. Rangers need to find the next young Derek Stepan Dom Moore natural center depth that can help this team.
Edstrom is a center but will he play center on the Rangers? Rempe has played some center as well. They should work on his faceoffs. Rangers really need to stop drafting centers just to make them as wingers in the pro. This really makes no sense to me. I can see McConnell-Barker and Roobroeck if they nake it, play wing in the pro just because they were drafted as a center
I'm not going to argue semantics, but referenced "signing" first then said acquisition so as not to repeat the word signing. I thought it was obvious what I meant.
What defense was he going to spend big money on? The options for that were very small. All you need to do is look at the timeline of the smith trade (after all big names are off the board on the afternoon of ufa opening as opposed to at the draft like everything else), read about even the mid tier names they tried to sign and missed out on, and then see that they decided to trade for smith.
Ok I'm not going to argue over things we don't know but if you have only two scenarios: 1) Spend combined $11m (Trouba's $8 minus $2 retained plus $5 from potential new Lindgren deal) on 1LD / 3RD vs 2) spend this on improvement at forward - which one is more reasonable based on how they finished last season and the existing roster?
Yes, what you originally said that Carrick was the only addition to this team which I said wasn't the case. Who exactly were they going to sign that was so much better than Smith and a better fit? Lindholm 7yrs/54 million? Debrusk 7yrs/39 million? 34yo Stamkos 4yrs/32 million? 32yo Tyler Toffoli 4yrs/24 million? Jake Guentzel 7yrs/63 million? Even if they traded Trouba they would still have to replace him and they need all the cap space they can get next year to sign Miller, Laf, and Igor?
And I will continue to go back to what I have said for over a month which is show me a number one Lefty that was actually available to the rangers that they could afford to sign as a UFA since they don't have the trade assets to go out and acquire one. Nobody has been able to actually suggest a real Target that was actually available to them so this entire dreaming about a number one left hand Dave falling in their lap that they would force onto a pairing with Fox continues to mean nothing more than just a thing made up by the fan base.
So the answer is yes, there were better options to sign than Smith. The organization doesn't any very many trade assets to use at the deadline anymore and they put themselves in a situation where they need to take advantage of free agency. Do you really think that the team was trying to unload trouba prior to free agency during that weekend because they weren't targeting players to sign? I'm not trying to be rude but use your head, the team wouldn't have been trying to get the trade done that weekend before the no trade list was due if they weren't trying to free up the space to be able to get involved in the big bidding wars. That's exactly why this whole thing blew up in their face and by them going to trouba early about the list because they were actively trying to move him it let let him and his agent figure out how to craft the list to basically obstruct any trades. This isn't checkers, it's chess...
I'm not arguing with you that they may have signed somebody else if they traded Trouba but again, taking a look at the FA's that I listed and the money and term they eventually got I'm asking who was a realistic target and would it have been a good signing. I listed several names that got big contracts but that weren't necessarily a fit. Sometimes the best signings/trades are the ones you don't make, especially with the money needed next year. They will need every dollar.
Competition and depth is good, and honestly, if a young guy can’t beat Carrick out for a spot then that young guy needs to keep working down in the AHL.
Last year as a group our centers improved in the draw % wins with Peca coming on board. No reason to believe Carrick won’t do the same.
They were publicly linked to a number of forwards and it's clear they were trying to get the space early to trade for rights. You can do the math.
Depends on the UFA and the contract in my mindset.
Not only did good players get paid but so-so players got paid too. I'm seriously fine with them passing on some of those contracts given who was available. The only player that I would have been interested in was Guentzel but 9mil for 7 years is pretty insane. Smith was a good addition and fit their timeline. They don't have a lot of picks but Drury has held on to all his prospects and they have plenty of prospects to backfill the roster.
Bottom 6 prospects get you what back in trades? Nothing.
I'm not worried about the so so players, and they weren't looking for a so so players if they u loaded trouba. Guentzel's contract is nuts mainly bc of his current age and where the term takes him. Prior to that deal it is well deported that he would have done a lesser deal but the bolts dealt for him and gave him a no brainer contract. You can't look at what happened and assume everything plays out the same if trouba was dealt bc guntzel possibly never makes it to Tampa.
Bottom six prospects can get you mid round picks or bottom pair D prospects. We’ve been doing pretty well with mid round picks. Which are not nothing. Guys like BMB and Roobroeck could end up middle sixers or bottom sixers. Our top six in two years will be Laf, Troch, Zibs, Kreids , Gabe and probably ONE of Kakko, Cuylle, Otter or Berard. It’s not wild to think one of them could end up a second liner. Whether you like it or not, they could all have that ceiling. Or maybe we sign a 2nd line UFA. Regardless I don’t see them being in a spiral, this team has a nice piece of a long term core. You’re free to be more pessimistic. Time will tell.
And I will say it again. They also had a 114 point season with Chytil missing 70 games, Kakko missing 2 months and not having a good year, no real 1RW, Wheeler/Bonino/Pitlick sucking ass. A team that has a 45-50 point Smith, a healthy Chytil and Kakko plus guys like Berard/Othmann/Edstrom/Rempe battling for spots could give this team a real good bottom 6 to go along with the top 6 scorers. Trocheck had like 10 points more than his normal year, Laf should continue to grow as a player. I see this roster as better than the one that began last year. The defense is a question mark but this is easily a playoff team and one of the top teams in the east.
Don’t forget that Zibanejad coming back to norm from last season should offset production reduction from Panarin.
They also had a stretch of play lasting nearly 2 months, ranked the 22nd team in win percentage during the second week of Dec - end of Jan. You can look at it both ways.
