Speculation: Roster Building/Rumor Thread XVIII

[Trxjw]

FWIW, that Vince article on the previous page contained this line:

“That led him to St. Louis and Blais, a 6-foot-2, 205-pounder winger who had success during the Blues' run to a championship in 2018-19 and the Rangers feel will fit well on their fourth line.”

I’d tend to agree with you but found that bit interesting, reads like something he directly heard.

Seems like a weird direction to go with Blais, but we'll see. I see him in a similar role to what he was in St Louis. A guy that plays mostly in the bottom-six but occasionally bumps up to play with skill guys. Could easily see him becoming a guy Panarin likes on his line.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

I really, really don't think they picked up Blais to put him on the 4th line. Goodrow is the 3C if Strome goes and Chytil stays, IMO.

Isn't Blais strictly a LW? Unless they plan to move Kreider or Laff to the right he would be 4th on the depth charts.

 

[mas0764]

Friedman is saying Minnesota isn’t paying the asking price anytime soon either. Too rich

No one is.

Buffalo is going to regret not taking Strome/Buch/Jones/15.

 

[Savant]

Isn't Blais strictly a LW? Unless they plan to move Kreider or Laff to the right he would be 4th on the depth charts.

I don’t think they’ve thought that through honestly. Just getting tough guys in and worrying about the rest later. Pretty sure Blais played some RW too though

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Trade Schneider instead.

Its a matter of style of play, we have Fox, Schneider brings more size and physical play along with smoothness as well, those types are necessary in long playoff runs, its why they traded up to get him.

 

[Trxjw]

Isn't Blais strictly a LW? Unless they plan to move Kreider or Laff to the right he would be 4th on the depth charts.

He can play either side.

 

[Savant]

Why would we need Bonino when we have Goodrow already?

Bonino is a center. Goodrow is not a center.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

I don’t think they’ve thought that through honestly. Just getting tough guys in and worrying about the rest later. Pretty sure Blais played some RW too though

Gallant doesn't care about that stuff, wingers are wingers, they can move them side to side in his opinion as he believes most players at this level can handle that, so Blais will be put where theres a hole.

 

[Savant]

Inside the Pavel Buchnevich trade, no Jack Eichel trade and a busy day for the NY Rangers

Is it possible that Drury was so locked in on Eichel happening that once we determined Buffalo wouldn’t take Buch and 15OA he was unprepared to get best value for Buch and not as prepared to pick in the first round?

I think “Drury” was locked in on Blais

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Bonino is a center. Goodrow is not a center.

Goodrow is a center... he just also happens to be a winger. He was used a center in San Jose, when he came to tampa they had more centers so he moved to wing. He can play either one.

 

[mas0764]

Its a matter of style of play, we have Fox, Schneider brings more size and physical play along with smoothness as well, those types are necessary in long playoff runs, its why they traded up to get him.

Have we quantified how much size is necessary for these hypothetical playoff runs or is this just a talking point that gets repeated as truth?

And if it is true then move one of them to the left. Cause I think Nils is just the better player.

And if neither of those options works then trade Trouba.

I don’t f***ing believe the only option is to trade Nils. It’s the lazy option and the one that remains slavishly devoted to this talking point of toughness being the only thing left we need, as if we are all good on talent and skill. False.

 

[Savant]

Gallant doesn't care about that stuff, wingers are wingers, they can move them side to side in his opinion as he believes most players at this level can handle that, so Blais will be put where theres a hole.

I don’t view this as wrong, but I don’t view this as a positive either.

 

[Savant]

Goodrow is a center... he just also happens to be a winger. He was used a center in San Jose, when he came to tampa they had more centers so he moved to wing. He can play either one.

No. Stop this. Goodrow is a left wing. He has played his best hockey as left wing. He is not worth a six year deal playing out of position, and hasn’t regularly played center in years. You don’t give a guy a six year deal to play out of position.

 

[TheGortonConspiracy]

FWIW, that Vince article on the previous page contained this line:

“That led him to St. Louis and Blais, a 6-foot-2, 205-pounder winger who had success during the Blues' run to a championship in 2018-19 and the Rangers feel will fit well on their fourth line.”

I’d tend to agree with you but found that bit interesting, reads like something he directly heard.

I don't think so, Vince would be very vocal about him having a chance to speak with Gallant or Drury if that was the case.

Blais most commonly played Forward linemates were Mike Hoffman, Ryan O'Reilly, and David Perron during the 20-21 season. During 19-20 it was ROR, Barbashev, David Perron.
So I doubt Drury and Gallant are looking to give him a smaller role after going out of their way to acquire him.
Source: Evolving-Hockey.com | Combos Stats

 

[Savant]

If Coleman signs anywhere but Dallas, getting Goodrow’s rights instead on Coleman’s is going to look really dumb. Coleman at 6/30 (predicted by EF), is a significantly better contract than Goodrow at the 6 year deal that he received.

 

[mas0764]

i move jones well before robinson. people dont want to face the fact you NEED size on the backend in the playoffs. it is just the way it is and this team is not going to make deep runs with fox, jones, and nils taking up three spots no matter how great they may play in the reg season. the playoffs are ALWAYS a grind game the further you go into the battles.

How much size do you need? If you take out Jones can you do it then? I don’t understand this calculus. Ryan Lindgren seems to get approval at 6 foot but Nils at 6 foot seems to be considered too small. If we have 6’5 Miller, 6’3 Trouba and 6’2 Schneider or 6’3 Robertson is that enough?

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Have we quantified how much size is necessary for these hypothetical playoff runs or is this just a talking point that gets repeated as truth?

And if it is true then move one of them to the left. Cause I think Nils is just the better player.

And if neither of those options works then trade Trouba.

I don’t f***ing believe the only option is to trade Nils. It’s the lazy option and the one that remains slavishly devoted to this talking point of toughness being the only thing left we need, as if we are all good on talent and skill. False.

You can dimiss it all you want but there's a common thread to teams that end up in the finals, their dmen are usually sizeable and physical. Nobody said it was the only option, its just the most likely one.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

If we traded Strome and did nothing else I would run this:

Lafreniere-Zibanejad-Kakko
Panarin-Chytil-Blais
Kreider-Goodrow-Kravtsov
Barron-Rooney-Gauthier

Laf and Kakko legit had chemistry on the kid line. Just give them actual minutes and play them with our top center.

Panarin will love Blais and Chytil can easily be Strome.

That third line would never give up a goal ever, plus Kravtsov is big and skilled so he can keep up with a banger line while also giving them diversity.

Before you cry about "Blais is ahead of Kravtsov" 1) I don't believe in line hierarchy in the top 9 and 2) Kravtsov will be playing special teams while Blais won't.

Late in games with a lead, you could run Kreider-Goodrow-Kakko. Nary a soul would even enter our zone. If you need a goal, flip Blais and Kravtsov late on.

Not sure if that’s how Gallant will align the wings, but I think there’s a decent chance you are right about the overall forward mix. The only question is whether Eichel (or some other significant center) becomes available (at a reasonable price), in which case one of Chytil or Kravtsov is probably in the package going the other way, and you adjust accordingly.

 

[Dijock94]

Goodrow is a center... he just also happens to be a winger. He was used a center in San Jose, when he came to tampa they had more centers so he moved to wing. He can play either one.

He was playing center for Tampa in his first season with them too I think.

 

[PuckLuck3043]

That’s frankly the only way I see him being here long term. If he’s the piece that gets us Eichel, I move him in a Nanosecond though. Getting a 24-25 year old PPG stud center with the ability to still get better that’s signed for 5 years to a fair deal is next to impossible. Usually for talent like him you need a top 3 draft pick, even then it’s no sure thing.
Finding another Lundkvist would be much easier then finding another Eichel. If we didn’t already have Fox, Trouba, and Schneider id be a little more apprehensive, but I’d 100% make that deal

I don't want an Eichel that needs neck surgery and requires 3 or 4 pieces to get him. I stay away. I don't think we are going to land him anyway. That being said I think both Lundkvist and Schneider will both be great but if I had to choose between the two I take Schneider. Im dreaming of a blueline of:

Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Robertson - Schneider

 

[Savant]

He was playing center for Tampa in his first season with them too I think.

He is a winger that takes face offs because he is big and Tampa had a lot of undersized centers. Hasn’t played center in years and is much better at wing.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

How much size do you need? If you take out Jones can you do it then? I don’t understand this calculus. Ryan Lindgren seems to get approval at 6 foot but Nils at 6 foot seems to be considered too small. If we have 6’5 Miller, 6’3 Trouba and 6’2 Schneider or 6’3 Robertson is that enough?

I dont think anyone will confuse Lindgren's physical style for Lundkvist no matter how comparable their sizes are. Take a look at Tampa's defense, Ryan McDonagh is the smallest guy on it, and hes no shrinking violet, everyone else is 6'3 plus and physical. Montreal, all big, i havent looked at it but id guess the conference finals teams all had big physical dmen. Big mobile dmen are valuable in a long playoff run, its great we got Fox but you can't trot out Jones and Lundkvist as well and hope to win 4 7 game series.

 

[Savant]

No one is.

Buffalo is going to regret not taking Strome/Buch/Jones/15.

I don’t know about this. Buffalo is also right to hold out for more.

We are not too far removed from everyone complaining that Joe Sakic held Duchene for too long, and they the Avalanche winding up with a franchise saving trade.

Not saying history will repeat itself, but if I was Buffalo, I would want more than that too.

 

[Kovalev27]

I don’t think they’ve thought that through honestly. Just getting tough guys in and worrying about the rest later. Pretty sure Blais played some RW too though

I’ve seen him line up as an RW a lot

 

[SA16]

He can get $50 million for doing nothing, so… I don’t see the downside.

Buffalo will cave eventually.

The downside is that he is a hockey player and wants to play hockey not sit at home on his couch all day