Roster Building thread - Part X - (TDL edition)

[frozenrubber]

Anyone game for a Goodrow for Kuznetsov deal with, say, $3m retained on Kuznetsov?

When the waiver news broke, I was counting down the minutes until a @NYR Viper post kicking tires on the idea.

Super weird, but the one thing Kuznetsov is good at is the PK:

 

[GAGLine]

i'd prefer Eberle to Tarasenko

So would I, but I don't think Eberle will be cheap. I'm not keen on spending a 1st+ for a rental.

I'm not sure where we are getting a good skating center to go with Cuylle and Kakko but we need it bad

We have a good skating 3C. Brodzinski is a very good skater. Is he ideal? No. But he has produced and that line has been good with Cuylle and Kakko. If Lavi would stop moving Kakko around and just leave it alone, they should be fine. Upgrading that spot isn't the top priority IMO.

Very obvious to me this team needs a Lehkonen/Barbashev/Coleman type like other recent Cup winners have added. A rug that really ties the room together.

He’s almost a pt a game so hope we can get another one of those losers this week

Last year he had 91 points in 82 games. Last year he had 50 points at even strength and 2.19 p/60 at 5 on 5.

This year he has 54 points in 60 games. This year he has 28 points at even strength (on pace for 37-38) and 1.46 p/60 at 5 on 5.

Last year he had 39 goals. This year he has 19 (on pace for 25-26).

He isn't physical. He isn't going to the dirty areas of the ice or winning board battles. He isn't shooting the puck like he used to. He has 147 shots in 60 games (2.45 average). You have to go back to his 1st year with the Rangers to find worse shot totals, and he got far less ice time that year.

I don't care that he is "almost" at a point per game. He's playing poorly and his numbers are propped up by having 23 points on the PP. And he hasn't even been that good on the PP. If he doesn't hit his 1-timer, he's basically useless.

Maybe you are happy with the way he is playing, but I expect a lot more from our 8.5 mil 1st line center. Can you imagine how good this team would be right now if he were playing to the level he played at in 2019-20 when he had 41 goals and 75 points in 57 games? Mika today is so far from that player it's sickening.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

He’s almost a pt a game so hope we can get another one of those losers this week

Hes not a ppg and almost half of his points are on the PP (23). He's having a disappointing season where he's going to end up around 20-25 points and 10-15 goals less then last season.

That's a major problem for your #1C who's making $8.5M

 

[Raspewtin]

Very obvious to me this team needs a Lehkonen/Barbashev/Coleman type like other recent Cup winners have added. A rug that really ties the room together.

Foegele is that player if he really is available.

 

[Fitzy]

To Buffalo- Girgensons could probably be had for a late round pick, could do worse as a 12th forward but he's primarily a LW which isn't ideal.

Jones for Peyton Krebs is an idea. Krebs has failed to launch in Buffalo and can't get PP or much PK time. Could be a low cost replacement for Brodzinski.

 

[Vitto79]

Hes not a ppg and almost half of his points are on the PP (23). He's having a disappointing season where he's going to end up around 20-25 points and 10-15 goals less then last season.

That's a major problem for your #1C who's making $8.5M

March is commonly his best month so let’s not jump off the bridge the teams doing well they just need to tweak

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

March is commonly his best month so let’s not jump off the bridge the teams doing well they just need to tweak

The team is doing well because the Panarin/Trocheck/Laff line is over compensating. Not panicking but he needs to get it together before the playoffs because this team isn't going anywhere with out him.

That's reality. Good teams in the playoffs will shutdown that Panarin line as the game tightens up dramatically

 

[Daves a mess]

Montreal offering Ryder and Halak for Goodrow.

First time ever I'd take that offer.

 

[MrAlmost]

We need to call up Berard. This is just weird at this point. He is killing it in Hartford.

 

[RGY]

Brodzinski was awful last night. Dumb turnovers and just getting easily knocked down all over the ice. In a couple instances he just fell on his own.

Skates fast…great.

 

[Daves a mess]

Brodzinski was awful last night. Dumb turnovers and just getting easily knocked down all over the ice. In a couple instances he just fell on his own.

Skates fast…great.

You missed his insane accuracy though.

Brods puts dents on the goalies team logo with amazing precision.

3c needed. Brods to the Black Aces

Goodrow replacement for wherever he may roam. He's getting worse

RW/ psychologist for Tiny Tears and Wednesday from the Adams Family.

 

[kovazub94]

So would I, but I don't think Eberle will be cheap. I'm not keen on spending a 1st+ for a rental.

We have a good skating 3C. Brodzinski is a very good skater. Is he ideal? No. But he has produced and that line has been good with Cuylle and Kakko. If Lavi would stop moving Kakko around and just leave it alone, they should be fine. Upgrading that spot isn't the top priority IMO.

Last year he had 91 points in 82 games. Last year he had 50 points at even strength and 2.19 p/60 at 5 on 5.

This year he has 54 points in 60 games. This year he has 28 points at even strength (on pace for 37-38) and 1.46 p/60 at 5 on 5.

Last year he had 39 goals. This year he has 19 (on pace for 25-26).

He isn't physical. He isn't going to the dirty areas of the ice or winning board battles. He isn't shooting the puck like he used to. He has 147 shots in 60 games (2.45 average). You have to go back to his 1st year with the Rangers to find worse shot totals, and he got far less ice time that year.

I don't care that he is "almost" at a point per game. He's playing poorly and his numbers are propped up by having 23 points on the PP. And he hasn't even been that good on the PP. If he doesn't hit his 1-timer, he's basically useless.

Maybe you are happy with the way he is playing, but I expect a lot more from our 8.5 mil 1st line center. Can you imagine how good this team would be right now if he were playing to the level he played at in 2019-20 when he had 41 goals and 75 points in 57 games? Mika today is so far from that player it's sickening.

Not having Chytil hurts in this situation too as there’re very limited options to address Zibanejad having a down year. Thank god Trocheck is playing 1C level - is a good start. Unfortunately that’s all right now. Wanting to split Kreider and Zibanejad sounds good in theory, until we realize that means Cuylle with Zibanejad AND Kreider with Brodzinski. No thank you, especially since there’re also no shoe-in options at RW for these duos either. Laviolette’s been futilely mixing lines other than Trocheck’s but really he should’ve tried to put Lafreniere with Kreider - Zibanejad to jump start them while moving Kakko to Trocheck.

 

[kovazub94]

The Stars had an issue with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. They were great together and then they were shit. The Stars broke them up a few years ago after upper management and ownership publicly criticized them. Seguin is playing with Marchment and Duchene. Benn has been playing with Johnston for the last two seasons. The Stars brought in Pavelski in 2019 as a free agent instead of keeping Zuccarello. Hintz and Robertson emerged as the Stars best forwards with Pavelski on their line.

The Rangers are stuck. Did Hintz and Robertson emerge by themselves or did the Stars give them the opportunities? The Rangers run out Kreider and Zibanejad in every situation and it's hard for other players to emerge.

The Rangers are a weird club. 2nd most wins in the NHL. 2nd most points in the NHL. They look good on paper. The media says Drury has to go for it. Who are the Rangers acquiring who moves the needle? The Rangers need a RW, C and another D. Drury has depleted the draft pick assets. Drury is filling all of those needs by Friday??????

Mika and Chris are the Rangers versions of Seguin and Benn.

Our Hintz is injured (Chytil) and Laviolette is refusing to move our Robertson (Lafreniere) off of Trocheck line.

 

[majordomo]

None of these players available in trades are going to wake up the wonder twins.

I've been thinking along similar lines for some time now. Year after year, fans spend way too much time speculating on which player we can sign/trade for in order to "get Player A or Player B going." We did this recently with Panarin after Strome left. Now we're doing it with the Bromancers.

But the bottom line is that the only person/player who can get them going is themselves. Perfect example (again) is Panarin. After the last two seasons, many fans were ready to ship him to Alpha Centauri (or farther) -- now we're seeing a different player....one who no longer thinks pass all the time and actually shoots the puck and who, more importantly, will now go into the dirty areas and not remain stapled to the left wall.

How many RWs have we tried on that line in the past couple of years? Too many. And it's not as if they can't play the system: we saw during the first 20 or so games that they could....then they reverted back to what they do worst. While a lot of people are putting a good deal of the blame on the coaches, there is not much they can do if the Bros have made up their minds (yet again) to do what THEY want.

And while benching and/or changing the lineup is reasonable, the fact remains that they don't have much leeway personnel wise. We are close to having 3 productive lines and breaking them up to put a fire under the Bros is nonsensical.

 

[lakeshirts37]

Anyone game for a Goodrow for Kuznetsov deal with, say, $3m retained on Kuznetsov?

not happening - he hates laviolette

 

[majordomo]

The Rangers did not play poorly last night. It was a playoff type game. Igor was great. Every team has holes somewhere. Every one of them. And yet there are posters with the doom and gloom posts as if they got rocked last night and are frauds. They don’t just look good on paper, they look good on the ice.

I do agree, someone needs to intervene and break up Kreider/Zibanejad. It must happen and now while there is time to find the right combinations.

They are only in real need of 2 pieces. RW and 3C. The D would be great but they may run out of assets and/or a desire to pay the prices. I wouldn’t mind a Gudas type. Gus makes one great outlet and then a terrible defensive play last night.

The Team is right there with the rest of the league.

Rangers played fine the first period....not so much the last two periods.

 

[Foxy]

I still don't get why Lav hasn't tried to break the dynamic duo up. Feel like there are a bunch of combos you could try, without breaking up the Panarian line.

Taking Kakko off the 3rd line seems to of killed any mojo that the line had. His skill was a big driving factor of that line being any good. Maybe they should try putting Rempe up on the first line for a few games. Mika and Kreider can do their thing getting nothing done, and Rempe can get an extra 5 mins a game to crush people.

 

[leetch99]

The production is there from Kreider on special teams. At 5v5 he is just plain bad. Especially in his own end. I don’t know if he is hurt, or its a matter of father time, or even just him managing his efforts knowing at this juncture the rigors of a long season. But I dont see Zibanejad’s efforts the same as others. I have read opinions that Zibanejad looks disengaged and disinterested — I actually have that assessment of Kreider. I think Zibanejad, to a point, has been more physical than in years past. That could be driven by frustration but I just see him playing with the effort and the results are not there. I also think he isn’t shooting enough to break out of the 5v5 slump. Kreider on the other hand is a black hole in his own end with the board play and spatial coverage. He constantly p***yfoots plays with the puck in his own end. He did it multiple times last night. He just looks completely soft out there. He doesn’t finish checks, like ever. When he does they just seem so random. Most of the time its a fly by for him.

Kreider is and has been my favorite player since he broke in. But he has been polarizing these past couple years, this year more than any other year.

For a player with his size and speed he has been underwhelming at 5 on 5 . RGY,,,,,you hit a home run on your post . You nailed it . As Kreider goes so go the Rangers .

 

[majordomo]

I still don't get why Lav hasn't tried to break the dynamic duo up. Feel like there are a bunch of combos you could try, without breaking up the Panarian line.

Taking Kakko off the 3rd line seems to of killed any mojo that the line had. His skill was a big driving factor of that line being any good. Maybe they should try putting Rempe up on the first line for a few games. Mika and Kreider can do their thing getting nothing done, and Rempe can get an extra 5 mins a game to crush people.

Rempe, Edstrom and whoever centers is a good 4th line.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Kuznetsov is not an option for me, imo the only two teams that have the culture to straighten him out are boston and colorado. I'd be worried he'd get the other russian buddies on this team into shit they've so far avoided.

I still don't get why Lav hasn't tried to break the dynamic duo up. Feel like there are a bunch of combos you could try, without breaking up the Panarian line.

Taking Kakko off the 3rd line seems to of killed any mojo that the line had. His skill was a big driving factor of that line being any good. Maybe they should try putting Rempe up on the first line for a few games. Mika and Kreider can do their thing getting nothing done, and Rempe can get an extra 5 mins a game to crush people.

I get Rempe has gotten a lot of talk, and i wanted him on the team at the start of the year but he is a 4th line guy, no way he should be above that. It's beyond time to try Othmann or Berard there.

 

[GAGLine]

not happening - he hates laviolette

A lot of people have said this, but does Lavi hate him? Does he hate Lavi enough that he would forego the opportunity to play (assuming no other team wants him)?

I'm not advocating we trade for him, exactly. It could be that neither side wants to do it. And if we did, it should be with 50% retention to drop his cap hit down close to Goodrow's. In fact, if we can pay a 3rd team to take another 25%, then all the better. Kuznetsov at 1.95 mil for the rest of this year and next, and Goodrow gone, would help our cap situation significantly.

We could try Kuznetsov at 1RW and see how he does (yes, I know he is left-handed and listed as a center, but there should be no reason he can't play RW). Or we could play him at 3C. Maybe he ends up being a complete disaster, but it might be a risk worth taking.

There have been 2 deals so far that have included a 3rd team retaining cap. The devils got a 4th round pick for retaining 1.125 mil for the rest of this season. Carolina got a 6th round pick for retaining 687,500 for the rest of this season. Kuznetsov would be 1.95 mil for this season and next, so he would definitely cost more, but it would almost certainly be less than the cost of getting someone to take Goodrow.

Again, I don't know the exact relationship there or whether or not either side would be interested, but from a cap perspective, it makes sense.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

I'm not sure if everyone realizes what really happened last night in the grand scheme of things. We got exposed badly for our center depth. With Trochek in the box we had to play Zibanejad for like 4 mins straight because we had no other options. A lot of the time we were hemmed it our end it was due to non functioning centers in the bottom half of our lineup. Zibanejad is playing too much to be fresh, the only time we had any kind of threat was with the center that was being used properly on our best line. The Leafs had Taveres on their 3rd line, that's a bad matchup for anyone not in the top 6. I get that Zib is good on the pk, i get that but he's burnt out, he can't continue to play this many minutes and be expected to carry a line. He either needs to reduce his time on the pk or pp. When you're tired you make mistakes, shots are harder, you're saving energy for when something goes wrong, something needs to change.

 

[McRanger92]

I think Kakko gets moved by Friday. It’s not happening for him. Time to bite the bullet for an upgrade imo.

 

[McRanger92]

I'm not sure if everyone realizes what really happened last night in the grand scheme of things. We got exposed badly for our center depth. With Trochek in the box we had to play Zibanejad for like 4 mins straight because we had no other options. A lot of the time we were hemmed it our end it was due to non functioning centers in the bottom half of our lineup. Zibanejad is playing too much to be fresh, the only time we had any kind of threat was with the center that was being used properly on our best line. The Leafs had Taveres on their 3rd line, that's a bad matchup for anyone not in the top 6. I get that Zib is good on the pk, i get that but he's burnt out, he can't continue to play this many minutes and be expected to carry a line

Don’t disagree that Mika has been overplayed all year. Other team’s clearly have keyed on him as well. No Chytil (who was looking like he was heading for a big breakout) has affected Zibanejad. And the blue charts are lying a bit on Kreider this year, he’s not really helping that line. Lots of boneheaded plays and standing around from him this year. I think we may see a couple forwards added and new line combos by Friday.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

I think Kakko gets moved by Friday. It’s not happening for him. Time to bite the bullet for an upgrade imo.

If its a Zegras or Guentzel that will be here for some time I'm ok with it, but Kakko is gonna be the next Buch if we move him for something dumb. He is the linchpin on our 3rd line.

Don’t disagree that Mika has been overplayed all year. Other team’s clearly have keyed on him as well. No Chytil (who was looking like he was heading for a big breakout) has affected Zibanejad. And the blue charts are lying a bit on Kreider this year, he’s not really helping that line. Lots of boneheaded plays and standing around from him this year. I think we may see a couple forwards added and new line combos by Friday.

I hope so, but i also hope they are of the younger variety that can help for more than this year.