coaching staff liked Pouliot and are giving him every chance to "find his game".
It doesn't sound like ice time is earned

One other peculiar thing he said.

On scoring, “we need our back end to help us on the breakouts and on the rush and in the offensive end and they are doing a pretty good job but if they get a little better…this is a tough league to score. Hopefully we can get it done and have it start tonight.â€

So it's the D's fault that they are not scoring enough?

Ya know, if the offense can finish some of the chances they are getting, you wouldn't have a problem scoring.


How about Pouliot, Pyatt, Richards, Brass?
I haven't heard him call out anybody on offense yet.

He is officially on my Ratings Watch Negative list.

 

[mike14]

why would he be calling out Richards who leads the team in goals and points and is on a 5 game point streak? He's not playing like a star, but if you call him out you really have to call out the whole team (which defeats the purpose)

 

[Kwayry]

why would he be calling out Richards who leads the team in goals and points and is on a 5 game point streak? He's not playing like a star, but if you call him out you really have to call out the whole team (which defeats the purpose)

Instead, just call out the Defense?
Edit: He should have kept his mouth shut is what I think.

 

[mike14]

Instead, just call out the Defense?
Edit: He should have kept his mouth shut is what I think.

this i agree with

 

[Baby Punisher]

Pretty good game. Nice to see a few goals scored & the good puck movement on the PP. Lundqvist made the saves he had too. Shame he lost the shutout.

 

[Radek27]

The Sabres have some decent players still why do they suck so bad? Good win though for the Rangers!

 

[Kwayry]

this i agree with

I bet Sather agrees with it too.

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Yeah, it's AV's fault the team can't finish Get real. The defense, aside from McDonagh and Strålman, has been poor/inconsistent, mainly Staal and Girardi. J. Moore has been underwhelming, and we all know what's going on with Del Zotto (who has been pretty good since coming back into the lineup, IMO).

The reason Pouliot and Pyatt are playing is because we have no depth on offense (and because Dorsett is hurt). Our middle six is garbage.

Also, AV DID call out essentially the entire team, or at least the important players:

“If we are going to get some traction and get past that .500 level, we need our top players to consistently play like top players,” Vigneault said. “Not a period in, a period out. Not a game in, a game out. We need that core group, the leaders of this group, to perform accordingly. And we have not done that on a consistent basis and on a game to game basis. Just look at our lineup, look at our core group and look at our key guys and there’s the answer.”

And when asked about franchise goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who has an uncharacteristic 8-11-0 with a 2.51 goals-against average and .917 save percentage after Cam Talbot started for the second straight game in Monday night’s 5-2 loss to the Jets - marking the first time he has sat more than one more while healthy since Feb. 5-7, 2011, Vigneault was equally succinct.

“Hank is getting more than a decent share of games to find his rhythm,” Vigneault said. “Him, just like our other top guys, they’re getting the ice time that players need to find a groove, to find the timing, to find the execution. Those guys need to put it together and they need to put it together consistently.”

http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/rangerrants/vigneault_seeks_more_from_veteran_leaders/

 

[Kwayry]

Yeah, it's AV's fault the team can't finish Get real. The defense, aside from McDonagh and Strålman, has been poor/inconsistent, mainly Staal and Girardi. J. Moore has been underwhelming, and we all know what's going on with Del Zotto (who has been pretty good since coming back into the lineup, IMO).

The reason Pouliot and Pyatt are playing is because we have no depth on offense (and because Dorsett is hurt). Our middle six is garbage.

Also, AV DID call out essentially the entire team, or at least the important players:



http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/rangerrants/vigneault_seeks_more_from_veteran_leaders/

Never said that, I said if the team can finish he wouldn't have a problem scoring and there was no need to blame the Defense for lack of scoring.

There is a difference between going through the Defense by name and calling out the core players. He should have kept it as generic. Our top Dman need to join the rush ore often, something like that.

 

[Ola]

I think he's been shooting less too because of it. I know he's a playmaker but I bet if he has a hot streak he'll start shooting more instead of trying to make perfect saucer passes

Its important to remember that he got 18 pts in his last 20 games. Its no small sample and good for 74 pts for a full year. Since Straka-Nyls-JJ, I do wonder if we have had 5+ players to score 18 pts in 20 games over the last 5 years or whatever. He is doing really well in terms of production for us and leads the team in scoring the last 20 games. 8 pts the last 7 games etc.

 

[Ola]

The way the team plays offense makes me wonder what AV was talking about earlier. Every dman except McD needs to step up?
He called out Girardi, Stralman, Staal, DZ, Falk and Moore. that's 6/7 of your defensive corps.
If 6/7 of your Dmen are not playing up to par, maybe you should take a look at the Defensive coach or the system?

This team's problem is not D, it's scoring goals. He was brought in to upgrade the offense, which he has failed to do thus far but he calls out his Defense. The man is losing credibility with me.

Between John Moore, DZ and Falk, I find it pretty hard to believe that they are scratched for any little thing, yet Pouliot and Pyatt fail to produce anything and keep getting chances to play. I heard Joe mention in the telecast that the coaching staff liked Pouliot and are giving him every chance to "find his game".
It doesn't sound like ice time is earned

One other peculiar thing he said.

So it's the D's fault that they are not scoring enough?

Ya know, if the offense can finish some of the chances they are getting, you wouldn't have a problem scoring.

How about Pouliot, Pyatt, Richards, Brass?
I haven't heard him call out anybody on offense yet.

He is officially on my Ratings Watch Negative list.

I don't agree.

AV said exactly what I said would be our big struggle when adopting to him. To the dot.

We had no transition game under Torts. Our D's were banned from passing the puck. All good teams in this league right now have for years worked on having Ds making those passes up ice. They try to keep the puck within the team and fights to win the momentum battle and they are prepared to take risks for it.

This is plays someone like Staal hasn't been making for 3.5 years. Its lanes our forwards haven't skated in for 3.5 years. Its not all the Ds fault.

But its definitely what we are struggling with. Our problem is not that we can't defend, its that we give pucks away in the wrong situations, nothing makes you more vunerable than that. We are unsecure in that situation where the skaters are looking to attack but end up playing defense instead. AV said it himself, Staal is playing alot of defense because the offensive plays aren't made when he is on the ice. Girardi is definitely having the same problems. Boy do he throw pucks all over the place.

 

[StepansLabyrinth]

The defense is a major part of setting up the offense. Vancouver under AV scored a lot of goals and the defense was a major part of that. For example, in 2011-2012 when they were 5th in the league in scoring, they had 4 defensivemen with 25 or more points. Edler had 49, Bieksa had 44, Hamhuis had 37, and Salo had 25.

McDonagh is on pace for 50. Beyond that, no one is even on pace for 15 points for us. That is clearly not good enough. AV's system works but it's heavily reliant on D-Man contributing on offense. In that same season I used as a basis for comparison, the Canucks only had 3 forwards score more than 50 points. Between Richards, Nash, Stepan, Kreider, and Zuccarello, we might end up with 5. They only had 5 forwards reach 40 points, Hagelin and Brassard could reach that plateau as well. Our forward strength is honestly not that far behind Vancouver's and, like I said, they were a top-5 scoring team.

Defense absolutely is a huge part of our scoring woes and it's not insane to call it the major problem. Our forwards for sure need to finish better and that would help our D-Men accrue points but, likewise, our D-Men need to pass better, get more shots on goal, an break us on the rush.

 

[Ilovemymum]

The defense is a major part of setting up the offense. Vancouver under AV scored a lot of goals and the defense was a major part of that. For example, in 2011-2012 when they were 5th in the league in scoring, they had 4 defensivemen with 25 or more points. Edler had 49, Bieksa had 44, Hamhuis had 37, and Salo had 25.

McDonagh is on pace for 50. Beyond that, no one is even on pace for 15 points for us. That is clearly not good enough. AV's system works but it's heavily reliant on D-Man contributing on offense. In that same season I used as a basis for comparison, the Canucks only had 3 forwards score more than 50 points. Between Richards, Nash, Stepan, Kreider, and Zuccarello, we might end up with 5. They only had 5 forwards reach 40 points, Hagelin and Brassard could reach that plateau as well. Our forward strength is honestly not that far behind Vancouver's and, like I said, they were a top-5 scoring team.

Defense absolutely is a huge part of our scoring woes and it's not insane to call it the major problem. Our forwards for sure need to finish better and that would help our D-Men accrue points but, likewise, our D-Men need to pass better, get more shots on goal, an break us on the rush.

Good post. It was quite evident for parts of the game last night as well, that the defenders never really managade to set up a proper attack. Del Zotto was good yesterday, and probably the best option offensively after McD. Despite his defensive deficiensies, his offensive qualities is needed. I hope he's not to be traded, but that might be the plan?

 

[fredrikstad]

Hank really wanted that shutout. You could see how pissed he was when he lost it. He played a great game though.

Mats Zuccarello--what a little player he's become. Fun to watch him and easy to root for.

For me,who can't see every game, this is very exiting to read, coming from a poster I have learned to trust and appreciate.

 

[StepansLabyrinth]

Good post. It was quite evident for parts of the game last night as well, that the defenders never really managade to set up a proper attack. Del Zotto was good yesterday, and probably the best option offensively after McD. Despite his defensive deficiensies, his offensive qualities is needed. I hope he's not to be traded, but that might be the plan?

While it certainly seems like the plan, I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility that we're using Del Zotto as leverage while intending to trade Staal. If we went in mentioning that we want to trade Staal, it lowers his value and we might get undercut. If we mention trading DZ for a big return, the other team might request more, at which point we turn and offer Staal instead (with a larger return coming our way). As the consensus better player, the other team might cave. It's a better strategy than offering Staal outright.

[package A=a quality RHD, 3rd round pick, and a B prospect]
[package B=a quality RHD, a 1st round pick, and an A prospect]


Sather: So, what does your team think of Del Zotto for [package A]
Other GM: I'm not sure, Glen, we'd need a better player for that. Del Zotto has been struggling.
Sather: Hmm... I guess Staal could come into play but I really don't want to get rid of him. What if you gave us [package B] for Staal instead?
Other GM: I think we can make that happen.

as opposed to:

Sather: So, what does your team think of Staal for [package B]?
Other GM: I'm not sure, Glen, I think we'd have to negotiate. That's a lot of assets for our team. What do you think of [package A] instead?

 

[Ola]

The defense is a major part of setting up the offense. Vancouver under AV scored a lot of goals and the defense was a major part of that. For example, in 2011-2012 when they were 5th in the league in scoring, they had 4 defensivemen with 25 or more points. Edler had 49, Bieksa had 44, Hamhuis had 37, and Salo had 25.

McDonagh is on pace for 50. Beyond that, no one is even on pace for 15 points for us. That is clearly not good enough. AV's system works but it's heavily reliant on D-Man contributing on offense. In that same season I used as a basis for comparison, the Canucks only had 3 forwards score more than 50 points. Between Richards, Nash, Stepan, Kreider, and Zuccarello, we might end up with 5. They only had 5 forwards reach 40 points, Hagelin and Brassard could reach that plateau as well. Our forward strength is honestly not that far behind Vancouver's and, like I said, they were a top-5 scoring team.

Defense absolutely is a huge part of our scoring woes and it's not insane to call it the major problem. Our forwards for sure need to finish better and that would help our D-Men accrue points but, likewise, our D-Men need to pass better, get more shots on goal, an break us on the rush.

Great post.

And the thing is, the fact that this isn't obvious to anyone and everyone is just more proof of how little our blueline has been involved in our offense since Leetch and Zubov's days.

I can't -- ever -- think of a high scoring team without real offensive firepower from the Ds. And we don't have it.

 

[Idlerlee]

How about that McDonagh, what a behemoth he is turning into

 

[Mikos87]

Between John Moore, DZ and Falk, I find it pretty hard to believe that they are scratched for any little thing, yet Pouliot and Pyatt fail to produce anything and keep getting chances to play. I heard Joe mention in the telecast that the coaching staff liked Pouliot and are giving him every chance to "find his game".
It doesn't sound like ice time is earned

Nepotism.

 

[Kokoschka]

on Staal: He's inconsitent. He makes a play where I go "Hey look, Vintage Marc Staal is back" and 10 seconds later he has a gimongous brainfart.

on Girardi: I think everyone here knows he can be a very good defensive defender. He just can't play that man coverage system. McDonagh can. Put McDonagh with another defender who gets the system (Stralman?) and go back to zone coverage with Girardi and his new partner (Staal?).

on our wingers: Damn it, Hagelin and Callahan have to pick up their play. They've been invisible the last 3+ weeks. It's especially frustrating when you know how good this guys can be. Pouliot: Please just go away.

Nash - Stepan - Kreider were really good last night. Hank was great. McDonagh is an animal. DZ looks better since the benching. D. Moore looked very engaged, hoping he scores some goals soon. Zucc had a great game, and while Brassard made some very nice plays offensively, he really has to improve his defensive game.

 

[Fanned On It]

Staal was pretty brutal as he usually is these days.

That said... A win is a win. Happy with the 2 points.