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Speculation: The Off-Season Thread Part VI - Are we there yet? (Grabovski to Caps, 1 yr)

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Craig Custance of ESPN Insider

Custance spoke to an NHL talent evaluator about the best forward groups in the NHL

8. New York Rangers
Aside from the coaching change to Alain Vigneault, there's not a lot of difference this season in the Rangers' forward group. Ryan Callahan is the unquestioned leader, although Derek Stepan emerged last season as a legitimate top-six center with 44 points in 48 games. He becomes even more important if Brad Richards doesn't have a bounce-back season, although Derick Brassard blossomed in New York.

Vigneault will open things up a bit for this group, although he's still a coach who expects his forwards to be responsible defensively.

NHL talent evaluator's take: "It'll be interesting to see how it goes with Richards. Do they go Stepan, Brassard, Richards? Do they move somebody to the wing? Brassard was really good at the end of the year. That was a real good deal for them. He needed a change, he just got a little stale there in Columbus. They've got some ability down the middle there in New York."
Click to expand...

http://insider.espn.go.com/nhl/blog...584374/2013-14-nhl-ranking-top-forward-groups

The Rangers do have good depth in the middle. Add Moore. Boyle is still around. Miller and Lindberg can play in the middle. LA wanted to sign Richards in 2011 and put him on LW. Kreider is the X factor. The Rangers have enough centers to feed him the puck. Richards assisted on both of Kreider's goals last season. Kreider can play with Stepan. Brassard is a nifty player.

1-Pittsburgh
2-Hawks
3-LA
4-Edmonton
5-Boston
6-Philly
7-Detroit
8-Rangers
9-Blues
10-Avs
 
So 8th overall offensive group, probably top 5 defensive group, and arguably the best goalie in the game.

Starting to get excited for the season. Hope the new coach can put it all together. Could be a fun year!
 
RangerBoy said:
Craig Custance of ESPN Insider

Custance spoke to an NHL talent evaluator about the best forward groups in the NHL



http://insider.espn.go.com/nhl/blog...584374/2013-14-nhl-ranking-top-forward-groups

The Rangers do have good depth in the middle. Add Moore. Boyle is still around. Miller and Lindberg can play in the middle. LA wanted to sign Richards in 2011 and put him on LW. Kreider is the X factor. The Rangers have enough centers to feed him the puck. Richards assisted on both of Kreider's goals last season. Kreider can play with Stepan. Brassard is a nifty player.

1-Pittsburgh
2-Hawks
3-LA
4-Edmonton
5-Boston
6-Philly
7-Detroit
8-Rangers
9-Blues
10-Avs
Click to expand...

It is nice to get praise, but I'm not going to put too much faith into an article that lists Edmonton 4th. :facepalm:
 
Blue Blooded said:
It is nice to get praise, but I'm not going to put too much faith into an article that lists Edmonton 4th. :facepalm:
Click to expand...

They have a great offense, it just the D and goaltending are terrible. Hall, Yakopov, Hopkins, Eberle, Gagner, Perron, Hemsky.

Forgot about Smyth and Boyd Gordon. Pretty solid top 9.
 
Last edited:
Haven't been watching the forums lately, but I couldn't find it when I searched. Any word on the roster for traverse city yet?
 
UAGoalieGuy said:
They have a great offense, it just the D and goaltending are terrible. Hall, Yakopov, Hopkins, Eberle, Gagner, Perron, Hemsky.
Click to expand...

That offense hasn't produced yet though. They've improved each of the last 2 years, but still finished in the bottom half of the league in goals per game every year.
 
Just for fun,

Richards will be 33 this year, born in 80

Forwards who were born in 79 or earlier who last year were on pace for 40 or more points over 82 games

(x)= prorated ~pts over 82 games

St Louis(102)
Kunitz(89)
Datsyuk(85)
Whitney(74)
Thornton(68)
Dupuis(65)
Hossa(64)
Jagr(64)
Elias(61)
Iginla(61)
Tanguay(55)
Marleau(53)
Cullen(53)
Prospal(51)
Koivu(47)
Doan(46)
Morrow(46)
McDonald (46)
Alfredsson(45)
Gionta(44)
Selanne(42)
 
GAGLine said:
That offense hasn't produced yet though. They've improved each of the last 2 years, but still finished in the bottom half of the league in goals per game every year.
Click to expand...

Exactly, Hall is a stud but the rest of them aren't there yet. Good top-6, pretty bad bottom-6.

Perron was a very good acquisition, but I'm not sold on their centers yet. RNH has struggled at ES and Gagner isn't much better. I mean compared to the Rangers the Edmonton centers are way behind for the 2013-14 season IMO. RNH could become better than Stepan, but he could also become Mike Ribeiro.

Edmonton could have a top-5 forward group in a few years, but they aren't there yet IMO.
 
UAGoalieGuy said:
So 8th overall offensive group, probably top 5 defensive group, and arguably the best goalie in the game.

Starting to get excited for the season. Hope the new coach can put it all together. Could be a fun year!
Click to expand...

Assuming Staal is healthy which seems to be the case,the Rangers D has never been better than this coming season. John Moore is better than what the Rangers had in 11-12. Stralman is a better player now than he was in 11-12. Falk is a good player. He is an upgrade over Eminger. McIlrath will go down to the AHL and play a ton of minutes. Around Christmas/New Year,the Rangers will reevaluate his status.





 
I didn't know where to put this, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Joe Thornton. He and Nash are apparently good friends. He'll be 35 next year, but is still averaging close to a point per game. Would anyone be interested in bringing him in on a 1 or 2 year deal next offseason to play next to Nash (assuming Richards is bought out, and the cap rises a bit). Of course, a lot of this depends on retaining our own FA's. If that can be worked out, then it could be a low risk/high reward signing especially if he's willing to take a 1 year deal at this point.

Hagelin - Thornton - Nash
Kreider - Stepan - Callahan

Looks like a fun top 6 to me.
 
Barnaby said:
I didn't know where to put this, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Joe Thornton. He and Nash are apparently good friends. He'll be 35 next year, but is still averaging close to a point per game. Would anyone be interested in bringing him in on a 1 or 2 year deal next offseason to play next to Nash (assuming Richards is bought out, and the cap rises a bit). Of course, a lot of this depends on retaining our own FA's. If that can be worked out, then it could be a low risk/high reward signing especially if he's willing to take a 1 year deal at this point.

Hagelin - Thornton - Nash
Kreider - Stepan - Callahan

Looks like a fun top 6 to me.
Click to expand...

I'm almost expecting us to pursue Thornton. Sharks locked up Pavelski, Couture. Now, they just need to resign Marleau. I think Thornton could be the odd man out depending on how high the cap goes.
 
Barnaby said:
I didn't know where to put this, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Joe Thornton. He and Nash are apparently good friends. He'll be 35 next year, but is still averaging close to a point per game. Would anyone be interested in bringing him in on a 1 or 2 year deal next offseason to play next to Nash (assuming Richards is bought out, and the cap rises a bit). Of course, a lot of this depends on retaining our own FA's. If that can be worked out, then it could be a low risk/high reward signing especially if he's willing to take a 1 year deal at this point.

Hagelin - Thornton - Nash
Kreider - Stepan - Callahan

Looks like a fun top 6 to me.
Click to expand...

What about Brassard?
 
Barnaby said:
I didn't know where to put this, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Joe Thornton. He and Nash are apparently good friends. He'll be 35 next year, but is still averaging close to a point per game. Would anyone be interested in bringing him in on a 1 or 2 year deal next offseason to play next to Nash (assuming Richards is bought out, and the cap rises a bit). Of course, a lot of this depends on retaining our own FA's. If that can be worked out, then it could be a low risk/high reward signing especially if he's willing to take a 1 year deal at this point.

Hagelin - Thornton - Nash
Kreider - Stepan - Callahan

Looks like a fun top 6 to me.
Click to expand...

This has Rangers bust signing written all over it.
 
Didn't even know Thornton was a free agent after this season. This is for sure the last kick of the can for the Sharks old guard so I wouldn't be surprised to see both him and Marleau moved out after this season.
 
Vidic15 said:
I'm almost expecting us to pursue Thornton. Sharks locked up Pavelski, Couture. Now, they just need to resign Marleau. I think Thornton could be the odd man out depending on how high the cap goes.
Click to expand...

Typical Rangers move. Buyout Richards and spend that money on a geezer like Thornton who has never one ****.
 
16 To Stanley said:
Typical Rangers move. Buyout Richards and spend that money on a geezer like Thornton who has never one ****.
Click to expand...

Personally I don't know if it's a good idea either. I'm thinking the Rangers are going to need to limit the number of very large contracts to keep what they have together. That being said some use to say the same about Ray Bourque that you've just said about Thornton.
 
16 To Stanley said:
Typical Rangers move. Buyout Richards and spend that money on a geezer like Thornton who has never one ****.
Click to expand...

He hasn't been a dud either. He's been a point-per-game player in the playoffs. I just think it would add a lot of center depth along with Stepan and Brassard. Of course a guy like Lindberg could blow the doors off the NHL this year, and Brassard could keep up his play from the end of last year, but those are unknowns at this point in time.

It all really comes down to contract terms. My thought process isn't a mega deal... I' thinking along the lines of what Jagr has done the last 3 years. You take it 1 year at a time for a fair term. I know that none of us are looking to saddle ourselves with another Richards type contract.
 
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