Roster Building Thread - Part XI (Off-season edition)

[SA16]

Well, a lot of people are fans of teams. Fans spend a lot of time watching & thinking about players. We have opinions, well-founded or not. It's natural.

Not many people are devoted fans of Harvard Biology professors.

I assumed it was fairly obvious that when critiquing a players play it is relative to other NHL players and not the world population.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Larry knows how to tell the fan base what they want to hear. Whether it makes sense or not.

The "Get bigger & meaner" is fine if they get better. However for years now we've been running out defensemen that aren't that good, and continually allow long shifts, regardless of size or meanness.

I don't think he's telling people what they want to hear because he's been banging this drum forever. It's what he wants to see and hear LOL.

Like you said, it's all good if it also means that they get better.

 

[qwertyaas]

Question: Did we abandon playing the 1-3-1 for the end of the season and playoffs, or did we just play it badly? Cause no matter who you trade/release/sign/acquire.....if the opponent has free reign to go through the neutral zone with no resistance, nothing will change.

Boyle brought up them switching to Man Defense in the POs.

This is not a team for Man D, especially going into that system against a team like Florida.

 

[NYR Viper]

Be prepared for another disappointing end to the playoffs if this is what the Rangers do. We did this exact thing with Cuylle and Wheeler last year.

I should have clarified, I'm not sure I sign a high priced RW for THAT line. I'm less opposed to finding someone to ride shotgun with Chytil.

Fast was a good complimentary piece on that Kreider-Mika line. Find a water-bug player with some speed and skill. Kapanen, Barabanov, Pacioretty and have them compete with Berard in camp.

Then go find someone who you think will compliment Chytil. Bertuzzi? Perron?

I'd split 5v5 time up evenly between the 2a and 2b lines:

Panarin-Trochek-Lafreniere
Kreider-Zibanejad-Barabanov/Pacioretty/Kapanen/Berard
Cuylle-Chytil-Bertuzzi/Perron/________

The RW on that Kreider-Mika line just doesn't get the puck enough to warrant a high dollar free agent IMO. It's more important to find the RIGHT player

 

[n8]

Dakota Joshua would be my pick. Big, plays center, scored 18 goals. Get it done Drury.

Yes, plays center but he was not really a faceoff guy. He only took 72 faceoffs last year at a 47% win percentage.
Blueger was 3rd on the Canucks with 781 draws @ 53 FOW%. Lafferty 5th with 356 draws @ only 42 FOW%

Do you want hits and toughness or does having a faceoff person matter more? Some more PK stats
Joshua - 115 min SH TOI @ 5.73 PPGA/60
Blueger -143 min SH TOI @ 7.97 PPGA/60
Lafferty - 27 min SH TOI @ 10.99 PPGA/60

For comparison,
Trocheck has 129 min SH TOI @ 5.09 PPGA/60
Goodrow has 152 min SH TOI @ 7.86 PPGA/60

 

[Hire Sather]

Trouba is what he is. Expires 2 years. I hope the organization shows the ability to move on from a player like Lindgren without signing him and saddling us for 5 or more years moving forward.

 

[McRanger92]

I should have clarified, I'm not sure I sign a high priced RW for THAT line. I'm less opposed to finding someone to ride shotgun with Chytil.

Fast was a good complimentary piece on that Kreider-Mika line. Find a water-bug player with some speed and skill. Kapanen, Barabanov, Pacioretty and have them compete with Berard in camp.

Then go find someone who you think will compliment Chytil. Bertuzzi? Perron?

I'd split 5v5 time up evenly between the 2a and 2b lines:

Panarin-Trochek-Lafreniere
Kreider-Zibanejad-Barabanov/Pacioretty/Kapanen/Berard
Cuylle-Chytil-Bertuzzi/Perron/________

The RW on that Kreider-Mika line just doesn't get the puck enough to warrant a high dollar free agent IMO. It's more important to find the RIGHT player

I think they need to aim higher talent wise but the generally gist of what youre saying I agree with.

Trouba is what he is. Expires 2 years. I hope the organization shows the ability to move on from a player like Lindgren without signing him and saddling us for 5 or more years moving forward.

This is important. The Rangers can obviously survive with a theoretically fully healthy Trouba on the 3rd pair. They can't survive with Lindgren on the 1st.

 

[SA16]

I should have clarified, I'm not sure I sign a high priced RW for THAT line. I'm less opposed to finding someone to ride shotgun with Chytil.

Fast was a good complimentary piece on that Kreider-Mika line. Find a water-bug player with some speed and skill. Kapanen, Barabanov, Pacioretty and have them compete with Berard in camp.

Then go find someone who you think will compliment Chytil. Bertuzzi? Perron?

I'd split 5v5 time up evenly between the 2a and 2b lines:

Panarin-Trochek-Lafreniere
Kreider-Zibanejad-Barabanov/Pacioretty/Kapanen/Berard
Cuylle-Chytil-Bertuzzi/Perron/________

The RW on that Kreider-Mika line just doesn't get the puck enough to warrant a high dollar free agent IMO. It's more important to find the RIGHT player

Speed? Barabanov and Pacioretty are both very slow. I also find it to be incredibly unlikely that Berard will win a top six job off the bat. He's probably competing for a spot in the bottom six.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

The RW on that Kreider-Mika line just doesn't get the puck enough to warrant a high dollar free agent IMO. It's more important to find the RIGHT player

The right player is Crosby lmao. That isn't even a joke, thats who they would need to be a real impact line 5v5.

I think you can check a few of the boxes you would need to compliment that line with a few guys (and even Berard himself would check a few, but this organization took 4 years to give a 1OA top 6 time, they won't give it to a 5th round pick) but no one who is going to realistically step in and turn that duo into an impact line.

Honestly I'd just split them up and let Panarin and Lafreniere flank Zibanejad. At least when Panarin and Zib inevitiably get shut down in the playoffs Laf has shown some ability to be like "f*** it, I'm doing this myself."

 

[Fitzy]

I think they need to aim higher talent wise but the generally gist of what youre saying I agree with.



This is important. The Rangers can obviously survive with a theoretically fully healthy Trouba on the 3rd pair. They can't survive with Lindgren on the 1st.

Well, we'd be wrong not to also consider the cap implications. 8 million on the thir pair is money that could be better allocated towards glaring team needs elsewhere.

Lindgren won't get more than 4.2 from us, if he even stays.

 

[NYR Viper]

Yes, plays center but he was not really a faceoff guy. He only took 72 faceoffs last year at a 47% win percentage.
Blueger was 3rd on the Canucks with 781 draws @ 53 FOW%. Lafferty 5th with 356 draws @ only 42 FOW%

Do you want hits and toughness or does having a faceoff person matter more? Some more PK stats
Joshua - 115 min SH TOI @ 5.73 PPGA/60
Blueger -143 min SH TOI @ 7.97 PPGA/60
Lafferty - 27 min SH TOI @ 10.99 PPGA/60

For comparison,
Trocheck has 129 min SH TOI @ 5.09 PPGA/60
Goodrow has 152 min SH TOI @ 7.86 PPGA/60

I'm anti paying Joshua $3m+. Blueger fits because he is likely to make less than $2m

 

[n8]

Not that this is a bad list, but we have a ton of prospects that look to be bottom soxers. Why are we spending to sign more at higher cap hits?

We need a RW thst can mesh with kreider and zib. Though that might be as rare as a unicorn.

realistically, I think it was Boyle or Mollie who said on their podcast that Drury is here to do one thing. He's on a mission to win the Cup so if he's got this Igor window, I think long term he's going to try to get a young player or two up each year to balance out how disproportionate the cap distribution is but he's also going to go out and sign players that help put this team in a position to win a Cup.

Most fans will promote the "go slow and develop the kids" route but sadly, the reality is the GM always has orders from Dolan to win now. Ideally, the signings that do get made are in the 1-2 year term like how Gus and Wheels were. I think Edstrom will be up next season simply because he is (I believe) no longer waiver exempt.

Zac Jones can get us through the season but unless he goes on a fitness binge and becomes tough like Torey Krug circa Boston was, he's not going to get us through the playoffs. Drury WILL sign players. I just hope he chooses wisely.

 

[NYR Viper]

Speed? Barabanov and Pacioretty are both very slow. I also find it to be incredibly unlikely that Berard will win a top six job off the bat. He's probably competing for a spot in the bottom six.

People said the same thing about Fast and many others. It's all about overall roster construction

 

[SA16]

People said the same thing about Fast and many others. It's all about overall roster construction

Well the difference was Fast was a veteran NHL player and known good defensively. Not a 5'9" rookie with zero NHL games. He played with Glass and Moore in his first NHL game.

 

[Synergy27]

He's not gonna do that on a line that never forechecks and can't establish one.

I’m think he’s just not gonna do that. He does it when you piss him off. People want him to be pissed off more often because he’s basically Hulk out there when angry.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I’m think he’s just not gonna do that. He does it when you piss him off. People want him to be pissed off more often because he’s basically Hulk out there when angry.

Yeah I don't think you can really absolve Kreider of why he and Zibanejad never get a forecheck going, he's as half committal on sealing walls and getting to loose pucks as anyone.

However, when ever he's been away from Zibanejad, it hasn't been a problem. When he's played with Trocheck, Chytil or even the one game he played with Goodrow as his center in St Louis when Zibanejad was sick, he owns the walls and the paint with those guys.

Why this is? I have no f***ing idea, but thats how it's been.

 

[mandiblesofdoom]

I don't think he's telling people what they want to hear because he's been banging this drum forever. It's what he wants to see and hear LOL.

Like you said, it's all good if it also means that they get better.

It's probably both. A segment of the fan base definitely thinks like this. Probably in part because Larry & company tell them too.

 

[EdJovanovski]

We really should get Zadorov man. He also is a dual position dman, plays either side equally well. Especially if we're able to move Trouba which is rumored, that would be one hell of an upgrade getting a similar style of player who is far more mobile and far less stupid

 

[NYR Viper]

Well the difference was Fast was a veteran NHL player and known good defensively. Not a 5'9" rookie with zero NHL games. He played with Glass and Moore in his first NHL game.

Fast at one point was also a 5'10 rookie. Berard is a good player, I think people are overlooking him a bit

 

[PuckLuck3043]

Yes, plays center but he was not really a faceoff guy. He only took 72 faceoffs last year at a 47% win percentage.
Blueger was 3rd on the Canucks with 781 draws @ 53 FOW%. Lafferty 5th with 356 draws @ only 42 FOW%

Do you want hits and toughness or does having a faceoff person matter more? Some more PK stats
Joshua - 115 min SH TOI @ 5.73 PPGA/60
Blueger -143 min SH TOI @ 7.97 PPGA/60
Lafferty - 27 min SH TOI @ 10.99 PPGA/60

For comparison,
Trocheck has 129 min SH TOI @ 5.09 PPGA/60
Goodrow has 152 min SH TOI @ 7.86 PPGA/60

I want a guy who is big, hits, can skate, and scores some goals. I haven't seen a lot of Vancouver but from what I have seen Joshua looked really good. I will deal with the FO % stuff if he brings the other things I mentioned. I also don't think it's going to realistically happen anyway due to the price tag.

 

[LOFIN]

We really should get Zadorov man. He also is a dual position dman, plays either side equally well. Especially if we're able to move Trouba which is rumored, that would be one hell of an upgrade getting a similar style of player who is far more mobile and far less stupid

You really haven't watched Zadorov for too long have you? I especially laughed at the bolded part. Zadorov is good skater, decent with the puck, and a great hitting machine. He also has a very poor hockey IQ. He's good doing strickly man-on-man defence, if you put him in system with zone coverage he's f***ing lost all the time. There's a reason he's a third pairing guy on most teams, and even on good teams he's a #4 at best. And at the age of 29, this is what he is. He isn't magically getting better any more.

Zadorov would be great for 3mil per. The problem is, he was making 3.75 now and is expected to get a big raise. Let's not make that mistake, please. I love the guy, but we live in a cap league.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

We really should get Zadorov man. He also is a dual position dman, plays either side equally well. Especially if we're able to move Trouba which is rumored, that would be one hell of an upgrade getting a similar style of player who is far more mobile and far less stupid

He’s about to be massively overpaid by Toronto.

 

[EdJovanovski]

You really haven't watched Zadorov for too long have you? I especially laughed at the bolded part. Zadorov is good skater, decent with the puck, and a great hitting machine. He also has a very poor hockey IQ. He's good doing strickly man-on-man defence, if you put him in system with zone coverage he's f***ing lost all the time. There's a reason he's a third pairing guy on most teams, and even on good teams he's a #4 at best. And at the age of 29, this is what he is. He isn't magically getting better any more.

Zadorov would be great for 3mil per. The problem is, he was making 3.75 now and is expected to get a big raise. Let's not make that mistake, please. I love the guy, but we live in a cap league.

Compared to Trouba who is a horrible skater, handles the puck like a grenade, and has 10 runs out of position at a guy and misses him for every 1 nice big hit. He's way better than Trouba and will come in at cheaper than him even after a raise. I don't think he has the highest hockey IQ either but Trouba is one of the dumbest players I've ever seen. I wonder if Zadorov would take a discount to come here too, he is also great friends with Panarin.... yes I know @GoAwayPanarin is going to say that worked great with Tank & Kane lol but this isn't specifically to play with Panarin, I'm just saying he would probably like to be here and may take a discount

 

[PuckLuck3043]

5 million would absolutely be a bad move for this franchise, given our shortcomings, needs, and Lindgren's progression.

It's also not the kind of figure that generally gets offered to awful defensemen.

NYR can have one, maybe two defensemen on the blue line with little to no offense. Right now we have 3 and that's too many.

The Rangers were 3rd in the league in Dmen points though. How many teams have more than 3 that actually score from the back end?

 

[LOFIN]

Compared to Trouba who is a horrible skater, handles the puck like a grenade, and has 10 runs out of position at a guy and misses him for every 1 nice big hit. He's way better than Trouba and will come in at cheaper than him even after a raise. I don't think he has the highest hockey IQ either but Trouba is one of the dumbest players I've ever seen.

I mean that's not exactly a high bar to clear now is it? We have a 3rd pairing D-man (if you can even call Trouba that at this point) making 8mil. So let's replace him with a slightly better 3rd pairing D-man making 6mil. I guess that's improvement, but not really doing f*** all in the grand scheme of things for revamping the D-corps. If we can get out of Trouba's money, that needs to be spent much more efficiently.

I wonder if Zadorov would take a discount to come here too, he is also great friends with Panarin.

Fat f***ing chance. He has always overrated himself in the market, and that's why he has ended up playing in shittier teams like Chicago and Calgary instead of top contenders. He has still not made that big of a bank in his career, and he wants to secure that. I know he says he wants to win, sure. But he also wants to get paid and with the playoffs he had this is the time to make that money. There will be teams desperate for his physical presence and will overpay to do that.