I believe this, to an extent. I believe the leaders, the top guys, are not playing very well and certainly not doing enough for this team to win consistently.
It was definitely a slap in the face.
I'll let ya in on something that management can't figure out..... we will never win a cup until our kids are ready. The fact that they keep trotting Vesey out on line one and hand Lafreniere 10 or so mins a night just proves that point. We aren't going anywhere until they get Lafreniere, Kakko, and Chytil to be productive members of this team, they are all good players, but they need opportunity and some slack to make mistakes without being denied ice time. If they don't start playing these guys now, this rebuild is toast.
Untrue. They were over 50% until recently. They were actually doing quite well early in the season.
They have over a 50% FO win rate in 8 games this season. Bad but not “every game”
thehockeynews.com
thehockeynews.com
Seriously. His cap hit is 6.5 million. That's high end 2nd line money. He scored 52 goals last year, he's on pace for 38 goals and 68 points right now. He's the best net front player in the NHL. His underlying metrics are terrific. He's still a very, very, very effective NHL player and discussion around him sometimes feels like we're talking about a guy putting up 20-20 rates or something. I get wanting the kids to play more minutes but I really don't understand the attitude about Kreider sometimes.
Some skilled physical forward that crash the net and goad the opposition into penalties, a guy like Max Domi would bring some passion to the group.
Agreed. This years' team doesn't have a long playoff run in them, IMO. If we're making deals, they should be aimed at long term returns. No rentals, & nothing to simply secure the 8th spot only to lose in the first round. I'd rather start tanking at that point.
This right here. The rangers only have the same amount of cap dollars to spend for salaries for players but they always stand out because they provide everything extra imaginable for players which is great, but if they also have coaches and management that look at the players and say do what you want to do then you breed an environment of entitlement. The most successful coaches here over the last several decades have been the ones that have been complete sobs except for the first couple of years of AV being here which I believe he capitalized on the foundation that torts left of accountability and work ethic which slowly eroded away the longer AV was here, however at the very beginning of his tenure we saw the benefits of him taking the shackles off the players offensively. A veteran team in this kind of environment needs a real leadership core that won't let players slip. The fact that they basically have had the same leadership core here for the last several years and they weren't able to name a captain until this summer for whatever reason out of that same group does not really suggest that within that leadership group there was a standout person. It really feels like they just pick somebody that would be good with the media and was marketable as the American boy and it came down between Chris and Jake. It just looks and feels like a group that's way too comfortable with being mediocre regardless what they say. That points to entitlement and complacency as far as I'm concerned
You have to get Lafreniere and Kakko going...they are both good players, they were all their lives. They didnt just forget how to play hockey. They need to trust them, use them in big game positions for better or worse they have to play. Drury and company seems to think the kids just show up and get 25 goals year playing 10 mins a night. They are barely involved in the game....its beyond time to give them ice and some trust
Kreider is simply not a captain. He is very clearly socially awkward. He is such a fake leader, and I don't mean to be "that guy" but if you have played somewhat of a high level you understand what I am talking about. Just does shit to appease the coaches.
Can someone post the average ice time per game for our forwards? Cause I'm not believing the "10 mins a night" thing....
I think Laf and Kakko are top 5 in 5v5 time last I checked.
