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

[CTTribe73]

This should be easy:

Out: Ryan Lindgren, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, Jack Roslovic, Alex Wennberg, Blake Wheeler and Erik Gustafsson. See if you can trade Vesey and Brodzinski to remove the temptation to play them.

Keep: Laf, Igor, Schneider

Institute a new organization mandate: NO ‘TRY HARDS’.

Have a ‘quiet conversation’: Mika

Acquire: a TRUE 1C and bona fide 1RW. Whatever it takes. Burn the f***ing boats.

My choices would be Robert Thomas or Trevor Zegras in the pivot. On the wing, I want Marner or Tkachuk the Younger.

 

[LOFIN]

But again, that’s a player who’s only going to reinforce the “country club” mentality. The definition of skilled but soft.

So you surround him with tougher wingers.

 

[jay from jersey]

Need to draft and develop those kind of centers. They don't grow on trees. Rangers have a zillion wings. Time to work on centers.

I would love it if Laba can come out of left field and develop into another Trochek.
What a home run that would be on a 4th pick

 

[LOFIN]

Acquire: a TRUE 1C and bona fide 1RW. Whatever it takes. Burn the f***ing boats.

If you are willing to spend assets and the cap to extend him, pretty sure both Mitch Marner and Mikko Rantanen are available.

 

[PuckLuck3043]

Oh it’s inevitable the Rangers get Zegras at some point. His family is close to Drury and the kid will force himself here at some point.

But again, that’s a player who’s only going to reinforce the “country club” mentality. The definition of skilled but soft.

Maybe, but as I stated before, having him in a 3c role could be a really good thing. Just adding more skill down the middle. We don't have a top 1C as Mika is declining so lets add some depth and skill.

 

[CTTribe73]

If you are willing to spend assets and the cap to extend him, pretty sure both Mitch Marner and Mikko Rantanen are available.

Do we have a choice? I’m thinking that’s non negotiable

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

I admire the optimism from many of you.

I have a tough time seeing how this team gets another shot at a championship for a long time.

Revamping the defense is to me the obvious top priority. But they have absolutely nothing in the pipeline. Going to be expensive with little to no room for error. Another Nemeth would be disastrous.

And while having a competent defense that can transition the puck would make an incredibly positive impact on the team's overall game, the elephant in the room is that so much production is on the wrong side of the aging curve and/or proven to not be able to come through in the postseason.

Lafreniere, Fox, and Shesterkin is enough to build a decent team around but the upside case to be a great team is extremely tough to see right now.

I've always felt the "rebuild" was rushed. The idea of "rebuilding while competing" and "two windows" was just not something this organization should have ever entertained. Now the chickens are really coming home to roost on that.

 

[rangersfansince08]

This should be easy:

Out: Ryan Lindgren, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, Jack Roslovic, Alex Wennberg, Blake Wheeler and Erik Gustafsson. See if you can trade Vesey and Brodzinski to remove the temptation to play them.

Keep: Laf, Igor, Schneider

Institute a new organization mandate: NO ‘TRY HARDS’.

Have a ‘quiet conversation’: Mika

Acquire: a TRUE 1C and bona fide 1RW. Whatever it takes. Burn the f***ing boats.

My choices would be Robert Thomas or Trevor Zegras in the pivot. On the wing, I want Marner or Tkachuk the Younger.

Marner and Brady? Come on. Those guys won't move the needle. Marner is just Panarin. In fact he is worse than him in every way. Less production in the regular season and post season. Brady is so overrated.

Robert Thomas moves the needle but why does St.Louis move a true 1C?

 

[LOFIN]

I admire the optimism from many of you.

I have a tough time seeing how this team gets another shot at a championship for a long time.

For all the talk about supposed "cup windows", they really don't exist. There is so much parity in this league, and you need so much luck that as long as you have a good team, you have a shot. And I have no doubt this will be a good team next year as well.

 

[McRanger92]

I admire the optimism from many of you.

I have a tough time seeing how this team gets another shot at a championship for a long time.

Revamping the defense is to me the obvious top priority. But they have absolutely nothing in the pipeline. Going to be expensive with little to no room for error. Another Nemeth would be disastrous.

And while having a competent defense that can transition the puck would make an incredibly positive impact on the team's overall game, the elephant in the room is that so much production is on the wrong side of the aging curve and/or proven to not be able to come through in the postseason.

Lafreniere, Fox, and Shesterkin is enough to build a decent team around but the upside case to be a great team is extremely tough to see right now.

I've always felt the "rebuild" was rushed. The idea of "rebuilding while competing" and "two windows" was just not something this organization should have ever entertained. Now the chickens are really coming home to roost on that.

The window is wide open. Don’t lose hope because we lost to the only eastern conference team better than us. We would’ve trounced Boston and we beat the “Cup favorite” (not that I agreed with that) in 6 games.

Florida is dialed in. They’ve been on a mission since last year. They earned my respect and as disappointed as I am in this loss, I felt worse when we lost to the Lightning in 2022. We’ll be back.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

This should be easy:

Out: Ryan Lindgren, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, Jack Roslovic, Alex Wennberg, Blake Wheeler and Erik Gustafsson. See if you can trade Vesey and Brodzinski to remove the temptation to play them.

Keep: Laf, Igor, Schneider

Institute a new organization mandate: NO ‘TRY HARDS’.

Have a ‘quiet conversation’: Mika

Acquire: a TRUE 1C and bona fide 1RW. Whatever it takes. Burn the f***ing boats.

My choices would be Robert Thomas or Trevor Zegras in the pivot. On the wing, I want Marner or Tkachuk the Younger.

So basically the same rotten core stay together, at least on offense? We just have a "quiet" conversation with Mika?

Nope.

Kreider/Panarin/Mika/Trouba run the show. You ship out 2 of them for starters, really should be 3, then you start worrying about other players.

That fact that we have now had 3 coaches who REFUSE to separate Mika/Kreider, despite them being f***ing awful at ES should say everything about who is running this team. What do they both go crying at the thought of not playing with each other?

 

[Synergy27]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1796652356823887948

I can’t say I disagree at all. Or that I didn’t say half this stuff myself over the past six months.

 

[irishlaxburger2]

Rantanen seems to be the only legitimate 1C option that *may* be available this offseason. Nobody else feels realistic at all. He's a 100 point play driver and the type of player this organization could use.

Is it possible they get him? Probably not. Is he a sure fire answer to winning a Cup? Also unsure.

You may be better off waiting a year and hoping for McDavid. I think a few 1Cs hit the market next year.

 

[LaffyTaffy13]

No it would not. That is a ridiculous overpay. Drury should be fired on the spot if he traded anywhere close to that.

Whats the Sens motivation to trade him for anything less than an overpay?

Rantanen seems to be the only legitimate 1C option that *may* be available this offseason. Nobody else feels realistic at all. He's a 100 point play driver and the type of player this organization could use.

Is it possible they get him? Probably not. Is he a sure fire answer to winning a Cup? Also unsure.

You may be better off waiting a year and hoping for McDavid. I think a few 1Cs hit the market next year.

I think youre looking at the wrong years.

Draisaitl and rantenen are ufa’s next summer, mcdavid July 2026.

 

[irishlaxburger2]

Whats the Sens motivation to trade him for anything less than an overpay?


I think youre looking at the wrong years.

Draisaitl and rantenen are ufa’s next summer, mcdavid July 2026.

FML, you are correct

 

[jay from jersey]

Need to draft and develop those kind of centers. They don't grow on trees. Rangers have a zillion wings. Time to work on centers.

Gorton and Bobrov killed us on 2 drafts during the Rebuild…….
No heart kravtsov
Cost us a RD of
Fox
Dobson
Schneider

Who would all be locked in with term right now.


And fresh off the rangers having no 1st rounders for years,
We spend a top 10 pick on Lias Anderseson
And a top 25 pick on Chytil- while shows talent, he can’t be counted on to play a full season, let alone a season+ playoffs……..

Signing Panarin was a no brainer at the time. He didn’t want to go anywhere else, and even leveraged a a larger deal that he passed up with the isles to use to suck some more money out of the rangers…..

Zibby trade was largely a cash transaction. We had a vet 60pt + center with 90% of his deal paid off already. That’s why timing in life is everything……

Gorton without a doubt did some solid things during our rebuild, but stripping the team to the bone of any grit/mean/sandpaper kind cost this team dearly as well..

Zibby also changed/evolved his game to be more like a Panarin type, instead of the more bullish player he used to be. I’m sure injuries had a large part to do with that as well…..

So far, I like what Drury has done. He and his staff have identified the type of players they want to draft, have largely drafted from NA, and when he had the chance to over think the situation at the draft he hasn’t pulled a McIrath over tarashenko or a krav over Dobson type pick.
Largely he takes the BPA if the player is in the mold of the guy that fits their criteria……

- Nemeth was bad. No arguing that. It cost us more to move him.
- he was in on Eichel, In on Guentzel, and I’m sure a bunch of others, but didn’t think the price warranted the cost….
This is a really big offseason for him at the helm.
Guys he picked are coming of age and going to start to contribute soon. He’s also got the chance to put his stamp on this squad and really either put them over the top, of have they wade in mediocrity

 

[LaffyTaffy13]

Brady is no Superstar.

He is. Hes the type of player every single nhl gm wants. What doesn't he do?

 

[Synergy27]

Its probably already been mentioned but Carp brought up a good point on twitter. We really should have done whatever it took to grab Guentzel at the deadline. Instead we have Wennberg and other bottom 6 players being inserted on our top line in the ECF

I know we didn’t score goals when it counted, so it’s easy to point to the forwards and say they needed help. But that’s a misdiagnosis.

We lost because our defense sucked. We got pinned in our zone because our defense sucked. We failed at transitioning the puck because our defense sucked.

If we had the puck more, which again requires a good defense, all of the forwards would have had more chances to score and their stats would look a lot better.

We need to fix the defense. We have insane forward depth and a great goalie.

Fix the defense.

 

[McRanger92]

Trouba, Lindgren, Kakko need to go. Kreider & Mika need to be separated because we have a lifetime of evidence it doesn’t work 5v5. They can still be magical shorthanded, as they were all playoffs. Lafreniere NEEDS a bigger role and Trocheck needs an A. Keep Goodrow. He cares and he’s the leader people want Trouba to be. He need more toughness in our bottom 6, not less and he’s a great mentor for Cuylle, Edstrom and Rempe. There is a roadmap for the Rangers to get much better without taking the nuclear option too many people want for some reason.

The Rangers can stand pat and go into next season as the second best team in the Eastern Conference. It would be insanity to think this group can’t get to the Stanley Cup with some savvy improvements. I just refuse to buy into the negativity and fatalism that’s all too common with our fanbase, because an objectively better team beat us.

 

[jay from jersey]

Maybe, but as I stated before, having him in a 3c role could be a really good thing. Just adding more skill down the middle. We don't have a top 1C as Mika is declining so lets add some depth and skill.

This. Never know what the future holds…. Zegras is paid a lot. He oozes with talent. He def has holes on the defensive side of the puck, but playing for a winner close to home, with a team that is hard on the puck could rub off on him the right way. Hes still very young.

I would have much more faith in a guy like him figuring it out then an older vet like Zibby/Panarin changing their ways

 

[qwertyaas]

If Trouba can't land a trade, is a Buyout with a $4/4/2/2M hit worth it? I'm leaning towards yes as it still frees up $4/4/6/6M in cap hit, but also stops the coach from actually playing him in meaningful minutes.

He was basically directly responsible for how many GA in the Panthers series from dumbass mistakes?

Then again, if what Boyle said is true and coaching moved towards a Man defense, that sort of explains how out of position they constantly were. We don't have a mobile D that can keep up to that level. If that exposed Trouba and the rest, unsure if that changes anything..

 

[irishlaxburger2]

He is. Hes the type of player every single nhl gm wants. What doesn't he do?

I love him as a player, but if his contract or the assets it takes to acquire him stop us from acquiring a 1C, I’m out.

He plays a position that isn’t a need for us, even if he’s the type of player we need.

If the move includes Panarin, well then you have my attention. Because then you start opening up cap to make the rest of the top 6 better.

 

[rangersfansince08]

I know we didn’t score goals when it counted, so it’s easy to point to the forwards and say they needed help. But that’s a misdiagnosis.

We lost because our defense sucked. We got pinned in our zone because our defense sucked. We failed at transitioning the puck because our defense sucked.

If we had the puck more, which again requires a good defense, all of the forwards would have had more chances to score and their stats would look a lot better.

We need to fix the defense. We have insane forward depth and a great goalie.

Fix the defense.

Not sure we have insane forward depth but its decent and looks like we have enough prospect who can help out in that regard. You are 100% right its the defense. They bleed chances and keep us from getting chances because they can't transition the puck.

 

[effen]

Yeah I'm not following the logic either.

He didn't have a good series after going legendary but hes also far from being a problem. Even at his most infuriating he's good for 35+ goals during the RS at a 6.5 million dollar cap hit before getting to the playoffs where he's pretty much always a lock to continue scoring goals.

Thats a bargain.

It depends on if Drury wants a culture shift. He IS the culture for a lot of reasons. That reasoning, good or bad, supersedes anything on-ice.

He's also the easiest to trade of the big 3 forwards (you'd have 20+ suitors, everyone can fit $6.5M for a a guy who averages 43 goals a year the last 3 years) and would get the best return, for the reasons mentioned.

 

[irishlaxburger2]

If Trouba can't land a trade, is a Buyout with a $4/4/2/2M hit worth it? I'm leaning towards yes as it still frees up $4/4/6/6M in cap hit, but also stops the coach from actually playing him in meaningful minutes.

He was basically directly responsible for how many GA in the Panthers series from dumbass mistakes?

Then again, if what Boyle said is true and coaching moved towards a Man defense, that sort of explains how out of position they constantly were. We don't have a mobile D that can keep up to that level. If that exposed Trouba and the rest, unsure if that changes anything..

NHL GMs are stupid. I think someone will be willing to take him for 50% (or more) if we add an asset.

Trouba (25% retained) + 2nd to Detroit feels like a no brainer. If only we had 2nd round picks.