Should have happened a few years ago but we should be focused on developing the players we have instead of going out looking for older versions of them. The rebuild really didn't take at all really, we're still relying on players from other teams instead of making cheap stars ourselves. Said it when it happened that the rebuild was a waste the day Gorton got canned. Laf, Kakko, Schneider, Robertson, Chytil, should be the basis for a good team, they totally dropped that idea as soon as Drury was hired.
I mean, chytil developed thru the system. He’s just got a ginger ale skull. Cuylle came up thru the ranks too.
The main issue I have is deployment and usage…..
if you have a young talented kid that you just drafted, you have to play him in big minutes and special teams situations.
If you don’t, there’s just a myriad of things that can go wrong to hinder/stall their development and kill their confidence in themselves.
I get the argument that coaches want to win, and put the best player out there at the time usually a vet, but there are examples all over the league of teams that still win and are competitive while they’re young high end talent continues to develop…..
I’m not saying draft a guy and throw him out there automatically in top 6/all situations but if player is nhl ready with top 6 high end talent, he needs top 6 nhl minutes/pp time. You live with the rocky road/warts/learning curve for a year or year and a half but it has to happen.
It’s harder to win and be a top 5-8 team in the league in that model, but not impossible….
The kid line situation for more than 1 season sucked. It’s just not good business…..
Kakko should have been top 6 I. Line up 1.5-2 years after being drafted. Full stop. Laffy same. Both getting ample PP time.
You flank them both with capable vets to insulate them a bit.
You don’t just leave them on 3rd line forever getting 3rd line minutes and no significant pp opportunities.
They need game situations and big minutes to acclimate to the league. In any job, you learn and get better by doing it and getting experience…..
Even when 3rd line (kid line) was our best line on nights, their increase In playing time was minimal if at all, and still no 1PP opportunities.
That can’t happen…….
Go back, Quinn and his use of fast/blackwell was dumb. Gallant usage of kids not too good at all.
I thought we might have turned a corner when Lavi put Laf in top 6 and left him alone.
He played well and rose to the occasion. But it had some rocky times too.
My main beef with usage and deployment with NYR coaches is the time. They are on bench. 1st and 2nd lines aren’t always going to be hot every night( Laf/tro/bread year not withstanding)
After 15-20 min, you have a feel of what line has it and is clicking and what line doesn’t in any given night.
Yet logic goes out the window and the line playing well isn’t given an increase in time…
It’s baffling. It’s almost that they don’t want to have 3 lines that can play and score. It’s too much for the head coach to handle.
1st line gets their min
2nd gets theirs and 3rd gets 3rd line min no matter what.
Kakko was shoehorned their on 3rd line. He wanted to be traded for a while. He saw no opportunity to advance his career here offensively and was stuck there……
It’s stifling young talent and it needs to be fixed.
When Perrault comes up, if he’s on3rd line for more then a year or so adjustment period I’m going to lose my shit.