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

[Shesterkybomb]

Andersson, Krav, Howden became what they were always going to be. Not to mention, people bitch about Kakko and Laf not getting enough ice time but criticized the Rangers relentlessly for giving Howden too much and applauded his trade. The problem was in the scouting. You also complain about the busts, but never the hits. I’m hopeful that Drury has fixed the scouting and player evaluations, but need to see more. Their philosophy has clearly changed… hopefully for the better.

I never applauded that trade or the Baron one, and i was one of the few that understood Howden was still a good player who needed to get stronger, same Laf and Chytil, Kakko took a leap in that regard. The only guy we actually developed properly recently, Buch, we traded as soon as he got strong enough to play his game. Lias ended up having foot issues as well as the stuff with the organization, Kravtsov may have not been scouted for character enough but all the stuff that went on with him and Lias only happens in two different organizations, us and the Oilers, and we're the two organizations that are always having these issues.

 

[TGWL]

I'm saying we should have stayed away given his market value. I think at 2.5 he's still a luxury. But we couldn't have got him for 2.5 so we should have stayed away. 6 years and the NTC was just inexcusably dumb.

Any time he bumps up, he looks out of place. Its like saying Brendan Smith can play both sides. He could go out on RD but he plays even worse than he does at LD. That doesn't mean he can play both sides. It just means he's willing to and some dumb coach takes him up on it.

The market for us was getting tougher, no matter what. Whether that was more grit to play against or players Drury thought could toss their bodies around. That offseason was just Drury looking on his NHL console video game to see which players hit hard. He even thought Tinordi was going to have a place. The kicker was giving a player like Goodrow a contract clause.

 

[UnSandvich]

Boldy just scored 31 goals and had 63 points. Boldy is going to be a 40 goal scorer sooner rather than later. The idea that the Rangers wouldn’t trade Kakko for him is ridiculous. You don’t not trade for a game breaking offensive winger to keep a winger who produced at a much lower clip because he has “good underlying numbers.” Maybe Kakko gets to these point totals one day, but Boldy already has. Kakko for all his good points hasn’t shown that he’s more than a solid middle six winger yet. I also don’t see anything game breaking in Kakko’s game. Odds are he’s a very good support player.

There might be a leg to stand on if Kakko was a great defensive center, but no one is looking for a great defensive winger at the top of the draft.

In fairness, Kakko tied Boldy in points at Even Strength (both had 37 points) and actually outproduced him 5v5 (32 points to Boldy's 28). The difference in production was solely due to PP production

 

[LaffyTaffy13]

If lavi gets us to lets say 12th in the nhl at 5 on 5 play where do we finish in the metro? I think we take a huge leap at 5v5 this year under him.

 

[IDvsEGO]

If lavi gets us to lets say 12th in the nhl at 5 on 5 play where do we finish in the metro? I think we take a huge leap at 5v5 this year under him.

If we're in the top half at 5v5, and nothing else changes (shesty is still putting up a 2.1 GAA/.910+ SV%)
It would likely mean the kids are having a good year, it would mean we're controlling play.
I would say we would be in the top 2 in the metro.

 

[LOFIN]

Lol, KHL, SHL wouldn't even sign him. That's how bad he stunk. And Drury thought he was good enough for $2.5m x 3 with a partial NTC. What a joke.

Switzerland pays more than Sweden, and who the f*** would want to go to Russia at this point?

NLA -> KHL and SHL frankly.

 

[jacko23]

Laf doesn’t sleep. He waits. Like Chuck Norris but with elite hockey sense.

Chuck Norris doesnt have elite hockey sense. The puck just knows where Chuck wants it to be.

And he has an NHL award named after him for top defenseman. Not too shabby.

 

[Avery16]

Switzerland pays more than Sweden, and who the f*** would want to go to Russia at this point?

NLA -> KHL and SHL frankly.

I'm surprised Swiss League pays more than Sweden, but if your goal is to get back to the NHL and NHL salary rates I think you try to play in a more competitive league.

 

[UnSandvich]

If lavi gets us to lets say 12th in the nhl at 5 on 5 play where do we finish in the metro? I think we take a huge leap at 5v5 this year under him.

3rd in Metro, but well clear of Wild Card. I could see 2nd, but it really depends how badly the Devils & Hurricanes goaltending hurts them, b/c the rest of their rosters are significantly ahead of ours.

 

[duhmetreE]

If lavi gets us to lets say 12th in the nhl at 5 on 5 play where do we finish in the metro? I think we take a huge leap at 5v5 this year under him.

atop of the conference and probably the league.

Can we also add 'understanding 3v3 OT'? because that obviously wasn't coached and there was never a plan.

There's a lot of PTS that can be added to the foundation of the team imo

 

[haohmaru]

Boldy just scored 31 goals and had 63 points. Boldy is going to be a 40 goal scorer sooner rather than later. The idea that the Rangers wouldn’t trade Kakko for him is ridiculous. You don’t not trade for a game breaking offensive winger to keep a winger who produced at a much lower clip because he has “good underlying numbers.” Maybe Kakko gets to these point totals one day, but Boldy already has. Kakko for all his good points hasn’t shown that he’s more than a solid middle six winger yet. I also don’t see anything game breaking in Kakko’s game. Odds are he’s a very good support player.

There might be a leg to stand on if Kakko was a great defensive center, but no one is looking for a great defensive winger at the top of the draft.

Like another poster said, their EV production is essentially identical and Kakko is a possession monster on the puck. If that's a trade you would make then good for you. I wouldn't. We don't know what Kakko is yet and he'll get 1st line minutes this year.

Boldy had 26 points on the power play.

There's nothing "ridiculous" about wanting to keep Kakko over Boldy. I think, long term, he'll be the better career player.

 

[IDvsEGO]

Like another poster said, their EV production is essentially identical and Kakko is a possession monster on the puck. If that's a trade you would make then good for you. I wouldn't. We don't know what Kakko is yet and he'll get 1st line minutes this year.

Boldy had 26 points on the power play.

There's nothing "ridiculous" about wanting to keep Kakko over Boldy. I think, long term, he'll be the better career player.

some people don't actually believe theres anything different about scoring at 5v5 vs the powerplay.

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

You guys are sitting here talking about what could have been with our draft picks and I’m sitting here crying myself to sleep sometimes thinking about the 2004 and 2005 drafts and if the ping pong balls went our way we would have had Ovechkin Crosby and Lundqvist on the same team. But nope, the hockey gods gave us Cocko and Laugh. We’re the Cubs of hockey.

 

[Alluckks]

3rd in Metro, but well clear of Wild Card. I could see 2nd, but it really depends how badly the Devils & Hurricanes goaltending hurts them, b/c the rest of their rosters are significantly ahead of ours.

They are both teams built to do really well in the regular season. Hurricanes have obviously been doing it longer so have been able to do more tinkering to be better set up for the postseason as well.

Rangers are this awkward in between and we hope a new system can fix some things.

 

[egelband]

Bank Security Guard?

that would entail protecting stuff, so...

 

[Barnaby]

In fairness, Kakko tied Boldy in points at Even Strength (both had 37 points) and actually outproduced him 5v5 (32 points to Boldy's 28). The difference in production was solely due to PP production

... but people realize being a good PP player is an asset.

A lot of people talk about EV strength and automatically assume Kakko/Lafreniere would crush it on the PP. Would their numbers be higher? For sure, but to this point they've done nothing on the PP. Have they gotten force fed PP1 time? No, but that doesn't mean they haven't had any opportunities either.

 

[IronBloodedLion]

... but people realize being a good PP player is an asset.

A lot of people talk about EV strength and automatically assume Kakko/Lafreniere would crush it on the PP. Would their numbers be higher? For sure, but to this point they've done nothing on the PP. Have they gotten force fed PP1 time? No, but that doesn't mean they haven't had any opportunities either.

Those teams have allowed their young players to actually learn how to play on an NHL Power Play unit though.

I think Kakko and Laf have to help themselves too, but there is a point where the organization isn’t exactly helping them either, and I think Drury knew that.

 

[UnSandvich]

... but people realize being a good PP player is an asset.

A lot of people talk about EV strength and automatically assume Kakko/Lafreniere would crush it on the PP. Would their numbers be higher? For sure, but to this point they've done nothing on the PP. Have they gotten force fed PP1 time? No, but that doesn't mean they haven't had any opportunities either.

They've not done much on the PP, but nobody on PP2 has. Trouba actively drags the unit down even further than their poor deployment already had them

 

[Leonardo87]

Those teams have allowed their young players to actually learn how to play on an NHL Power Play unit though.

I think Kakko and Laf have to help themselves too, but there is a point where the organization isn’t exactly helping them either, and I think Drury knew that.

When Drury brings in players like Kane and Tarasenko, it’s clear how much confidence he has in Kakko and Laf. That actually pushed Kakko off both PP units.

 

[Fitzy]

When Drury brings in players like Kane and Tarasenko, it’s clear how much confidence he has in Kakko and Laf. That actually pushed Kakko off both PP units.

Not sure that’s what it meant. Seemed more to me like he wanted to make a stacked roster with depth. Tara didn’t even start on PP1 and Kane was a last minute grab

 

[Machinehead]

... but people realize being a good PP player is an asset.

A lot of people talk about EV strength and automatically assume Kakko/Lafreniere would crush it on the PP. Would their numbers be higher? For sure, but to this point they've done nothing on the PP. Have they gotten force fed PP1 time? No, but that doesn't mean they haven't had any opportunities either.

Kakko was good on the powerplay the one year he got some steady time - his rookie year when we were still really bad.

Even now, his metrics rate him as above replacement level (not saying that much, but sure) on the powerplay in his limited time. Lafreniere is well below replacement level.

Kakko has 19 points on the powerplay. Lafreniere has 6.

Lafreniere has inexplicably played 81 more minutes on the powerplay since they're both in the league, an almost 50% increase on Kakko's minutes. Kakko has still outscored him.

I'm once again arriving at the church of "Kakko hasn't been given every chance, Lafreniere just sucks."

 

[nsvoyageurs]

Since the Rangers got Max Scherzer, what line would he best be used? Skating may not not be great, but he might be a fit with Vesey and Wheeler. LOL

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

Rangers came in 11th place in the league in the Athletics contract efficiency ranking

NHL contract efficiency, 2023 edition: Which teams spend their money most wisely?

Here’s how each NHL team stacks up with regard to the efficiency of all the skater contracts they currently have signed.

theathletic.com

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Kakko inexplicably got taken off of PP1 in his rookie season. It was the one area where he was productive that season.

The PP went cold in December, Quinn swapped Kakko for Strome and then Mika went on an all time heater. Strome stayed on the unit afterwards until he was gone.

 

[bhamill]

They've not done much on the PP, but nobody on PP2 has. Trouba actively drags the unit down even further than their poor deployment already had them

PP2 generally gets 30 seconds to get zone entry, set up and score. Boldy wouldn’t be scoring on our PP2 either.