Team of the Decade: 2nd line Left Wing

[Fitzy]

Zuccarello pulled out some absentee ballots and reclaimed the lead at the last minute.


Next we have what will hopefully be a more competitive matchup at left wing- the second spot. A lot of gritty two way and inconsistent one-way players on the list.

Below are the NYR player stats for the decade...

Player Season Finder | Hockey-Reference.com

Team of the Decade

Forward
Kreider-Stepan-Gaborik
____-Zibanejad-Zuccarello
____-_____-Nash
____-_____-_____

Extra Forwards ______-_____

Defense
McDonagh-Girardi
_____-_____
_____-_____

7th defenseman -_____

Goalies

Lundqvist
_______

Head Coach- John Tortorella

Click to read more...

 

[Fitzy]

For me, despite the inconsistency, the clear choice here is JT Miller. Lots of points and even came close to leading NYR in scoring one season this decade.

I suppose looking at the stats a case can be made for Hagelin too. Similar PPG with a lot more balance, just less duration.

 

[TheDirtyH]

It's either Dubi or Hagelin but Dubi wasn't long for this decade.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Oog.

 

[Leetch3]

this polls should make everyone realize just how great hank was...until the rebuild we were one of the top teams in the league for the past decade, then picking team of the decade we are on the 2nd line and the options are already 'MEH'

 

[Hi ImHFNYR]

It's either Dubi or Hagelin but Dubi wasn't long for this decade.

Neither was Nash compared to Zucc (The disparity in stats and years played is embarrassing considering how this place voted)

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

Dubi or Miller for me, went with Dubi. 213 pts in 393 games.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Dubi all day long.

 

[aufheben]

Give me the flow.

 

[Nickmo82]

I thought Dubinsky was a centre.... but I'll vote for him. Was a big fan of him during his Rangers years.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Am I stupid or why isn’t Panarin in this? I don’t understand what criteria we’re going by

 

[SA16]

Dubinsky barely played for the Rangers this decade and in one of his two years he had a bad year. Miller/Hagelin are far better choices.

 

[nyr2k2]

I see Zucc ahead by one vote in the RW poll. Recount!

Seriously though, I can't get behind the logic that everyone else seems to be using where the "best" guy is the winner even if he only had one or two really good years, ahead of other guys who had multiple good years. All-Decade team to me should include a heavy emphasis on cumulative contributions.

So I will abstain now.

 

[gump116]

Voted dubi. Always thought of Nash as a LW though so he would’ve gotten my vote here

 

[Jabroni]

I see Zucc ahead by one vote in the RW poll. Recount!

Seriously though, I can't get behind the logic that everyone else seems to be using where the "best" guy is the winner even if he only had one or two really good years, ahead of other guys who had multiple good years. All-Decade team to me should include a heavy emphasis on cumulative contributions.

So I will abstain now.

I agree, that is why I went JT Miller. Dubinsky would've gotten my vote if this included his entire tenure with the team from 2008 onward.

 

[Edge]

If we include the 2009-2010 season, Dubinsky played 223 games and posted 54 goals and 132 points. His season by season his goal/point totals were 20/44, 24/54 and 10/34.

Miller played 341 games and posted 72 goals and 172 points. His three peak years with us also trumped Dubinsky's three year run above. However, because Miller's tenure also includes his breaking in years, that lowers his overall points per game total.

However, I do wonder if Dubinsky's work from the previous decade is skewing this a bit.

Because from a production, longevity and peak perspective, it's really not that close --- and it's only as close as it is because we're including half-a-season for Dubinsky from another decade. If we were to carve that out, the gap increases further.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

I may have been remiss in voting Dubi, as I have to admit I didn’t go back and check the exact timelines of what he did when. But by the same token, if we’re going off strict cutoffs, a) we shouldn’t be voting until next year and b) Panarin’s one year — barring injury — would be more than enough to vault him into #1 LW. Hell, given the competition, I’m ready to put him there now.

 

[Edge]

this polls should make everyone realize just how great hank was...until the rebuild we were one of the top teams in the league for the past decade, then picking team of the decade we are on the 2nd line and the options are already 'MEH'

I think Lundqvist wasn't definitely the engine.

But I also think polls can be a bit misleading because you have players with bleed-over into the previous decade, or decades where a position was split and so neither guy has numbers that jump off the page.

Another thing to consider, the rebuild started, at the latest in 2018. Some would argue that it started in 2017 or even had a prologue in 2016. Regardless of where one stands on that timeline, it still means that we started selling players and rebuilding while were anywhere from 60-80 percent of the way through the decade. So there are a number of guys whose individual stats could be significantly higher if we didn't trade them 1-3 years ago.

But if we did the poll where we took the peak Ranger years of all eligible players, and were asked to build a team from that pool, we'd actually have a solid team with some difficult choices.

So some of this is the format of "all-decade" teams and the restrictions they bring.

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

I complete forgot to consider performance in the actual decade. If it matters would switch my vote from Dubi to Miller.

 

[Edge]

I may have been remiss in voting Dubi, as I have to admit I didn’t go back and check the exact timelines of what he did when. But by the same token, if we’re going off strict cutoffs, a) we shouldn’t be voting until next year and b) Panarin’s one year — barring injury — would be more than enough to vault him into #1 LW. Hell, given the competition, I’m ready to put him there now.

I'm actually more surprised that a bottom six winger, who is third in points and games played on this list is doing as well as he is.

On the other had, I was also surprised to go back and find how eerily close his numbers were to Dubinsky's. So he definitely belongs in the conversation.

Memories can be weird like that. Sometimes you go back to fact check and you find some surprising results.

 

[Edge]

So here's a mind blower for me.

In my mind, Dubinsky was a clearly a more productive player than Hagelin. Second line winger vs. third line winger.

But because of the way the decade breaks, and seasons fall, here are their numbers side by side:

Dubinsky - 223 GP, 54 G and 132 Pts.

Hagelin - 266 GP, 58 G and 130 pts.

Yes, Hagelin had an extra half-season, and that has to be taken into consideration, but I would not have guessed he'd actually have four more goals this decade (and again, there's probably a good 30 some-odd games that we're carrying over for Dubinsky from 2009).

 

[Mac n Gs]

This could just be me being sentimental, but I had to vote Hags here because he consistently tilted the ice in our favor whenever he was on the ice. As promising as Miller's scoring outputs were as a 20-25 year old, he was prone to making some really stupid f***ing plays and disappeared more often than not, especially in the playoffs.

Hags' only issue was that he stunk on the powerplay

 

[NCRanger]

I complete forgot to consider performance in the actual decade. If it matters would switch my vote from Dubi to Miller.

I did the same thing. And would switch to Miller as well.

 

[Tawnos]

I mostly voted for Dubinsky because he managed to lead the team in scoring one year. Granted, with just 54 points. Also granted that Gaborik and Callahan missed 20 games each. Miller did come close in a season where he had 56 points and Zuccarello led the team with 59. Still, I consider the feat itself important. It also happened to come in a year that is outsized in its importance to the development of the Rangers as a top team. So, even though it was followed up by a down year (still convinced Dubinsky would've made a better captain than Callahan), the one accomplishment outweighs the better total performance of Miller. Hagelin would be a good choice too. Tough decision.

I also consider this "decade" to be 09-10 through 18-19. Dubinsky played 3 seasons. If we wanted it to be 10-11 through 19-20, this poll shouldn't occur until next year or, better yet, next summer.

 

[kovazub94]

Dubinsky given the constrains, but completely on the same page with @nyr2k2 in terms of disagreeing with the approach of many posters to this ranking. Would have fully supported both Nash and Zuke on the 2nd line in terms of their impact on the Rangers in this decade vs Dubinsky or JTM or Hagelin.