Roster Building Thread VI (2022-23): Offseason edition

[Oscar Lindberg]

Tarasenko going to the Canes is a kick in the balls not going to lie

I hate the Canes with a passion

 

[Avery16]

Hey, it’s going to be fine. I’m sure we’ll be able to compete with (checks roster) wait, Tyler Pitlick and 37-year-old Blake Wheeler??

To quote Trouba- is this for real?

 

[Profet]

The thing that gets exhausting is that he played mostly with players that either were members of the top 6 or are players that everyone here wants to be members of the top 6 this year. It's not like he was playing with Kevin Rooney and Ryan Hollweg. It's a weird thing to criticize who he played with and then want him AND the guys he played with to all be in the top 6. It's a paradox of an argument.

Most people point to pp usage and opportunities, although he has looked like a mess on the pp. If there is ANY truth to the report that they feel his skating is now such an issue that they asked him to evolve to a net front guy then that's the core of it all. They don't think he can play his game at this level so they are trying to change his game and it's made him a mess. The bottom line is the kid needs to do something and start being noticeable. That doesn't mean scoring every other shifts, but he needs to do something to actually impact games and be noticeable instead of just being there and laughing a lot.

Source for this?

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Source for this?

It comes from an unknown source who has no ties to hockey let alone the rangers and then was repeated by people who scour the internet to prove their inner thoughts right to someone other than themselves.

 

[egelband]

Sure but Zadina isn’t a crash the net guy, he’s a top 6 scorer who has never been given any real ice time with guys who can distribute, so the fact that he’s generating shots is because he’s trying to create on his own.

Sounds familiar

 

[egelband]

Another dman for cheap would have been nice.

I think they’re pretty ok now. They’ve got six plus Jones, Robertson, Emberson, and Harpur. Could probably add one more but it makes sense to leave that option open in case someone really good becomes available. I can understand leaving some dry powder right now.

 

[egelband]

I 100% believe Friedman’s grammar is that bad. That dude is multiple sandwiches short of a picnic.

 

[RangerBoy]

The Rangers have Chytil, Lafreniere and Kakko. Othmann and Cuylle will be on the team.. One or both players might play some games in the AHL. Barring something unforeseen, they will play for the Rangers. That's 5 players. The defense is still a young group. Fox. Lindgren. Miller. Schneider. Jones will be on the team. Hopefully, Laviolette won't play Gustafsson over Jones. Gustafsson had a very good season playing for Laviolette last season in Washington. Looking at the Rangers team, defense is the area which needs some help at the trade deadline. I like Jones but he is small. You need those big and rangy D for the playoffs. Hopefully Robertson gets a look. He fits the big body D mold. That's 5 more players with Jones. Housley should be able to get something out of Jones. Housley was one of the best offensive defenseman in the NHL. It was Leetch, Housley, MacInnis and Coffey. Igor is 27. That's 11. 22 players on the roster. 1/2 of the roster is made up young players. Trouba is 29. Trocheck is 29. More than half the team is under 30. The narrative is the Rangers are an old team. The Rangers needed a middle 6-9 forward and they had no money. Wheeler became available after the buyout. He hasn’t had many injuries in his career. His numbers are still good. Wheeler isn't the same play driver he was 5-6 years ago but he is better some of the players who have worn the Rangers sweater. Wheeler also brings much needed size on the wing. I would rather have Wheeler instead of Kane or Tarasenko. The same thing with Bonnino. He isn't the player from the Pittsburgh teams in 2016 and 2017. He can still fill a role for the Rangers at $800,000. Fourth line center. Win face-offs. PK. He can still play. It would have been nice to keep Halak but he didn’t want to take $825,000 plus $100,000 in bonuses. The Rangers swapped out an older goalie for another older goalie. I wonder where Halak is playing this season. If you look at each team, nearly every team has their goalie tandem under contract. Some teams like Pittsburgh have three goalies. The Rangers need 25 points from Quick's starts. It doesn’t matter who is the back-up goalie if something happens to Igor. The Rangers would still be screwed. Spicy pork is the 3rd goalie.

 

[Vitto79]

I think they’re pretty ok now. They’ve got six plus Jones, Robertson, Emberson, and Harpur. Could probably add one more but to leave that’s option open in case someone really good becomes available. I can understand leaving some dry powder right now.

Mackey and Holllwell have played nhl games
Scanlin seems descent
D is way better if Harpur is 8 and in the AHL in case of injury

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

Haven't seen Tarasenko to the Canes confirmed yet. Might be due to the holiday.

 

[haohmaru]

That’s fine, you’re allowed to disagree with the actual numbers that you supplied showing he plays fewer EV minutes than more than two lines worth of players…

That's fine, you're allowed to disagree with "actual numbers" that he's 2nd among wingers, in ice time, which is ahead of 3 lines of players, too...

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

I’ll gladly be proven wrong but I don’t see a scenario where Jones is playing over
Gustafsson unless he really blows the doors off

 

[haohmaru]

Hey, it’s going to be fine. I’m sure we’ll be able to compete with (checks roster) wait, Tyler Pitlick and 37-year-old Blake Wheeler??

To quote Trouba- is this for real?

Burns is 38...

 

[haohmaru]

I mean, can we get 10-20 games into the season before we declare Wheeler a 2nd liner who is a corpse on skates?

We have no idea who Laviolette will ice where. Will Lafreniere play RW? Will Kakko be on line 1? Will Wheeler be on line 2 or 3?

Same for Gustafsson. Same for Nash. Same for Bonino. Same for every other bargain bin signing.

If half of them work, great. If Cuylle and/or Othmann sends some of them to the waiver wire that's even better.

These are low risk, low cost, moves without NTC's/NMC's and these guys can be jettisoned immediately without consequence.

Let's see who gets what role and who makes the team before we jump off the burning ship

 

[mas0764]

Personally i think we're in a holding pattern because we need the kids to be major parts of this and we've wasted the last two years "going for it" instead, trading high picks and signing a long term deal to Trochek when we were already cash strapped already and we weren't ready to compete with the high end teams yet was short sighted.

Yup. It’s clear at this point we were never really ready to win it all. I’d sure like to have back all those picks we threw away.

We will compete when Laf, Kakko and Chytil are major parts of our forward group, no sooner.

Hopefully Panarin and Kreider haven’t declined too much by then.

 

[GENESISPuck94]

I mean, can we get 10-20 games into the season before we declare Wheeler a 2nd liner who is a corpse on skates?

We have no idea who Laviolette will ice where. Will Lafreniere play RW? Will Kakko be on line 1? Will Wheeler be on line 2 or 3?

Same for Gustafsson. Same for Nash. Same for Bonino. Same for every other bargain bin signing.

If half of them work, great. If Cuylle and/or Othmann sends some of them to the waiver wire that's even better.

These are low risk, low cost, moves without NTC's/NMC's and these guys can be jettisoned immediately without consequence.

Let's see who gets what role and who makes the team before we jump off the burning ship

I want to feel this way but it's fool me once shame on you... but fool me 20+ times...

20+ years (since the dark ages) of the Rangers prioritizing aging vets over drafted young forwards. I have a hard time believing it will suddenly change. But I'll be very pleasantly surprised if it does.

Even when a drafted young forward blossoms into what they want or start to, they get traded. Dubinsky + Anisimov for Nash, Callahan for St. Louis, Miller for literally nothing, Savard for Hlavac, Amonte for Noonan and Matteau (yay we got a goal out of it), Kovalev for Nedved and Tamer, Duclair for Yandle, Kravtsov for nothing, Doug Weight ... among others.

I really want to believe Wheeler is used as a role 3rd-4th liner while the kids are leaned on and allowed to grow in leadership roles. But, the past evidence suggests otherwise.

 

[RGY]

Just bring back Kane in November after some cap space is accrued. Then LTIR him

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

The thing that gets exhausting is that he played mostly with players that either were members of the top 6 or are players that everyone here wants to be members of the top 6 this year. It's not like he was playing with Kevin Rooney and Ryan Hollweg. It's a weird thing to criticize who he played with and then want him AND the guys he played with to all be in the top 6. It's a paradox of an argument.

Most people point to pp usage and opportunities, although he has looked like a mess on the pp. If there is ANY truth to the report that they feel his skating is now such an issue that they asked him to evolve to a net front guy then that's the core of it all. They don't think he can play his game at this level so they are trying to change his game and it's made him a mess. The bottom line is the kid needs to do something and start being noticeable. That doesn't mean scoring every other shifts, but he needs to do something to actually impact games and be noticeable instead of just being there and laughing a lot.

I’m not saying he didn’t get some time but he was demoted after two bad games with Panarin and Trocheck after he had 2 assists and a goal a few games before. Gallant said it was because those 3 were giving up too many chances per game together.

Not related but people also need to keep into account Kakko has suffered some injuries. Let’s hope not but if he were to go down again, Wheeler could then play in the top six even if they were to move Laf or Kreider over there. I really think he’s going to surprise alot of people.

 

[pld459666]

Carolina doesn’t scare me, like at all. Their goaltending is mid and they lack that high end guy to really put a dagger. I like vladi but he’s not putting them over the top or anything. They’re just a really deep team who will be a pain to eliminate.

Plus their D will take a hit when they move on from Pesce

 

[pld459666]

I mean, can we get 10-20 games into the season before we declare Wheeler a 2nd liner who is a corpse on skates?

We have no idea who Laviolette will ice where. Will Lafreniere play RW? Will Kakko be on line 1? Will Wheeler be on line 2 or 3?

Same for Gustafsson. Same for Nash. Same for Bonino. Same for every other bargain bin signing.

If half of them work, great. If Cuylle and/or Othmann sends some of them to the waiver wire that's even better.

These are low risk, low cost, moves without NTC's/NMC's and these guys can be jettisoned immediately without consequence.

Let's see who gets what role and who makes the team before we jump off the burning ship

Agreed. Wheeler was averaging 14 minutes a game last year and posted 40 ES points.

He can cut his production in half and STILL be worth the 1.1

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

If the Rangers keep intending on putting Laf at 3LW then they need to trade Goodrow’s cap hit (and Lafraniere) which gets you to about 6M and bring in an actual top 6 RW. It’s just what it is. A 1st OA pick should not still be a 3rd priority.

 

[NickyFotiu]

We have Norris and Vezina winners in their prime, an All-NHL superstar forward and a bonafide Top 15 #1 Center, and you want to tear it down?

Team has depth and winning players. Like a lot of teams, if things break right we can be a monster.

No offense but the top 15 center label made me laugh. I like Zibs so its not a slight on him. Just thinking saying top 15 first line center is like saying a little better than average when there are 32 teams. I understand though. There are alot of good centers.

 

[bhamill]

That's fine, you're allowed to disagree with "actual numbers" that he's 2nd among wingers, in ice time, which is ahead of 3 lines of players, too...

I dont disagree with that. I’ve said numerous times now that he’s not a third line talent. hahaha.
Enjoy your fourth, buddy!

 

[NickyFotiu]

If the Rangers keep intending on putting Laf at 3LW then they need to trade Goodrow’s cap hit (and Lafraniere) which gets you to about 6M and bring in an actual top 6 RW. It’s just what it is. A 1st OA pick should not still be a 3rd priority.

If our top 9 wings average 14-15 minutes even strength does it really matter which line fans label the third line? Laf played more even strength minutes than CK the #1 line guy.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

People need to stop obsessing with line numbers.

For the last time, ITS A TOP 9 NOW AND HAS BEEN FOR YEARS, NOT A TOP SIX AND A BOTTOM SIX.