Roster Building thread - Part IX - (2024 edition)

[IDvsEGO]

Difference is that Kakko has already been tried on that line with no success. (I recall someone here posting that Panarin didn't like playing with him.)

Lets try it again with a coach who doesn't let panarin dictate the line and this new shoot first version.

 

[Clark Kellogg]

Steven Pappas Interviews HHOF Larry Brooks:

 

[Mike in Houston]

^ At the end, Larry wouldn't touch the statuses of Kreider and Trouba in the offseason with the NMC becoming modified NTC. "Can we wait until the playoffs?" Ha!

 

[Machinehead]

If it's a center thing, I don't know who else they could have called up. Edstrom is hurt, Nash is hurt, Brodz is already here (and I'm ready for him to no longer be here.)

Edstrom would have probably been that guy, but he's been out for a month (not sure exactly what the deal is there.)

If it's a salary cap thing, they just need to say f*** it and call up someone who can play so if thats the case, I agree with you.

I'm convinced that NHL GMs/Coaches push for or do shit like this because they don't want to deal with the noise that would follow if they call up a younger guy and he grossly outplays some of the trusty veterans. We have a couple of reallllllly shitty ones who the coach seems to love who are worse than some of the players we have in Hartford.

Yeah maybe that's why Edstrom mysteriously disappeared.

 

[RangersFan1994]

Ugh

 

[Fitzy]

I felt the same way when we kept playing Stu Bickel, Ben Harpur, etc.

Like there have been cases where there has been a clear better option and NYR elected to promote a guy not even in the top half of the AHL roster

 

[Zats Muccarello]

Ruzicka seems intriguing for depth at center and RW

He won't make it to us unfortunately, he's gonna get claimed

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

I wish we could get some insight from the GM one of these days… even if it’s some BS fluff

Ain’t gonna happen!!

 

[duhmetreE]

We’re saved

Just run 3 lines and 7D

 

[Clark Kellogg]

Just run 3 lines and 7D

Jones?
Leachyshyn?
Just dress 17 skaters.

 

[Kendo]

I'm in on Ruzicka. A "Poor man's Chytil" sounds better than what we've had on the 3rd line since Fil's been out. If he meshes with Chytil later, then all the better. It's worth a free shot. If he can't outplay Brodz, then oh well.

 

[CTTribe73]

Jones?
Leachyshyn?
Just dress 17 skaters.

Move Miller to wing and tell Kakko he's Trouba's new partner.

Might as well get crazy. I'd also be in on inverting the center order for a game, make Zibs skate with Pitlick and Wheeler. Some teams call their 4th the energy line the Rangers can call theirs the 'energy vampire' line.

 

[BobMarleyNYR]

You could take out Jones and the picks, and I still wouldn't do it.

You're not dealing with a full deck.

 

[tomobson]

Ugh

 

[Gordon Bombay]

I wish we could get some insight from the GM one of these days… even if it’s some BS fluff

Ain’t gonna happen!!

Yeah, good luck finding Beric Dondarrion. TNT might show him in his cave for a hot second but that's all we're gonna see of him

 

[RangerBoy]

Steven Pappas Interviews HHOF Larry Brooks:

The Rangers aren't hard enough to play against. The Rangers can't get to the net. Every coach wants them to be hard on the puck.

Those flaws have been there for the last 12 years.

Larry wants them to bulk up. Those players are hard to find.

 

[Anthony5967]

I watch The Dogg last night in Colorado and I think to myself...what a wonderful world (it could've been had we pursued that trade more aggressively in like 2016-2017 when they were rumored to be dangling him).

NYR probably ****** themselves by not acquiring a legit 1C during the years of drafting Lafreniere and Kakko. Zibanejad is very good but he isn't an alpha male 1C like MacK or Eichel or Pettersson. Let me tell you guys something, if Pettersson ever decides eh, I'd rather be on the East coast and LeBrons Vancouver, they better be at the front of the line with a motherload deal.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Our biggest issues are internal, need to finally sit Mika for a night drop Kreider to 3rd line for a game or two and give Shesty the time, whatever he needs to get refocused. These issues need to be addressed now. All these players are better than they are playing, and while Kreiders fancy stats say hes fine he's coastin around most nights, there's absolutely no reason the guy can't put the same effort a guy like Mackinnon does, both strong fast skating forwards, skill wise its not close but if you watch the effort difference it's crazy. The other issue and it might all be connected is that Kreider and Mika play too much, you can't have them as your go to defensive guys, 1st pp and 1st pk guys. It's time to give Kakko a spot on the pk, and to figure out who takes Mikas spot.

 

[Anthony5967]

I really think they need a pitbull RW though like Vatrano (not saying him) that can hunt pucks, tireless worker, and can shoot the puck.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

I really think they need a pitbull RW though like Vatrano (not saying him) that can hunt pucks, tireless worker, and can shoot the puck.

Unfortunately Kakko should be that guy but his development as a scorer has tanked big time. I'm not aware of his offseason routine or anything but imo he could use a summer of working with staff on finding his skill level and footspeed again. Othmann, Sykora, and Berard are all future options.

 

[Ail]

I watch The Dogg last night in Colorado and I think to myself...what a wonderful world (it could've been had we pursued that trade more aggressively in like 2016-2017 when they were rumored to be dangling him).

NYR probably ****** themselves by not acquiring a legit 1C during the years of drafting Lafreniere and Kakko. Zibanejad is very good but he isn't an alpha male 1C like MacK or Eichel or Pettersson. Let me tell you guys something, if Pettersson ever decides eh, I'd rather be on the East coast and LeBrons Vancouver, they better be at the front of the line with a motherload deal.

Yeah when he's in his 30s and decides to coast into retirement sounds about right. No thanks, the next high profile 1C needs to be drafted or traded for like Zibanejad, but hope they are an actual 1C and not a glorified middle 6 C who decides to get hot on the PP for a week. Right now the only guy like that out there is Zegras and I would bet he'll be closer to Zibanejad than MacKinnon. We've been having the 1C conversation forever now and I don't see an end in sight.

 

[Kendo]

You're not dealing with a full deck.

I'm playing 4D Pinochle.

 

[Anthony5967]

Unfortunately Kakko should be that guy but his development as a scorer has tanked big time. I'm not aware of his offseason routine or anything but imo he could use a summer of working with staff on finding his skill level and footspeed again. Othmann, Sykora, and Berard are all future options.

Kakko's issue is he's not willing to consistently go to the net like a power forward to create offense. He plays too passive, passes too much, and doesn't realize where he's got to go to be a dangerous scorer in the NHL. He needs to attack and use his shot more. Opponents know how to defend him.

 

[bernmeister]

this Yardbarker article was a nice read for at a glance snapshot:

https://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/salary_cap_deep_dive_for_the_new_york_rangers/s1_14825_39865135?utm_source=mb&utm_medium=email&mb_edition=20240125&mb_loc=right_h

 

[mas0764]

From @haohmaru in the Post Game Zibanejad thread before it was closed:

It's not a "miss" if every team in the league would've made the same picks. It's just horrendous, likely unprecedented, bad luck.

Well, I think it still counts as a miss when you draft Alexandre Daigle over Chris Pronger and Paul Kariya even if it was consensus. Scouting is an art not a science so there's no formula for always finding which players will hit and which will bust, even if the consensus was "Daigle is the 1OA." (Which was assuredly the consensus that year).

And yeah, sometimes it's just bad luck that you miss. Sometimes the player that everyone thinks is the best player in the draft has a flaw that prevents him from working out. Ryan Leaf probably doesn't ever work out anywhere because, like, he had an alcohol problem and wasn't a hard worker dedicated to football.

But that doesn't mean the teams are relieved of any responsibility for development. On the flip side, the Chicago Bears have not been able to draft and develop a QB in decades. Oh, so this is all just the Bears, over and over again, picking the wrong QBs in the draft despite consensus - which is right more than it is wrong - always saying they made good picks? Like, ok, we get it, Mitch Trubisky over Mahomes and Watson was bad, but consensus was that Trubisky was still a starting QB in the league. How come he never turned into an average starter?

No, the Bears have something wrong with the organization that they don't know how to develop a QB. They spend high pick after high pick on talented guys and none of them pan out. Meanwhile the Dallas Cowboys are going on two decades of QB play that the Bears would literally murder for, and they spent a grand total of ONE (1) fourth round pick on those two QBs.

So sure, there's luck, but, no, if the Bears had a decent development plan, they would have gotten stable QB play at some point out of at least one of Cade McNown (1st Round Pick), Rex Grossman (1st Round Pick), Kyle Orton (4th round pick who went on to be decent as soon as he left Chicago), Mitch Trubisky (1st Round Pick - 2nd overall), or Justin Fields (1st Round Pick).

The Rangers have a similar problem to the Bears. There is something "in the water," so to speak, in the NY Rangers franchise, that they have an underlying cultural issue with developing and getting the most out of SCORING FORWARD TALENT.

It's been that way my entire life. Even when they won in 1994, they had to import a guy like Messier to be their lead, scoring, #1 Forward/Center. They didn't draft and develop him.

After that, it's a literal parade of veterans they imported who underachieved. This isn't a Dark Ages thing. It's a going on three decades thing. Lindros. LaFontaine. Bure. Oh, ok, that was all in their "spend in FA wildly" phase. Ok, Jagr worked for them.

Let's keep going.

Brad Richards underachieved. Marian Gaborik underachieved. Rick Nash underachieved.

Panarin is like their first free agent signing in forever that actually came to the team and delivered what was expected. And you know what we did with Panarin? We turned him loose and basically told him to pick his line mates and do whatever he wanted on the ice for 3 years. He wasn't ruined because we basically DIDN'T coach him.

Then there's the draft busts. Let's forget the main thesis of my argument; that it's "simply unbelievable," that four top 10 picks in a row ALL are misses, especially when two are consensus.

It goes back way further.

Chris Kreider took FOREVER to turn into a true first line player. JT Miller had to go elsewhere. Lauri Korpikoski and Hugh Jessiman busted.

The Rangers have literally NO HISTORY IN OUR LIFETIMES of drafting and developing elite forward talent. Sure, they can develop defensemen a good bit. Sure, they can find the occasional Callahan, Dubinski, Anisimov or Stepan, and turn them into well-rounded, DEFENSIVELY RESPONSIBLE, gritty top 6 or top 9 caliber players.

But that's the rub. That's what the Rangers know. That's what they are doing to these guys. Be Ryan Callahan. Be Brandon Dubinski.

Something in what the Rangers are asking their forward prospects to do is capping them out at 40-50 point players who have lost their scoring spark.

And that is depriving them of the superstardom scoring ability that you actually need in today's NHL to win a Cup.

This is ABSOLUTELY the Rangers fault, just like it's ABSOLUTELY the Chicago Bears fault that every QB they touch turns to mud.

This is undeniable. Anyone trying to absolve the Rangers for their role in this is a team apologist who can't bear to hear their favorite team criticized, or, alternatively, they think the "develop only Callahan types," is the right thing to do and it's the players fault for not thriving at offense in this environment. Either way, those people are wrong. And on a message board it's one thing, but it's clear that these people infect our front office, and that both Sather and Drury (who unbelievably trades Buchnevich for a fourth line grinder in Blais) are part of that sick cult.