Since "this is a bad team" still meets resistance, perhaps I should go through every spot.
Fox is slotted where he's supposed to be. Pats for Patrick. I hate Igor's contract and I hate goalies, but as a roster piece, he's obviously in the role he should be in. Cuylle is fine. There are better top six forwards, let's be honest, and I would rather him be with more talented linemates, but that's not his fault and he's fine.
Here are the rest of the forwards:
Miller, Zibanejad, and Trocheck are not real first line centers. This is massive, almost Stanley Cup-excluding hole right off the bat. I'm counting all of them because somebody has to play that role, and I'm not sending any of these guys out to match up with Barkov or McDavid. Also, "I have three Dalmatians, and that weighs as much as a German shepherd" is not how center depth works. The German shepherds on Florida and Tampa are going to eat all three of your Dalmatians.
Lafreniere sucks. Hard period. If I'm building a team to go out and win the Stanley Cup, I'm really not interested in any role for him tbh. He doesn't score enough to be a scorer, and he doesn't do...god damn anything to be a role player.
Kreider sucks. For however many years before this one, the Rangers scored like 60% of the goals when he was on the ice. He was a massive play-driver and now we can barely put him on the ice. Because anti-Kreider sentiment has existed for years, I think it's overlooked what a loss this was. A legit, slam dunk top six forward became a 4th liner. And given his age and injury history, I think he's probably cooked. It's another gaping hole.
Berard is great and arguably the sole player on the roster we're not playing high enough in the lineup, which is its own problem.
Othmann -I'm gonna be dragged for telling the truth here- is not a guy I'm penciling into an NHL top 9 right now. Absolutely, should get the opportunity, but it's a hole until somebody fills it.
Brodzinski certainly exists.
Parssinen is not an NHL player.
Rempe and Carrick are great but definitely 4th liners.
Oh man, now we get to talk about the defense!
Soucy should not be in the top six of a contending team. Full ass stop.
I don't know what Miller is. We've talked about the system and his partners. Maybe there's something there. It's a hole until I know it's filled. That's how this should work.
Borgen is fine but like, he should firmly be your 6th best defenseman and he's not.
Schneider, I'm sorry, kinda sucks. Maybe he improves but that's not the discussion I'm having right now. Hole until it's filled.
Urho is...I guess fine? He and Schneider as the third pair is probably not great, but it's the third pair, so Idk, but the problem is we have like five of these guys so you can't even say "well, it's the third pair" because it's bleeding into the top 4 like, a lot.
Jones is alive. The body is still warm.
So yeah, not counting the backup goalie and the 4th line, the Rangers have ONE defenseman, and ONE forward that are in the roles they should be.
This team is still worse than you probably think they are. It is really bad.
