Roster Building Thread - Part XII

[n8]

Why do Rangers fans hate our D corps so much. When I read articles reviewing various teams preparations for the season, the team generally gets praised for strong D.

Fox is a Norris candidate.
Schneider and Miller are young and good. Fans are so damn impatient with young D. Yet everyone always says D takes longer to develop.
Which brings us to Jones who fans have been demanding that he gets a chance. Well here it is.
Trouba is way over paid but talent wise as a 3rd pair he's better than what other teams are rolling out, when he's healthy.
Lindgren is the problem. Pairing him with Fox is a problem. Hopefully things get rearranged.

It's good but not great and Igor gets a lot of the praise for covering for deficiencies. We are pretty much middle of the pack.

I like Fox, Miller, Schneider although a lot of people really dump on Key. He has lapses like every defenseman but he's super athletic and I think he'll continue to get better. I'm very hopeful for Jones. I think shadowing Gus last season will be good exposure.

Lindgren and Trouba have their issues. It's too bad that they are also are two biggest hitters and shot blockers. I know pairing them together is frightening but I think I'd like to see that in preseason. Maybe if they played more sheltered 3rd pairing minutes against low quality matchups, 1) easier time 2) knowing they don't have a more mobile player to bail them out, they will play a simpler more conservative game, 3) make them passable 4) punish whoever has to play against them

Last season, FLA, WPG, BOS were probably the best 5-on-5 defensive teams.

This was a very good corp. They've got a big 3 and the bottom 3 really came together this season and got really tough. We did not get the Mikkola we saw this year. Led the league in hits given. Lost Montour and OEL this summer.
Forsling-Ekblad
Mikkola-Montour
OEL-Kulikov

Winnipeg had a solid group last season. They weren't great with giveaways in their zone but they somehow pulled through. I'm not familiar with their system but maybe it has something to do with that. Totally fell apart in the playoffs though so might not be a good place to look. Lost Dillon & Schmidt (to FLA) this summer.
Morrissey-DeMelo
Dillon-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt

Boston always amazes me. They must be really well coached. They too have a like a big 3, or 2.5 depending on how you view Carlo. That team still seems to get so much out of what seems so little. In the past, Boston has turned nobodies into defensive stalwarts. I'm thinking about Seidenberg, Boychuk, McQuaid, Clifton, Kevan Miller. They even made John Moore and Steve Kampfer look decent. 3rd in the league in hits given. Gained Zadorov, lost Grzelcyk this summer. Peeke to play a bigger role. They should have great defense again this season.
Lohrei-McAvoy
Lindholm-Carlo
Grzelcyk-Shattenkirk
Forbort-Wotherspoon

 

[DanielBrassard]

Hopefully Othmann crushes it in camp, takes the 3rd line spot, and you send Cuylle to line 4.

He or berard. That would be nice.

 

[SA16]

Boston wasn't a particularly good defensive team last year. They were good at having a good reputation of being a good defensive team.

 

[McRanger92]

Who is coming off PP1 so Lafreniere can play there? Or are we going to keep all the same line combos and be surprised why we lose in the ECF again?

 

[NYR Viper]

Who is coming off PP1 so Lafreniere can play there? Or are we going to keep all the same line combos and be surprised why we lose in the ECF again?

Pull the goalie

 

[McRanger92]

Pull the goalie

Should be Mika but he will continue to be useless one timing muffins from his corner office. And I like Mika.

 

[NYR Viper]

Should be Mika but he will continue to be useless one timing muffins from his corner office. And I like Mika.

When people bring up possible improvements this year, him actually improving on the PP should be on the list. He never really got on a roll

 

[TGWL]

Who is coming off PP1 so Lafreniere can play there? Or are we going to keep all the same line combos and be surprised why we lose in the ECF again?

I don't think swapping Laf to PP1 during the ECF changes that much. Regarding the rest, it's going to be hard for our coach to break up Laf/Trocheck/Panarin with how they produced last season, even if that means the the rest of the lines don't appear as balanced. Without splitting Kreider/Zibanejad, or the Trocheck/Laf/Panarin line, there's only so much you can do. Replacing Zibanejad with Laf on the top powerplay feels more like just trying to get Laf more points than trying to make the powerplay any better, regardless how you feel about Zibanejad, because they were still a top powerplay team.

With that said, Zibanejad has been up and down when it comes to the powerplay. He took nearly 30 less 5 on 4 shots and somehow missed the net more. He got more shots through on net during the 2022-2023 season, with a much better unblocked shooting percentage. The Rangers stopped making the Zibanejad shot the number 1 priority and it benefited the team, but I still can't see them just pulling him off the top unit for Laf. I also like Trocheck on that unit so it's tough to really get anybody else time for PP1.

 

[SA16]

Pretty amazing that for a player with such a useless shot on the PP that Mika scored as many, or more, PPGs last year as Pastrnak, Nylander, Aho, and MacKinnon.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Who is coming off PP1 so Lafreniere can play there? Or are we going to keep all the same line combos and be surprised why we lose in the ECF again?

Zibanejad . Or Kreider. Or Trochek. Only Panarin and Fox should be untouchable there

 

[NYR Viper]

Zibanejad . Or Kreider. Or Trochek. Only Panarin and Fox should be untouchable there

Kreider should also be untouchable...

I'd probably look at Zibanejad or Trochek purely because I would like to somewhat limit their minutes. Both of those guys PK

 

[TGWL]

Zibanejad . Or Kreider. Or Trochek. Only Panarin and Fox should be untouchable there

The coach can pull Kreider off the powerplay when he can no longer handle the front of the net.

 

[Machinehead]

Boston wasn't a particularly good defensive team last year. They were good at having a good reputation of being a good defensive team.

Boston has never been particularly good at anything this entire run except having Patrice Bergeron.

If Thomas didn't explode in 2011, the Bruins of the 21st century would have one of the most disappointing playoff resumes in sports history.

 

[Profet]

I love this movie!

You love a movie about sabermetrics?

 

[Machinehead]

You love a movie about sabermetrics?

Well, it is a good movie.

And yeah, it exposes a lot of the stupidity in sports.

"Guys, you're just talkin'."

"If he's a good hitter why doesn't he hit good?"

"Same old good body nonsense...like we're looking for Fabio."

 

[mrmovies779]

Well, it is a good movie.

And yeah, it exposes a lot of the stupidity in sports.

"Guys, you're just talkin'."

"If he's a good hitter why doesn't he hit good?"

"Same old good body nonsense...like we're looking for Fabio."

"Who's Fabio?" "Shortstop...Shortstop from Seattle"

 

[noncents]

when people talk about mikkola as being a different player for FLA than for NYR i can't help but tune them out.

The player is the player. if he's better on another team, there's something on that team that ours should be doing better. is it coaching - X's and O's or motivation? player culture?

 

[Guyute]

when people talk about mikkola as being a different player for FLA than for NYR i can't help but tune them out.

The player is the player. if he's better on another team, there's something on that team that ours should be doing better. is it coaching - X's and O's or motivation? player culture?

Or just playing with better players. I’m not a very good hockey player, and I’m especially pedestrian when I play with average players. But put me with good players and I can actually do good shit… make quality passes, force turnovers, etc. The same is probably true for the typical replacement level NHLer. Having a team with enough above average players lifts up the rest of the squad.

 

[IDvsEGO]

when people talk about mikkola as being a different player for FLA than for NYR i can't help but tune them out.

The player is the player. if he's better on another team, there's something on that team that ours should be doing better. is it coaching - X's and O's or motivation? player culture?

And sometimes the player improves...

The player isn't just the player.

 

[Machinehead]

Mikkola was fine here and pretty much looked the same in Florida.

 

[TominNC]

So Mika’s PP shot is useless except when it goes in. Which is more than many top players but it’s not good because fans don’t like it so let’s make him worse by taking him of a top power play so we can feel better about not liking him any more.

Got it.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Kreider should also be untouchable...

I'd probably look at Zibanejad or Trochek purely because I would like to somewhat limit their minutes. Both of those guys PK

Kreider should not be untouchable . He’s actually terrible on the PP aside from tip ins. Can’t do zone entries, can’t control the pucks. Not a great passer. We need to forget 2022 he’ll never do that again.


But whatever he’s 3rd choice to be replaced anyway. Zib first, then Trochek.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

So Mika’s PP shot is useless except when it goes in. Which is more than many top players but it’s not good because fans don’t like it so let’s make him worse by taking him of a top power play so we can feel better about not liking him any more.

Got it.

It wouldn’t be useless if he played the bumper , he’d be one of the most dangerous players in the league. From the left boards, he’s useless. Unless it’s a perfect shot, he’s not scoring from that stupid one timer , he constantly loses the puck , and his entries are trash because he always passes it up at then blue line (usually to Kreider who is covered and loses the puck)

Panarin should take his spot, and Laf should take Panarins spot

 

[SA16]

Kreider is terrible on the PP except at doing the most important thing. Interesting,

 

[Machinehead]

Kreider should not be untouchable . He’s actually terrible on the PP aside from tip ins. Can’t do zone entries, can’t control the pucks. Not a great passer. We need to forget 2022 he’ll never do that again.


But whatever he’s 3rd choice to be replaced anyway. Zib first, then Trochek.

You're high