Player Discussion Sammy Blais

[LoveGoons]

It is shame what happen to Bias and no one really stood up for him after that cheap shot.. his knee got really F up and it will take a full season to get back to normal.. he was to be the shame of player as goodrow with alittle more upside..tough, mean, skilled and a better skater..

 

[xsniper11x]

Not sign Goodrow, Reaves, and Nemeth and find decent bottom 6 players are at or near the league minimum as was done with Vesey?

And two of those players are no longer on the team and Goodrow is target #1 to move for cap issues. So how did replacing all of them with Buch solve any of those cap problems? Never mind giving Buch trade protection and $6mm for no top PP time?

I still don’t see a scenario that worked except for self renting him at last year’s deadline. I understand if some would’ve preferred that, but I think it’s pretty clear it would’ve led to worse results than last year’s run (unless you honestly think Buch puts us over the Avs).

 

[NickyFotiu]

Not sign Goodrow, Reaves, and Nemeth and find decent bottom 6 players are at or near the league minimum as was done with Vesey?

Reeves and Nemeth are not here and we will still have a dificult time re-signing our guys even without Buchs contract.

 

[markymarc1215]

This trade is on par with the McD/JT Miller, Zubov/Nedved, Ridley/Miller, Leetch, and Ferraro/Nordstrom/Laperriere/Lafayette trades as the worst in recent history. Buch may become a 90-100 point player. In return, we have a player who has put up less goals than......well.......every single player in Rangers history that has played as many games as Sammy Blais has played with us. And there are some head turning names on that list!

 

[n8]

Not sign Goodrow, Reaves, and Nemeth and find decent bottom 6 players are at or near the league minimum as was done with Vesey?

Not give every FA signing no-trade clause either.

If we did not get Goodrow, Reaves, and Nemeth...
Buch obviously slots in over Goodrow.
Khaira or Chiasson could have been signed in place of Reaves.
on D that year, Jordie Benn, Yandle, Schenn, Erik Gustafsson.

Agree, we had options but the org had their Tom Wilson blinders on. pretty sad moment in this organization. And like past the season opener, hasn't Wilson been like injured for like the rest of the games we've played against the Caps? dude living rent free in Dolan's head.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

So you've never heard that it takes 2 full years to recover from that type of surgery?

Yeah but this was also Blais' 11th injury in his short NHL career. The guy is always hurt.

 

[Cmox]

His conditioning stint concluded. They really should just keep him there.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Why are people acting like Blais was the primary factor in the Buch trade? At best he was the 3rd factor after needing cap room and getting a 2nd round pick.

 

[bl02]

Why are people acting like Blais was the primary factor in the Buch trade? At best he was the 3rd factor after needing cap room and getting a 2nd round pick.

and still think he would have been a decent 3rd/4th liner had that significant knee injury didn't occur. He is the type of guy that would help wear down defenses in a 7 game playoff series. Now he can't even catch up to anyone to make a good hit.

 

[GAGLine]

I get being angry about the Buch deal. However, unless you were ok just self renting, which likely would’ve had a worse outcome given our deadline adds and PO run, I don’t know what other options we had? Nobody wanted to part with a 1st. If they had, Buch would’ve went to that team. FLA chose RHS Reinhart over Buch.

The NHL knew our cap situation and our need for a C more than W, so what exactly is the alternate reality here? Buch is extended and we have 3 Ws signed LT w/ trade restrictions, 3 top 10 picks that play W and only 1 reliable C that has yet to be extended? I miss Buch, but I don’t see what the options were besides self rent, and so did the other GMs.

We spent more on Copp to replace Buchnevich (for 1 playoff run) than we got for Buchnevich. Buch signed with St. Louis for 5.8 mil per year. We then spent 5.625 mil on Trocheck.

Keeping Buchnevich and promoting Chytil was an option.

 

[NickyFotiu]

and still think he would have been a decent 3rd/4th liner had that significant knee injury didn't occur. He is the type of guy that would help wear down defenses in a 7 game playoff series. Now he can't even catch up to anyone to make a good hit.

If he was healthy that would be great. He will probably be an asset for someone come playoff team of next season. I just think people like to pretend it was Blais for Buch. If anything Blais was the icing on top. He was close to the main reason for the trade. If any other team really would have given a #1 draft pick we would have taken it. Buch was not in crazy high demand. If he was he probably would have gotten a contract 2-3 mill higher.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

Why are people acting like Blais was the primary factor in the Buch trade? At best he was the 3rd factor after needing cap room and getting a 2nd round pick.

This seems like major revisionist history lmao

The cap space I could buy, but do you really think the Rangers/fans valued a second round pick more than a guy who won a cup and played a style (plays physical and hits everything) everyone always screeches about?

Come on lol

 

[NickyFotiu]

We spent more on Copp to replace Buchnevich (for 1 playoff run) than we got for Buchnevich. Buch signed with St. Louis for 5.8 mil per year. We then spent 5.625 mil on Trocheck.

Keeping Buchnevich and promoting Chytil was an option.

Copp was a rental. We did not pay his full years salary. He probably played around 15 regular season games for us. Trocheck is a center. If Buch played Center he might still be here.

This seems like major revisionist history lmao

The cap space I could buy, but do you really think the Rangers/fans valued a second round pick more than a guy who won a cup and played a style (plays physical and hits everything) everyone always screeches about?

Come on lol

Not revisionist history at all. Cap room was number 1. A draft pick was #2. Since they could not get a #1 draft pick they had to lower their sights to a #2 pick and Blais closed the deal. Blais was never a primary reason for the trade. There is no way the team would make that trade without the #2 draft pick.

 

[markymarc1215]

We spent more on Copp to replace Buchnevich (for 1 playoff run) than we got for Buchnevich. Buch signed with St. Louis for 5.8 mil per year. We then spent 5.625 mil on Trocheck.

Keeping Buchnevich and promoting Chytil was an option.

Copp also gave us over a point per game in his time here and was a solid 2nd line player who also played both ends of the ice. I dont regret that trade nor do I regret not re-signing him. The 1st was a very late pick in a weak draft.

 

[GAGLine]

Copp was a rental. We did not pay his full years salary. He probably played around 15 regular season games for us. Trocheck is a center. If Buch played Center he might still be here.

I'm not talking about his salary. I'm talking about the assets spent to acquire him.

 

[NickyFotiu]

I'm not talking about his salary. I'm talking about the assets spent to acquire him.

Teams in the playoff hunt sometimes pay assets for playoff rentals. We are not alone in that boat. I do not mind (within reason) because it gives us a chance to see a player up close before deciding if we should find a way to keep him. We have a lot of good talent. Sadly they take up a lot of cap. Our team is doing pretty well. Better than St,Louis if I recall. Would be great if we could afford Buch but we couldnt not only for salary reasons but because we had Bread, CK, Laf, KK, and Krav also playing wing.

 

[Daves a mess]

It is shame what happen to Bias and no one really stood up for him after that cheap shot.. his knee got really F up and it will take a full season to get back to normal.. he was to be the shame of player as goodrow with alittle more upside..tough, mean, skilled and a better skater..

Kreider fought Slewban but point acknowledged.

 

[TopShelfSnipes]

Buch signed with St. Louis for 5.8 mil per year. We then spent 5.625 mil on Trocheck.

Keeping Buchnevich and promoting Chytil was an option.

Thank you. Been saying this over and over and feels like some people are intentionally not hearing this point of view.

This was a horrible trade, and it's getting really tiring trying to listen to people defend it cuz, grit, or something. It's like people assume that everything happens in a vacuum and if we'd kept Buch the team inevitably would have had to hand out all the bad contracts it has, and that somehow these horrible contracts are justified.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Thank you. Been saying this over and over and feels like some people are intentionally not hearing this point of view.

This was a horrible trade, and it's getting really tiring trying to listen to people defend it cuz, grit, or something. It's like people assume that everything happens in a vacuum and if we'd kept Buch the team inevitably would have had to hand out all the bad contracts it has, and that somehow these horrible contracts are justified.

What position does Buch play? What position does Chytil and Troc play? Troc replaced Strome not Buch.

 

[TopShelfSnipes]

What position does Buch play? What position does Chytil and Troc play? Troc replaced Strome not Buch.

This is a reductionist argument that misses the entire point. Buch's cap hit last season and this season would have been 5.8 million dollars.

Last year, not signing Goodrow and Nemeth, and not trading for Reaves would have saved 7.75M. Chytil would have played a bigger role last year, while Buch would have stayed on the topline RW.

This year, no Goodrow saves 3.6M alone. With Chytil as the 2nd line center, there's no reason to sign Trocheck to what will definitely be a bad contract by the end of that deal, saving another 5.6M, while also not having the weakness we do at RW. Team can get a much more affordable 3C to replace the departing Strome and has space to do it, and also has a legit topline RW instead of a collection of misfit toys over parts of two seasons and Goodrow who is very good at what he does but whose 3.6M hit could be spent better elsewhere.

But apparently most take it for granted this team will hand out bad contracts to FA's, so this is not going to change. Meanwhile, it's going to be great watching Buchnevich score a point a game for the next decade, not...

 

[KevinFinnerty]

Hasn't scored as a ranger Lmao and he looked like an animal in preseason last year!

 

[nyr2k2]

Frustrating to see this is still an argument.

I understand hating the Buchnevich deal. It wasn't good at the time and it looks worse now. Sometimes that happens and it sucks.

It's not like there wasn't logic to the move. They were concerned whether or not they could afford him long term, two of the biggest stars on the team aside from Buchnevich were on the wing, and their top three forward prospects were all wingers. You're trading from a theoretical strength. They needed center depth with Chytil proving only that he was talented but totally inconsistent to that point.

Again, you can disagree with the logic. "Chytil could have been 2C." "We could have not signed Goodrow etc." "Don't trade for Reaves." Those are all legitimate points and put together could have provided for an alternative, logical approach.

Unfortunately, Lafreniere is still incredibly mediocre, Kakko is very useful but hardly a star, and Kravtsov is to this point largely a dud. Had any one of those guys panned out, I don't think this situation is as frustrating as it is. Chytil's development this season has been something of a revelation, which of course makes it easier to say, "See, we didn't need Trocheck!" Of course knowing our luck, we don't sign Trocheck and Chytil turns into a pile of sand and then we're doubly screwed.

Anyway, it is what it is. It wasn't a great trade but I understand why they made it and what they were thinking. The plan they had was pretty evident. Some trades don't ultimately work out and this is one. We've had other trades work out swimmingly. That's how it goes.

 

[NickyFotiu]

This is a reductionist argument that misses the entire point. Buch's cap hit last season and this season would have been 5.8 million dollars.

Last year, not signing Goodrow and Nemeth, and not trading for Reaves would have saved 7.75M. Chytil would have played a bigger role last year, while Buch would have stayed on the topline RW.

This year, no Goodrow saves 3.6M alone. With Chytil as the 2nd line center, there's no reason to sign Trocheck to what will definitely be a bad contract by the end of that deal, saving another 5.6M, while also not having the weakness we do at RW. Team can get a much more affordable 3C to replace the departing Strome and has space to do it, and also has a legit topline RW instead of a collection of misfit toys over parts of two seasons and Goodrow who is very good at what he does but whose 3.6M hit could be spent better elsewhere.

But apparently most take it for granted this team will hand out bad contracts to FA's, so this is not going to change. Meanwhile, it's going to be great watching Buchnevich score a point a game for the next decade, not...

Who is playing center? No Goodrow. No Trocheck. No Strome.
Was the plan to keep KK, Laf, and Krav in the bottom 6 for years?
We do not have Nemeth nor Reeves anymore and we still are cap tight without Buch's 6 mill.
Having Buch would be nice but we only have so many top 6 wing spots and only so many centers. Thankfully despite not having Buch we have been a playoff team last season and this season (projected).

 

[TopShelfSnipes]

Who is playing center? No Goodrow. No Trocheck. No Strome.
Was the plan to keep KK, Laf, and Krav in the bottom 6 for years?
We do not have Nemeth nor Reeves anymore and we still are cap tight without Buch's 6 mill.
Having Buch would be nice but we only have so many top 6 wing spots and only so many centers. Thankfully despite not having Buch we have been a playoff team last season and this season (projected).

Why is this so hard to understand? The kids necessarily would have been moved up as they have this year. Last year's team wouldn't have been significantly different at all. There would have still been space to add Copp, Braun, and Motte at the deadline.

This year's team would have a legitimate first line RW in place, and would probably be significantly better at scoring. 75 point players are the harder commodity, why are you acting like Chytil playing 2nd line all year would be such a dealbreaker?

3rd and 4th line players are dime a dozen and can be brought on cheaply and be decent contributors. You're telling me with almost 9 million dollars saved between not signing Goodrow and Trocheck and keeping Buchnevich leaving ~3.4M left over, that an NHL GM couldn't round out the bottom 6 with two centers? That would also have left room to have a competent left D on the third pair.:

This year you'd be looking at:
LW's - Kreider, Panarin, Laf, Vesey
C's - Zibanejad, Chytil, ???, Motte
RW's - Buch, Kakko, Krav, Gauthier

Possible 3C's could've been:
Jarnkrok
Athanasiou
Nico Sturm
Ryan Donato

You'd have had a bunch of money left over to a good 6th D like:
Cole, Zadorov, etc.

With the longer term cap being a concern, these deals could have been termed so these guys come off the books when the younger players are due raises.

Keeping Buch was not the foregone conclusion we'd have run out of cap space the defenders of this awful trade make it out to be.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Why is this so hard to understand? The kids necessarily would have been moved up as they have this year. Last year's team wouldn't have been significantly different at all. There would have still been space to add Copp, Braun, and Motte at the deadline.

This year's team would have a legitimate first line RW in place, and would probably be significantly better at scoring. 75 point players are the harder commodity, why are you acting like Chytil playing 2nd line all year would be such a dealbreaker?

3rd and 4th line players are dime a dozen and can be brought on cheaply and be decent contributors. You're telling me with almost 9 million dollars saved between not signing Goodrow and Trocheck and keeping Buchnevich leaving ~3.4M left over, that an NHL GM couldn't round out the bottom 6 with two centers? That would also have left room to have a competent left D on the third pair.:

This year you'd be looking at:
LW's - Kreider, Panarin, Laf, Vesey
C's - Zibanejad, Chytil, ???, Motte
RW's - Buch, Kakko, Krav, Gauthier

Possible 3C's could've been:
Jarnkrok
Athanasiou
Nico Sturm
Ryan Donato

You'd have had a bunch of money left over to a good 6th D like:
Cole, Zadorov, etc.

With the longer term cap being a concern, these deals could have been termed so these guys come off the books when the younger players are due raises.

Keeping Buch was not the foregone conclusion we'd have run out of cap space the defenders of this awful trade make it out to be.

View attachment 646152

Well if you do not care about who plays center than you can flip Troscheck and Goodrow for Motte and JarnKrok. Do you know why Motte and JarnCrok make 1-2 mill a year? Because people do not see them as good centers. If the league saw them as good they could trip over at least a 3 mill deal. What does Motte play? 35-45 games a year? So its like paying him $3 mill a year since he only plays half the games. He is just as good as Goodrow though right?