Brooklyn Rangers Fan
Change is good.
Certain (vocal)
elements of this board are not going to like this, but last night's game against the defending champions cast some ugly truths in high relief:
1) Hank, for all his statistical performance this season, including advanced stats (which for a goalie aren't really all that advanced), has declined a notch. No doubt he's still an NHL-level starter, and perhaps even in the top half of starters league wide... but my eyes tell me he's dropped markedly over the last 12 months and is not the top 1-3 difference maker he once was.
This is why the team is going with the current 3-goalie system. Hank isn't likely to be the starter next year, and definitely won't be during the upward swing we hope to see in seasons to come. Time to figure out who will be the #1 guy and begin the transition.
2) There's a reason a regular feature of Carpiniello's game day columns in the Athletic is the "Good Tony/Bad Tony" segment. Two nights after ADA's record-setting performance, he was gawdawful in St. Louis, and IMO the single greatest reason the team lost.
For all his wizardry with the puck, and for all that I think he's improved his neutral zone play, (and for all that he appears to have matured somewhat) he still remains a liability on D, particularly once the other team has gained the blue line – both against the rush and the cycle. I have my doubts he will ever be a top-4 guy defensively, and while his offensive play means that's something that a team can live with if the rest of the core includes 3-4 big-bodied defensive stalwarts, that's not what the Rangers have – and nor are they likely to have any time soon, not without significant changes to their current mix of D throughout the org.
This is why, IMO, despite his age and his eye-popping numbers, Tony's name remains out there as someone who might be in play... for the right return. Because at the end of the day, it comes down to the question of "do you make multiple moves to allow Tony 's game to play on this squad? Or, given the presence of Trouba and Fox, and with Lundkvist and Jones and other offensively capable D already in the system, do you flip him to a team with a D-corps that's mostly rugged, defense-first types in exchange for help elsewhere?" The answer isn't as easy/obvious as some make it out to be.
1) Hank, for all his statistical performance this season, including advanced stats (which for a goalie aren't really all that advanced), has declined a notch. No doubt he's still an NHL-level starter, and perhaps even in the top half of starters league wide... but my eyes tell me he's dropped markedly over the last 12 months and is not the top 1-3 difference maker he once was.
This is why the team is going with the current 3-goalie system. Hank isn't likely to be the starter next year, and definitely won't be during the upward swing we hope to see in seasons to come. Time to figure out who will be the #1 guy and begin the transition.
2) There's a reason a regular feature of Carpiniello's game day columns in the Athletic is the "Good Tony/Bad Tony" segment. Two nights after ADA's record-setting performance, he was gawdawful in St. Louis, and IMO the single greatest reason the team lost.
For all his wizardry with the puck, and for all that I think he's improved his neutral zone play, (and for all that he appears to have matured somewhat) he still remains a liability on D, particularly once the other team has gained the blue line – both against the rush and the cycle. I have my doubts he will ever be a top-4 guy defensively, and while his offensive play means that's something that a team can live with if the rest of the core includes 3-4 big-bodied defensive stalwarts, that's not what the Rangers have – and nor are they likely to have any time soon, not without significant changes to their current mix of D throughout the org.
This is why, IMO, despite his age and his eye-popping numbers, Tony's name remains out there as someone who might be in play... for the right return. Because at the end of the day, it comes down to the question of "do you make multiple moves to allow Tony 's game to play on this squad? Or, given the presence of Trouba and Fox, and with Lundkvist and Jones and other offensively capable D already in the system, do you flip him to a team with a D-corps that's mostly rugged, defense-first types in exchange for help elsewhere?" The answer isn't as easy/obvious as some make it out to be.
Last edited: