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Speculation: Roster Building Thread: Part LXXV - French disconnect in NYC?

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I haven't posted much due to watching the games at weird times (newborn + toddler = FUBAR) so, observations so far:

Miller making the Rangers look like drafting wizards. This guy has been the single biggest positive this season. Very impressed with what he's handling, who he's handling and his decision making.

Not overreacting, but Shesterkin and Georgiev (who are likely to find their feet, let's not panic) should make everyone appreciate how consistent Lundqvist was and for how long. Most consistent goalie of his generation and if we get half of that (8 years) comparatively out of either of these guys it's a complete win

Kreider and Zibs are putting forth the effort but both seem a little off.

Fox has to be making Carolina fans cry on a daily basis

Lemieux takes some really dumb penalties. Really dumb.

JJ shouldn't see another game. Smith, Hajek, me. I don't care who. And I don't care about his "locker room intangibles". Enough.

Other positives - Buchnevich really finding his NHL level and being the guy that we thought he'd be earlier in his career. Happy for him. Panarin is still just a joy to watch every night - a player like we haven't had since Jagr. Blackwell is a lunch pail guy that you just want to succeed. Good for him. Giuseppe, too, playing his way into a starting non-taxi role.

Negatives - goalies have been off to a slow start, ADA hasn't found it yet, Strome making his short contract look smart, Chytil getting injured just when it was clicking, Corsi wins/Standings losses.

Honestly, I like what I'm seeing even if the results aren't what we'd expect. A very young team that's playing pretty smart hockey most of the time but making young team mistakes. The future bodes well.
 
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Gauthier has not impressed me at all since the acquisition.

With his frame and limited skill set, he needs to start banging bodies hard.

By end of season I expect he will be in Hartford
 
I can't get behind locking up Zibanejad after this contract unless its at a rate and term that is super reasonable, something like 8.5 over 5.

He has no reason to do us that kind of favor unless his game falls off and if it comes to that, do we even want him? It's going to be really tough to make that case when we'll likely have better, younger options available to us (either via trade or UFA) by the time he's up for a new deal. Plus we need to be really careful about how we allocate money to veteran players going forward. Our ELC players are not going to be ELC players forever and keeping Kreider+winning the draft lottery is going to ensure that we lose at least 1 that we don't want to lose (dumbest extension ever, this is the new Staal/Girardi contract.)

That said, people need to chill about the center position. If you can get a great player who happens to be a center, fantastic. Beyond that, I'd look for good complementary players who may not necessarily jump out at you, but are good enough to handle a top 9 role and not drag down the line with a star player on it. Vegas is a contender with out tremendous depth down the middle (honestly, is their C depth really any better than ours?) Tampa won with out their top C for an entire playoff run, before St Louis won no one would have tried to argue that they had a "true" 1c.

It's a nice to have, not a necessity.
 
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Fitzy said:
Our PK being 70% is the only defensive red flag so far. And thats a small enough sample to be chalked up to random error, though I would bet we will be in the bottom third of PK teams again this season.
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Our goaltending has been below average so far. I expect as that stabilizes that alone will improve the Pk percentage
 
Uninstaaled said:
I can't get behind locking up Zibanejad after this contract unless its at a rate and term that is super reasonable, something like 8.5 over 5.

He has no reason to do us that kind of favor unless his game falls off and if it comes to that, do we even want him? It's going to be really tough to make that case when we'll likely have better, younger options available to us (either via trade or UFA) by the time he's up for a new deal. Plus we need to be really careful about how we allocate money to veteran players going forward. Our ELC players are not going to be ELC players forever and keeping Kreider+winning the draft lottery is going to ensure that we lose at least 1 that we don't want to lose (dumbest extension ever, this is the new Staal/Girardi contract.)

That said, people need to chill about the center position. If you can get a great player who happens to be a center, fantastic. Beyond that, I'd look for good complementary players who may not necessarily jump out at you, but are good enough to handle a top 9 role and not drag down the line with a star player on it. Vegas is a contender with out tremendous depth down the middle (honestly, is their C depth really any better than ours?) Tampa won with out their top C for an entire playoff run, before St Louis won no one would have tried to argue that they had a "true" 1c.

It's a nice to have, not a necessity.
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Also regarding Zibby who I love. I’m worried about concussions with him. He’s had several.
 
Uninstaaled said:
Vegas is a contender with out tremendous depth down the middle (honestly, is their C depth really any better than ours?) Tampa won with out their top C for an entire playoff run, before St Louis won no one would have tried to argue that they had a "true" 1c.

It's a nice to have, not a necessity.
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Gotta disagree with two choices here. Tampa’s number 1 is Point who is a top center in the league right now. Vegas still hasn’t won.
 
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TheBloodyNine said:
Gotta disagree with two choices here. Tampa’s number 1 is Point who is a top center in the league right now. Vegas still hasn’t won.
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even if point is their #1, no one would consider their stamkos-less depth down the middle anything mind blowing.

the point isn’t that Vegas hasn’t won, but they’re a contending team with out C depth any better than ours. It’s not overly important as their roster is pretty stacked everywhere else.
 
PP1 is only gonna be good for tic tac toe goals without a net front presence.
 
Loki Dog 74 said:
So call me crazy, but I think we get Zib signed at 8.5Mish. I think he ends up staying for a long time. Chytil is looking more like a 2C solution. Still plenty up in the air there, but looking a lot more viable.

Our wings are stacked. Between Bread, Laf, Kreider on the left and American Buch, Kakko, Kravstov on the right, I don’t even waste a thought on wings.

On defense, as others have mentioned Miller showing what he has and Lindgren being what he’s been gives us a clearer picture on the left. Robertson, etc. can step in but it may, and probably does, behoove us to add a vet #4 quality guy on the left at some point. Trouba, Fox, ADA for now, Lundkvist/Schneider going forward on the right.

Center depth is important. Chytil may be the 2C we need. I’d look for a middle six C in exchange for DeAngelo and, even if it weren’t a “win” on paper, take it and run. At the draft, TDL or off-season. It doesn’t have to be a Monahan/Lindholm at this point. Just someone who can flip-flop with Chytil between 2/3 depending on development, chemistry or who is hot.
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I have also said that when considering the cost, ZBad may be the devil you know. If Chytil continues and Buch continues to take steps forward, the big deal may be well to bring a very big player in a few years.

Regarding the bottom 2 lines, what they could use is a Kadri type of player on the third line. Am actually warming to the idea of Rooney as 4C.
 
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I would love for Panarin and Zib to be split up so both units have lefty and righty one timer options. Split up Fox and DeAngelo. Replace Trouba with Miller.
 
I feel trouba is still being force-fed PowerPlay minutes because at the time that he was signed he was supposed to be a legitimate pp1 defenseman, and then we have these two other stud offensive defense men step in. They kind of feel like at this point he's on the second unit in part because of his contract and because he was touted as a PP defenseman, not because he's actually a good fit right now. I really think ADA should be on the top unit and Fox should be on the second unit, and each unit rolling with four forwards put the amount of offensive depth that we have.
 
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Chytilmania said:
I would love for Panarin and Zib to be split up so both units have lefty and righty one timer options. Split up Fox and DeAngelo. Replace Trouba with Miller.
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PP1 gets like all the time so can’t split them

I understand why TDA needs back on while they can’t take Fox off
 
Fitzy said:
Hang on, hang on.

Even if Calgary went for ADA for Lindholm (ADA+ for Monahan, who yall would hate, is probably more realistic)

If you trade then a king's ransom for Barkov, which is what it would take, and let Zibanejad walk, how are you recouping that value? Even trading Zibby with one year remaining won't nearly fetch you what you gave up for Barkov.

If you wait for both to be UFA, and hope that you can win Barkov, that doesn't bode well to tell Zibanejad "Just wait until we see if we can get the guy we want more first, then you're our #2 option if we can't"

That's what we did with Marian Hossa and Jaromir Jagr, and Jags just left. We got stuck with option #3 in Naslund.

Barkov is also going to get 7x10 on the open market. Zibanejad could probably be had for 6x9 dpending on how he plays the next 18 months
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Yeah but Barlow is younger. I'd feel comfortable at 7-10 with him. He's a difference maker.
 
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