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

[duhmetreE]

Ideally, I would like to get faster, but we're far from living in an ideal world with this salary cap.

I think we can still play a very good brand of hockey if we bothered to adapt to the fact that we're a bit slow. @duhmetreE has touched on this many times, especially in regards to our breakouts.

Yes, we lack speed, but it's compounded sevenfold by the fact that we keep playing like we have speed.

Amazing things happen when you play with pace and attack. It opens the ice up drastically.

That takes some form of coordination and teamwork. Moving with a purpose within a structure. Forcing the opposing defense to react and in turn, creating openings/opportunities. Mind blowing stuff.

Hopefully it’s something we can witness next season…. I truly have grown tired of our uninspired and dated hockey.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

They're just gonna keep rolling the same old kid line and Kreider-Zibanejad-whoever

We need a real 3rd line. The kids are just a poor man’s scoring line.

 

[Machinehead]

We need a real 3rd line. The kids are just a poor man’s scoring line.

A real 3rd line is just another line made up of top 9 players that excels at both scoring and driving play. They shouldn't be in a specialized role.

 

[TGWL]

One guy I want at some point either at the deadline if Wild is going in the wrong direction or UFA next summer is RW Ryan Hartman. He will be UFA at season ends. RW depth with skill nasty and forechecking ability, yes he is prone to take bad penalties but sometimes you have to deal with that with certain players and the way they play.

If they sign him in the offseason when he's a UFA, he'll turn 30 before he plays a game for us. I'm not sure that's a smart direction to go in, unless you can get a real short term deal.

 

[Machinehead]

The Hurricanes aren't important enough to make this a whole ADA thing so let's not make this a whole ADA thing.

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

2nd best. Our best line was actually Panarin-Trocheck-Vesey.

The issue with that line is if you give them enough time together, everyone will turn on Vesey because he isn't much of a finisher and he will beef his share of chances.

OTOH, If you look at the cup finalists, they both had an underwhelming option in their top 6 (Howden for Vegas, Cousins for FLA. Vesey is better than both.) If your other players are good enough, they can carry a sub optimal option and at least Vesey had dramatic positive impacts on the duo above.

Really, I like Kreider and Kakko as a duo with any of the centers. They'll do work.

OTOH, I don't really like the mix of the remaining bodies.

Panarin should be able to play with anyone tbh.. Needs to get back to that level

So with ADA back in Carolina are they no longer interested in karlsson?

 

[haohmaru]

Panarin should be able to play with anyone tbh.. Needs to get back to that level

So with ADA back in Carolina are they no longer interested in karlsson?

No. And neither are we.

 

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

No. And neither are we.

Well obviously lol

 

[EdJovanovski]

Oh great, the trap in 2023

 

[duhmetreE]

Oh great, the trap in 2023

Laviolette set the tone at his introductory press conference last month, where he praised the team for its talent before challenging them to dig deeper and up their "battle level." He stressed that hard work has to become a "habit," which Hartnell believes will start from the very first practice.

"They were hard practices," he recalled. "They're very competitive practices, too, where it's always two lines versus two lines, and defense is wearing the same color jerseys (as each line grouping). You're playing for lunch that day or you're playing for juice boy after practice where, the red team has to get the blue team's Gatorade. A lot of competitive stuff, which makes you compete in practice and makes you a better player in the game. It's a lot more fun when you're actually playing for something, rather than just going up and down the ice."

music to my ears

 

[Savant]

Oh great, the trap in 2023

It’s not even that. It’s that the Rangers have no where near the personnel to pull this off effectively

 

[effen]

I'm ready for a system of that isnt "skate backwards 100 feet until the top of the circles".

Rangers have been extremely easy to play against for a long, long time.

 

[Avery16]

I'm ready for a system of that isnt "skate backwards 100 feet until the top of the circles".

Rangers have been extremely easy to play against for a long, long time.

Or gain entry then post up and take low-quality, stationary pot-shots.

 

[IDvsEGO]

It’s not even that. It’s that the Rangers have no where near the personnel to pull this off effectively

Lets actually see it in action before we declare that. We haven't had a system since AV. We've got a huge amount of talented players on our team.

 

[Savant]

Lets actually see it in action before we declare that. We haven't had a system since AV. We've got a huge amount of talented players on our team.

Have you watched the Hurricanes other than when they’ve played the Rangers in the playoffs? All of the thinks the Rangers are weak at are hallmarks of that system

 

[MrAlmost]

The Rangers are more than capable of playing Lavi's system. Kreider, Trocheck, Z, Chytil, Bonino and Pitlick can all skate verry well. Despite not being fast per se, Kakko, Vesey, Goodrow and Wheeler have all proved to be effective forcheckers throughout their careers at this point. That leaves literally just 2 guys that might not be great forecheckers in Laf and Panarin. And even they have done it, but not consistently enough.

And this is without mentioning the D which are all fine skaters, whether it be Gus or Jones in the 6 spot they both can skate too.

Also, it says something like the left wing lock and not too dissimilar to what Carolina employs. It is not the trap. 2 aggressive forecheckers pressuring the puck carrier as they come up the ice is not how the trap works.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I'm ready for a system of that isnt "skate backwards 100 feet until the top of the circles".

Rangers have been extremely easy to play against for a long, long time.

Basically this.

We've had 3 iterations of coaches who basically rolled out the red carpet for the opponent in the NZ.

 

[IDvsEGO]

The Rangers are more than capable of playing Lavi's system. Kreider, Trocheck, Z, Chytil, Bonino and Pitlick can all skate verry well. Despite not being fast per se, Kakko, Vesey, Goodrow and Wheeler have all proved to be effective forcheckers throughout their careers at this point. That leaves literally just 2 guys that might not be great forecheckers in Laf and Panarin. And even they have done it, but not consistently enough.

And this is without mentioning the D which are all fine skaters, whether it be Gus or Jones in the 6 spot they both can skate too.

Also, it says something like the left wing lock and not too dissimilar to what Carolina employs. It is not the trap. 2 aggressive forecheckers pressuring the puck carrier as they come up the ice is not how the trap works.

Laf is a hard forechecker. And Panarin in 19-20 was fantastic on the forecheck.

 

[Machinehead]

Whether or not we have the personnel remains to be seen, but I'm actually pretty excited to hear about having a strict system.

 

[TGWL]

I wish the chemistry between Panarin and Zibby, existed, 5 on 5. It would solve a lot of problems to be able to put out your best players with a winger who could benefit from it. The Kreider + zibby + random winger is just like Panarin + Strome + random winger.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

Lets actually see it in action before we declare that. We haven't had a system since AV. We've got a huge amount of talented players on our team.

A good coach wont try to force a system that his players cant adapt to. However we have seen that time and again with the Rangers.

I think Lav has a set of players who can achieve something similar to a lock/trap, but as I stated a few pages back he may have to switch from the left to the right to maximize the effectiveness

 

[duhmetreE]

I'm ready for a system of that isnt "skate backwards 100 feet until the top of the circles".

Rangers have been extremely easy to play against for a long, long time.

I cant see why giving up space and not taking it hasn't worked.

any layman who has watched games with me, typically comments 'They just don't look good. The other team just looks much better'. It's been that blatant

 

[TGWL]

Here's a mind blowing fact for the fellas here: skating speed is overrated. You don't need to skate fast to play fast. The fastest teams in the league have plenty of players who are not that fast. But guess why they play fast? Because everyone knows where they need to be in a given time, thus they don't slow down. Right place at the right time, ability to make passes at speed. That's the key.

If you need fast skaters to become a fast team, you are doing it wrong. It's inefficient. You need to be on the move, instead of stop-start. Which is unfortunately how our team seems to do breakouts.

There's playing fast and there's also some explosiveness. We lack that. Whether these players move their feet or choose not to, the explosiveness isn't there. Laf's issue isn't his top speed. Same thing can be said for many of the other skaters on the team. The separation speed isn't there for a lot of the players regardless if they move their feet. I agree that a lot of fans just look at top speed and say "we need to get faster". Or when determining grit and just look at players who rack up the hits, when really a guy moving his feet, backchecking, won't get credit on the stat sheet for bumping players off the puck, but goes a lot further than some hit on a player after he moved the puck. Our players fall back way too far because we've already allowed them zone pressure and now the team is scrambling in their own zone. By the time the players get the puck, they have to skate nearly half the rink just to enter the o-zone, and they have to do that after receiving the puck flatfooted. So, yes, I agree they get caught standing still and don't play a very fast paced game. But I also think they lack the explosiveness to create any separation for themselves.

 

[duhmetreE]

P.S. I do not think we're playing the Left Wing Lock from the 90's and 2000's. Maybe some variation of it? With our designated Goodrow on each line?

I think McCarthy talks about the system and it'd be closer to Carolina's approach. Once losing possession, it requires relentless back pressure with 2-3 guys standing up in neutral zone. Also allows Shesty to handle the puck.

 

[Pawnee Rangers]

P.S. I do not think we're playing the Left Wing Lock from the 90's and 2000's. Maybe some variation of it? With our designated Goodrow on each line?

I think McCarthy talks about the system and it'd be closer to Carolina's approach. Once losing possession, it requires relentless back pressure with 2-3 guys standing up in neutral zone. Also allows Shesty to handle the puck.

The LW doesn't have to be the ghost of Jan Erixon in this system, just opportunistic. Read the play and pounce. In theory, every player on the ice should now have a defined role.