Speculation: Roster Building Thread XXXVIII - Dust in the wind…

[bhamill]

But our actual goals against is 127 which is good for 4th. So in 6 less games then last season, the team has given up 30 less goals. So again, our offense is the real issue where we are 16th with 151 scored. With better depth at forward making our 5v5 game more formidable, that number should go up while not hurting the defense.

Please. What are you going to believe? Fancy “expected” stats that say 25th or the real world goals given up which says 4th? I swear if fancy stats gurus suggested the world might be flat we’d have to be arguing it’s really round.

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

Rooney
Hunt
Reaves
McKegg

Is how those fellas stack up in terms of effectiveness as players.

Rooney should ideally be the 12th best forward out there, and Hunt the #13. But Reaves is always going to play so that's a non starter.

McKegg and Gauthier are the pieces to be replaced. Kakko coming back replaces one, A trade deadline forward like Lehkonen is another.

Lafreniere-Zibanejad-Kreider
Panarin-Strome-Lehkonen
Goodrow-Chytil-Kakko
Hunt-Rooney-Reaves

A healthy Kakko and Lehkonen is a huge upgrade over Gauthier and McKegg who simply are a big net negative on the roster. I'd take guys like Gettinger in here over them at this point.

This will be close to what happens with the FWDs

 

[SA16]

Shesterkin was here last year, Fox won a Norris last year, power play was good last year, what changed? Not much roster turnover. A new coach, Goodrow, Reaves, a new culture, which Reaves is a big part of and doesn’t show up on a chart.

Shesterkin had a .916 save percentage last year

shesterkin has a .939 save percentage this year

the difference between these two seasons is like the difference from a good goalie to the worst goalie in theeavue

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

I'm keeping some hope for some modern medicine/healing progression that is months ahead of the usual timeline for Blais.

And Human Growth Hormones

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

We need more grit in the top 6 in my opinion that has skill not Hunt or Gauthier types. Hopefully the powerplay is better in the playoffs although its been very good this season. Games are called tighter in the playoffs. Rangers can use an agitator that can move up and down the lineup that can cause the opposition to take penalties. Cedric Paquette would be a good choice but he is too injury prone. Maybe someone like Jarred McCann and Yanni Gourde

Rangers get Gourde, McCann, Donato
Krakken gets Lundkvist, Kravtsov, Chytil, Gauthier and 1st in 2022

I agree they need more grit in the top 6 and I agree about the power plays and tighter games in the playoffs and I get what @DanielBrassard is saying that they need to improve even strength scoring. I think revamping the third line will help out but at the same time the top 6 has to learn to go to the gritty spots in the playoffs too. The Rangers are like the Leafs, whereas they score the sexy goals and go for the sexy plays but can be shut down in tight games because their guys don’t do the dirty work. That’s where I think revamping the third line is vital. Chytil needs to go, Gauthier couldn’t score if he went to a Harvey Weinstein premiere. Let’s start there and see where it goes. About your trade idea I don’t think Seattle does it because they’re already bare.

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

I’d also like to include that the 4th line is also there to grind out teams’ defenders over a 7 game series. You have guys like Reaves out there taking the body every shift and it wears guys down in a series, makes them get nervous and possibly turn the puck over. That’s another reason why I think Hunt should be on the fourth line because at least he takes the body. Rooney is what he is. Don’t expect a lot on offense but he’s a decent pk guy on a great contract.

 

[TheGortonConspiracy]

I'm keeping some hope for some modern medicine/healing progression that is months ahead of the usual timeline for Blais.

Not an expert but coming back too early could be detrimental long term. See Ryan Kesler

 

[bobbop]

I’m not sure it’s been clearly stated that Lehkonen is not a rental. He’s an RFA after this season. He could certainly be qualified or traded. Have watched Montreal a few times recently and he looks pretty decent. Can move up and down the lineup. Feels like he could be a Blake Coleman/Barclay Goodrow type of addition. 2nd and a prospect makes sense. So might Kravtsov.

Also some extra value in adding another Finn to the room.

 

[Boris Zubov]

He had a few major surgeries to the hand. But he had a lot left in the tank largely evidenced by the damage he continued to do. He one punched Claude Boivin straight to the ice vs the Flyers. He put Al Stewart out of the lineup after he lumped him up. KO’d Mike Eagles. Cracked Canfield helmet. For a guy that had banged up hands he still threw for the fences.

Fighters used to hang on and just try not to get hit when they fought Kocur. Even Twist hung on against him.

Domi is def up there but he was a notch below Kocur. Graves was super tough but not in the same class as both Domi and Kocur. I’d put Langdon up there too.

Joey cracked Brashear's helmet as well. Brashear said that was the hardest anyone has ever hit him.

Worse when you realize Carpenter played just 28 games for the Rangers and was traded later in that same season.

But what a memorable 28 games they were. Carpenter had completely lost his scoring touch. At least Dionne was still a magician on the power play.

 

[MrPodz]

How about brendan dillon from the jets if they are going to sell? He could be had for 2 2nds (same deal as w washington) and would pair him with schneider.

 

[17futurecap]

If he isn't going to play him, no reason for him to be up.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

If he isn't going to play him, no reason for him to be up.

Wolf Pack don't play until Friday. Rangers play Thursday. There's really no point in sending him down.

 

[BBKers]

Wolf Pack don't play until Friday. Rangers play Thursday. There's really no point in sending him down.

duh cap space. $33,501,310 in TDL space (plus the option of putting Sammy Blais on LTIR adding even more) is not enough. Drury is gonna go bonkers

 

[Irishguy42]

Gotta maximize the amount of cap space he's not going to weaponize/use, amirite?

 

[RangerBoy]

Right you are. We took three roster players of a SCF team for Beck and it didn’t work out. Dave Maloney always points that out when the subject comes up, without calling out Beck by name.

I have heard Maloney say that. Mike McEwen, Lucien DeBlois and Pat Hickey were friends with all of those guys on the team. Especially McEwen and Hickey. Management traded them for Beck. They lost their buddies and management said Beck is the missing piece. I don't really remember those three players on the Rangers. I was very young but I remember some of my family members were annoyed at the trade.

The Islanders acquire McEwen from Colorado and he won Cups with them. That made it even worse.

Beck was a huge disappointment. The fanbase was annoyed at him. The players on the teams didn't hate him but the Rangers traded their buddies for him. Beck was supposed to the Rangers version of Potvin.

 

[RangerBoy]

How about brendan dillon from the jets if they are going to sell? He could be had for 2 2nds (same deal as w washington) and would pair him with schneider.

Dillion is signed for two more seasons at $3.9M. The Rangers can't afford him.

 

[RangerBoy]

I'm on board with this as long as the "possibly large add" isn't some 6 week rental of a pending UFA and more of 3-4 year solution at whatever position they're upgrading.

The Strome saga is what makes a lot of this even more interesting. Curious what ends up happening there. Can't see a situation, or hope not to, where they end up keeping him, not signing him, and losing him for nothing. He's a guy that I either have wrapped up for a few years before the trading deadline or I move him for some assets and risk pissing off my boss.

Where is Strome finding his golden parachute in free agency? None of the free agents have been re-signed by their teams. We would have seen a fair number of players re-signed during the season leading up to free agency in normal times. Nearly every team is in some cap restraints. You can count the teams with no cap concerns on one hand. Are those teams opening the vault for Strome?

Some teams have no space for next season and they need to dump salary. Some teams have room but they have their own players to re-sign this summer and next summer. The Stars want to keep Pavelski. They have to pay Robertson this summer and Hintz next summer. The cap will go up $1M per season. That's not enough. Boston has Bergeron and Pastrnak.

Teams know it a buyers market and they will conduct that business after the season is over. The cap will be tight for at least the next two seasons. Maybe more after The NHL and NHLPA access the financial damage caused by omicron.

 

[wafflepadsave]

Marek says he expects Copp to end up in Detroit this summer

That’s enough to make me drink.

 

[frozenrubber]

Joey cracked Brashear's helmet as well. Brashear said that was the hardest anyone has ever hit him.

Breaking helmets was his specialty:

One of McCarty’s first fights as a rookie for Detroit was with Kocur, then a Ranger, before they became teammates. “One of his punches cracked my helmet,” McCarty writes. “The momentum of his fist connecting with my head sent us both crashing to the ice. We were both tangled up, and we went down head first and we landed face-to-face.” Kocur asked if McCarty was okay. “Thanks for not killing me, Mr. Kocur,” McCarty said.

The question around the league is whether last year’s spectacular slugfest with Detroit thumper Joey Kocur will deter him. Kocur hit Kyte with a punch so hard that it broke Kyte’s helmet — and knocked him out.
But Kyte seems unaffected.
“You know, I’d been successful as far as altercations go until last year,” he said, smiling. “I had done quite well, and I always wondered when I was really going to get walloped. It played on my mind. You live by the sword, you die by the sword.”

While Kocur still was terrifying the league, Kocur's hands were so bad by the time on the Rangers, he could barely hold his stick:

Kocur’s loyalty to employers has earned him two big fans in New York. He was coveted by the Rangers’ general manager, Neil Smith, former director of scouting for the Red Wings, and by the Rangers’ assistant coach, Colin Campbell, a former assistant with Detroit. Both men knew that Kocur’s hands were a mess and that he was taking some bad penalties recently with his stick. Both still wanted him.
“Joey’s a strong individual,” Campbell said. “Not in appearance, but he’s hard and he can knock people. We want him to aggressively hit Washington’s mobile defensemen, guys like Rod Langway and Kevin Hatcher. Yeah, you could say we traded for his credit card. If his hands are hurting, they’re hurting as a result of what he does best. He hits harder than anybody in the history of the game.”

 

[17futurecap]

Brooks writing about Clutterbuck into Staple mentioning Clutterbuck and million year old Andy f***ing Greene

 

[duhmetreE]

Brooks writing about Clutterbuck into Staple mentioning Clutterbuck and million year old Andy f***ing Greene

In one aspect I agree with it... in that we need more vocal leadership.

If Clutterbuck is the right choice, that's a different issue... How many 4th liners will be amass?

 

[wafflepadsave]

Loved Kocur, Though Barry Beck was right up there, Hospidar was pretty good too

Linesmen used to jump in before Beck got loose because he would hurt guys. When he got a hand free, faces were bloody.

 

[wafflepadsave]

I’d gladly move Georgiev tomorrow. Only 3 back to backs left in regular season and the team isn’t going anywhere if Igor goes down. Monetize him while you can.

I would like to add Chytl to that thinking. His hockey sense is still zero.

 

[wafflepadsave]

Worse when you realize Carpenter played just 28 games for the Rangers and was traded later in that same season.

Esposito was a complete idiot!

 

[wafflepadsave]

Orland Kurtenbach was the best fighter of his era. Not just the Rangers, the whole league. His 1-1 with Ted Harris in Montreal on a Saturday night was classic. Nobody messed with Big Kurt.

I was too young but was he older? Don’t remember him by the early 70’s teams.