Speculation: Roster Building Thread VII (2019/2020)

[Shesterkybomb]

He played 75 nhl games last year. He was penciled in as the 2C. He obviously didn’t impress in a very small sample size but he went down there and was Hartford best player. He didn’t go down there and mope like Andersson did last year or Kravtsov has done. That should have gotten him back up here when we clearly don’t have a 2C option.

I’ve said it a ton of times but 20 year old centermen all need to learn to defend well. Not many are as gifted as he is. You live with the growing pains. He imo earned a call back up. And should be given that shot over Howden.

I think they wanna season him a bit so they dont make a rash decision they will have to go back on later, ie sending him back down. I feel he will be here before November for good.

 

[haohmaru]

I agreed with that. Andersson was a much better option as a 4C than Chytil was. So I agreed with that move. However with Namestnikov traded and Strome struggling AND Chytil going down to Hartford and playing extremely well, this would be a good time to reward that effort.

I think Andersson, if all goes as well as could be expected, should be a 3C for the Rangers for the next 5-10 year assuming he's ever given an opportunity in that role.

I don't know, I think you've got to give guys/lines more than 2-3 games before throwing more shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. I think Chytil is far better served playing huge minutes as a 1C in a tier below the NHL level than throwing him to the wolves here for a role he's not ready for. Let the soup simmer a little longer. There's no rush.

 

[Levitate]

He played 75 nhl games last year. He was penciled in as the 2C. He obviously didn’t impress in a very small sample size but he went down there and was Hartford best player. He didn’t go down there and mope like Andersson did last year or Kravtsov has done. That should have gotten him back up here when we clearly don’t have a 2C option.

I’ve said it a ton of times but 20 year old centermen all need to learn to defend well. Not many are as gifted as he is. You live with the growing pains. He imo earned a call back up. And should be given that shot over Howden.

It's been 5 AHL games and 3 NHL games, that's not enough time for anyone to "earn a callup" or "lose their spot"

If Chytil keeps tearing it up I expect he'll be back by the end of the month or early November, since I dont' think anyone else on this roster is gonna do jack in that 2C spot, but considering the small amount of hockey played in general so far I don't think the coaches are going to make any major moves.

e: I also think it's better for him to spend some time down there putting up points and playing big minutes so when he's called up he can hopefully step in with some confidence

 

[MrAlmost]

I didn't watch the game between hartford and Rochester but I did listen and I was impressed with Tage Thompson. He seemed to always be around the puck and involved in a positive way. He would be a good add to the bottom 6 I think. I doubt we make a move like that but whatever. Chytil and DiGiuseppe were the best forwards on Hartford.

 

[SA16]

The Rangers lack of a 2C and Chytil being in the AHL are completely independent of each other. They sent him down to get big minutes against lesser competition and to work on his game. Just because Strome isn’t working out doesn’t mean they will abandon their plan on what’s is best for Chytil.

 

[aufheben]

Everyone is always talking about putting Andersson or Chytil at 2C, why not Howden? He's the highest option on the deptch chart besides [at the moment] Strome.

Edit: Whelp, there it is.

Early looks at practice have Smith-Strome-Fast and McKegg-Lias-Haley as lines. Howden bumped up between Kakko-Kreider and Lemieux potentially may still be sick.

I like Howden. Hopefully this goes beyond practice.

 

[Kocur Dill]

Quinn giving Howden a long leash isn't exactly something new. Howden was pretty awful at times last year and still got fed minutes.

To be fair, so was Pionk and we were able to provide a solid enough scouting opportunity for one GM out of them all to cough up a very nice return on that investment.

We are still in the process.

We know Howden can be a "safe" player, but we need to identify "gamers", safe players are adime-a-dozen. If Howden can't be a gamer then better to identify that early and move on by means of pump-n-dump. Get back another kick at the can pick for down the road depth, or package for a young star if one pops up on the market.

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[Cag29]

With the current roster at forward the bottom 6 is gonna be pretty mediocre no matter how you assemble them. It's basically 4 4th line level players and two wildcards (Strome and Andersson) filling it out.

The important thing is to find the right guy for the 2nd line to give us two functional scoring lines with chemistry.

I also don't think Quinn is tanking. If NYR really, really struggle this season, I think he loses his job. NYR may not have gone into this season thinking playoffs right away, but it's a big warning sign if we finish bottom 7 again.

It would also give us another top prospect.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

To be fair, so was Pionk and we were able to provide a solid enough scouting opportunity for one GM out of them all to cough up a very nice return on that investment.

We are still in the process.

We know Howden can be a "safe" player, but we need to identify "gamers", safe players are adime-a-dozen. If Howden can't be a gamer then better to identify that early and move on by means of pump-n-dump. Get back another kick at the can pick for down the road depth, or package for a young star if one pops up on the market.

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Winnipeg is very happy with Pionk.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

I have no problem giving Howden some time with better players. Sometimes certain players are better in a position where they arent the best player on the line. I look at a guy like Richard's, he was good but he was best when he had someone who thought the game like him with him and he could head man the puck to them(I'm not saying Howden is Richards btw). Its worth exploring atleast.

 

[MrPodz]

The only way howden does well is if he plays off them, meaning passing to kreider for breakputs our kakko for a shot or a drive to the net. If howden can hit their tape and establish some kind of ozone pressure, 2c is solved until chytil comes in. If howden plays terribly defensively, then we will we probably see lias tried there. Ridiculous that he hasnt at least gotten the 3c spot

 

[Avery16]

Winnipeg is very happy with Pionk.

5 points in 8 GP, has been physical, played top minutes. Ok- we won the trade, but I don’t know how much of a fleecing it was.

 

[egelband]

Winnipeg is very happy with Pionk.

Yep. He's a guy who showed flashes with the Rangers and - lo and behold - gets more consistent and probably ends up as a solid second pairing RD. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[NernieBichols]

Worst thing possible would be to yo-yo chytil
Some of youse are just impatient.
I say thanksgiving is the earliest I’d consider it. Ideally I want chytil playing 30-40 games down there and never having to go back down.

Howdens been the 2nd best center on the team. Guy just is always skating and on top of the play or at least of the mind to be.

Stromes bread and butter is as a 3rd line guy who becomes a matchup advantage.
Andersson tries but can’t stay with the flow or pacing of top 6 shifts. He’s kinda like a bull in a china shop. Attacks everything with moxie and force but if your asking him to play a poised postiinally sound center ice while facilitating the puck for NHL level puck movement on the top 6 league and like carp said on a recent podcast, he’s not even on the radar yet. Let andersson take howdens spot on the 3rd line and keep moving up that way.
Bread-mika-buch
Kreids-howden-kakko
Lemeuix-andersson-strome
Mckegg/Haley-Bboyle-fast

If still this 2nd line can’t get going, I’m switching bread and Kreider before switching kakko/buch.

Don’t think kakko is at all ready to go up against top lines

 

[NernieBichols]

Winnipeg is very happy with Pionk.

Don’t know if it’s the goalie or the defense. But Winnipeg is losing a lot of games giving up 3+ goals a game.

And pionk is once again playing up in the lineup bc of current lack of RD depth on the team.

Pionk was never as bad as posters on here made him out to be. And regardless of his stats/advanced stats, ADA wasn’t as good last season as people began to make him out the longer the summer went on

 

[Leetch3]

Yep. He's a guy who showed flashes with the Rangers and - lo and behold - gets more consistent and probably ends up as a solid second pairing RD. Nothing wrong with that.

Look at this guy implying a kid can get better over time what a silly idea

 

[NernieBichols]

To be fair, so was Pionk and we were able to provide a solid enough scouting opportunity for one GM out of them all to cough up a very nice return on that investment.

We are still in the process.

We know Howden can be a "safe" player, but we need to identify "gamers", safe players are adime-a-dozen. If Howden can't be a gamer then better to identify that early and move on by means of pump-n-dump. Get back another kick at the can pick for down the road depth, or package for a young star if one pops up on the market.

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Are you kidding? Howden is such a gamer. That’s why Quinn sticks with him

What are you pinpointing or zeroing in or more like harping on with howden, that you miss what he actually is.

I don’t know if your one of them. But so many fans with chytil colored glasses man. Chytils shown he has no instincts or natural makeup of an NHL center. He sees the center position so poorly. It’s amazing. The kid has been completely lost in 140 feet of the rink.

Leave him down there until your able to just watch a Hartford game and say (not only
Is he skating hard, and dominating skill wise in the A), but that you see him anticipating plays before they happen, you see him gravitating to the right spots in the neutral and D zone that allow him to break up a play or take the puck and then either calmly carry the puck or make a quality lead pass that shifts the rink.

That’s what we’re waiting on with chytil. For him to get so used to the center position that he can anticipate and be ahead of the play instead of 2-3 steps behind it.

 

[nyr__1994]

Are you kidding? Howden is such a gamer. That’s why Quinn sticks with him

What are you pinpointing or zeroing in or more like harping on with howden, that you miss what he actually is.

I don’t know if your one of them. But so many fans with chytil colored glasses man. Chytils shown he has no instincts or natural makeup of an NHL center. He sees the center position so poorly. It’s amazing. The kid has been completely lost in 140 feet of the rink.

Leave him down there until your able to just watch a Hartford game and say (not only
Is he skating hard, and dominating skill wise in the A), but that you see him anticipating plays before they happen, you see him gravitating to the right spots in the neutral and D zone that allow him to break up a play or take the puck and then either calmly carry the puck or make a quality lead pass that shifts the rink.

That’s what we’re waiting on with chytil. For him to get so used to the center position that he can anticipate and be ahead of the play instead of 2-3 steps behind it.

I can't like this post enough. Does Chytil have the skill to play in the NHL right now? Absolutely, but he needs to work on playing hockey and reading the game. The best way to be able to do that is with confidence in the AHL while keeping his skills sharp.

 

[Vitto79]

I can't like this post enough. Does Chytil have the skill to play in the NHL right now? Absolutely, but he needs to work on playing hockey and reading the game. The best way to be able to do that is with confidence in the AHL while keeping his skills sharp.

I agree let Chytil dominate for a long stretch in the AHL then come up super confident as a C

Everyone’s just flipping cause Smith is a Dman playing F.

we should be ok w Howden getting a shot on the 2nd line . I think the confusion is that most also think Andersson should be bumped up too

Can’t McKegg hold down 4th line C w Strome as a 3rd line RW instead

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

Pionk, Shattenkirk, Namestnikov


Maybe if we had those guys we'd have more than two wins...


Jimmy Vesey is scoreless in 6 games. Yikes

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

It's pretty obvious that the answer to our 2C problem is Erik Christensen

 

[Edge]

5 points in 8 GP, has been physical, played top minutes. Ok- we won the trade, but I don’t know how much of a fleecing it was.

Too early to tell.

Putting up a lot of points in a reasonable amount of time isn't necessarily uncharted territory for Pionk --- he was on a 50 point pace well into last season as well.

The challenge comes when teams adjust, and the offense isn't coming. That's when you start to separate the guys you can consistently count on, from the guys who take on more of a specialist role.

Having said that, I think Pionk is a guy who could have a long NHL career as a player who ideally slots into the third pairing, occasionally the second, and probably plays for several teams.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

5 points in 8 GP, has been physical, played top minutes. Ok- we won the trade, but I don’t know how much of a fleecing it was.

he started off hot here too. both after initial call up and to start last season.

let’s see how they feel about him in a month.

 

[Gardner McKay]

5 points in 8 GP, has been physical, played top minutes. Ok- we won the trade, but I don’t know how much of a fleecing it was.

It was a fleecing.

There shouldn't be a surprise that Pionk is putting up points. I don't think anyone doubted his offensive talent. Also, I think Pionk is getting top minutes by default, not because he is their best option. When you give a guy as offensively talented as Pionk that many minutes, he is going to put up points. The question becomes is how bad is he sacrificing defensive play in order to put up those numbers.

Based on his track record here, I'm guessing there is still a ton left to be desired on the defensive side of hockey.

 

[tomobson]

Don't really like the idea of forcing Howden into the 2c role this early. I know that the 2nd line is struggling but it's only been 3 games. Howden got destroyed last season in all zones. Let him build some confidence and experience in the bottom six for more than 3 games please.