Speculation: Roster Building Thread : Part XV (Light em up!)

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Notable that Larry's stated summary of what defensemen to is limited to getting pucks to the net on offense & clearing bodies in front on defense.

No mention of positioning, gap control, reading the play, winning board battles, passing under duress, breakouts, transition, etc. .... Understanding of the role of defensemen in NYR culture is cartoon-like.
He’s not writing a book here. Short and sweet.
 
The Rangers need another smallish offensive D. The problem with Byram in Buffalo is opportunity. He wasn't happy in Colorado because Makar is there. He wants to be the guy. Buffalo has other guys in Rasmus and Power. You can make the an argument Power is marginalized on that team with Rasmus and Byram. Is Bowen happy in Buffalo? He are a contract coming too.

The Rangers need another smallish offensive D????????
This team desperately needs a LHD that can pass and transport the puck up the ice. It's a major hole in their game. Miller is good at skating the puck up the ice, not so much at passing.

Is Byram really smallish? Average NHL defenseman is 6'2 200. Byram is 6'1 190.

Vaak - 6'2 205
Miller - 6'5 209
Schneider 6'4 214
Borgen - 6'3 205

Fox and Lindgren are the two that are below height and weight averages. If you remove Lindgren for Byram, you actually get a similar sized player. You're also not playing him with Fox most likely (I'd think Schneider would be his ideal partner).

So they've already beefed up and got faster with the likes of Trouba and Jones not in the lineup.
 
This team desperately needs a LHD that can pass and transport the puck up the ice. It's a major hole in their game. Miller is good at skating the puck up the ice, not so much at passing.

Is Byram really smallish? Average NHL defenseman is 6'2 200. Byram is 6'1 190.

Vaak - 6'2 205
Miller - 6'5 209
Schneider 6'4 214
Borgen - 6'3 205

Fox and Lindgren are the two that are below height and weight averages. If you remove Lindgren for Byram, you actually get a similar sized player. You're also not playing him with Fox most likely (I'd think Schneider would be his ideal partner).

So they've already beefed up and got faster with the likes of Trouba and Jones not in the lineup.
Size differences are overstated in general. A big man has 20 pounds on a small player. This isn't boxing -- that's not that big of a deal.
 
It'll be interesting to see if they give these changes an extended look with Chytil and Kreider back



Zibanejad started getting better when he saw more time with Cuylle and Smith, two guys who can drive offense.

That used to be Kreider but it's not since he lost a step.

The older they get, the less they make sense together.
 
I don't see the allure of keeping Borgen. Are people forgetting that we had both Borgen and Vaakanainen and the team was still in shambles and the D was still playing like shit. Them included. People were ready to launch Borgen and Vaak into the sun not too many games ago. Short memories. Bringing in these 2 guys did not transform the defense. The team is simply playing better as a whole and we've won a few games. But I'd hardly change my outlook because of it. Borgen should still be a useful trade chip. Just my opinion
This is pretty rich pinning team's struggles on newly incoming 3rd pair Ds. You can argue trading these guys instead of resigning but team struggles during that period should not be a part of it.
 
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Sam Carrick at $1M could help many teams. So many of the Cup contenders are strapped for space. The Rangers are probably better off keeping him at that number. He is signed for two more seasons.

Ryan Lindgren? There are most likely more teams interested in Will Borgen. Dallas. Edmonton. Righty D are harder to find. What is Lindgren's market? Colorado? Winnipeg?
 
Sam Carrick at $1M could help many teams. So many of the Cup contenders are strapped for space. The Rangers are probably better off keeping him at that number. He is signed for two more seasons.

Ryan Lindgren? There are most likely more teams interested in Will Borgen. Dallas. Edmonton. Righty D are harder to find. What is Lindgren's market? Colorado? Winnipeg?
Lindgren probably gets a third at best. Maybe Smith and Lindgren @50 each could get us like, a 2 and 4.
 
The crop of UFA d-men is pretty bad this upcoming off-season. We have all chatted quite a bit on the higher end of the spectrum (Gavrikov, Provorov, Orlov) but what are people's thoughts on someone like Olli Maata? He's a smooth skating LD. He was originally drafted as a point producer but that never came to fruition. He's playing ~22 minutes a night in Utah this year as a 30 year old and has 8 points in 32 games. Health has been a concern for him in the past (his last 82 game season was when he was 23). Could he a decent mid-tier UFA signing to play up and down the lineup and compliment someone like Schneider or Fox?


I'm looking at the RD available in UFA and I really don't see an option anywhere close to as good as Borgen. If he will accept a mid-term reasonable contract, say $3.25-3.5m per season for 4-5 years, I'd probably lean towards keeping him. I have brought up the option of trying to trade him to a team who we know won't have the cap space to re-sign him in the off-season and work out an off-season trade for his UFA right back to sign him then before he hits UFA. So something like:

To EDM:
Will Borgen @ 50% + Jimmy Vesey

to NYR:
EDM 2nd '25 + 3rd '26 + 5th '26

And then in the off-season, trade them back that 5th '26 for his rights
Why do we need to get his rights if you think we are going to sign him. There's no way we do that to give him 8 years.
 
The Rangers need another smallish offensive D. The problem with Byram in Buffalo is opportunity. He wasn't happy in Colorado because Makar is there. He wants to be the guy. Buffalo has other guys in Rasmus and Power. You can make the an argument Power is marginalized on that team with Rasmus and Byram. Is Bowen happy in Buffalo? He are a contract coming too.

The Rangers need another smallish offensive D????????
Who the f*** is ever happy in Buffalo?
 

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