This is a Bad Hockey Team 2017-18

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

I wish people would **** about "Generational" talent already. You don't need one to win. Even Crosby, the only "generational" player in the last decade and a half, didn't win on his own. He scored 120 points and won art ross and hart his 2nd season, the team was still a basement dweller. He needed Malkin and others, and then he needed Kessel, Sheary, Guentzel, Murray and Sullivan to win the next 2.

You need elite players, yes, and I agree the Rangers have not drafted done since 2000 (Lundqvist).

But this "generational" bull**** needs to die.

K. I'll settle for elite players as well since this team is lacking those as well.

Anyway, its a lot easier to add the supporting cast to the great player.

 

[trilobyte]

I wish people would **** about "Generational" talent already. You don't need one to win. Even Crosby, the only "generational" player in the last decade and a half, didn't win on his own. He scored 120 points and won art ross and hart his 2nd season, the team was still a basement dweller. He needed Malkin and others, and then he needed Kessel, Sheary, Guentzel, Murray and Sullivan to win the next 2.

You need elite players, yes, and I agree the Rangers have not drafted done since 2000 (Lundqvist).

But this "generational" bull**** needs to die.

It's not a term I use often myself. The point I was making was that having a Crosby, like him or hate him, means a ton to a team. Top skills, burning desire. He's not the only one, but a pretty good example.
I remember watching Kent Nilsson a few times during Flames practice when I managed to sneak in (things were fairly lax then) and I saw some mind blowing demonstrations of skill from that guy. His teammates and others were in awe at times. His shot was ridiculously accurate, he was a great skater.
And he would put in a top effort when he felt like it, and it was a real tossup when that would be. He was not burning with desire.

The Rangers are in need of another Lundqvist type player. He is a great example too. Top talent who simply hates losing.

 

[GordonGecko]

actually is a bad hockey team right now, playing way below their potential

We desperately need a coaching change, and IMO it's coming soon if only because AV is making Gorts look bad on mishandling the D he gave him

 

[Ola]

Are we good or bad?

Everything must be seen against the background of the league in which the talent is very spread out over 31 teams nowadays. I think we have potential to be better than we are — but I don’t think we are very good. Pretty so-so defensively and pretty sloppy when heading up ice. And pretty worthless on the forecheck. I think we are at our best when we go across the offensive blue line, we create a lot of offense there. Ds joining the play. Like the play where Kampfer rang one of the post. The plays leading up to the set up of him was definitely really good, and we do that often.

With that said — all teams in this league have issues. All of them. Come spring a team or two will put it together like Nashville did, Pittsburgh and so forth. But OTOH even those teams have very small marginals and can be pretty bad too if things don’t go their way, they have to make roster adjustments etc.

 

[DanielBrassard]

Are we good or bad?

Everything must be seen against the background of the league in which the talent is very spread out over 31 teams nowadays. I think we have potential to be better than we are — but I don’t think we are very good. Pretty so-so defensively and pretty sloppy when heading up ice. And pretty worthless on the forecheck. I think we are at our best when we go across the offensive blue line, we create a lot of offense there. Ds joining the play. Like the play where Kampfer rang one of the post. The plays leading up to the set up of him was definitely really good, and we do that often.

With that said — all teams in this league have issues. All of them. Come spring a team or two will put it together like Nashville did, Pittsburgh and so forth. But OTOH even those teams have very small marginals and can be pretty bad too if things don’t go their way, they have to make roster adjustments etc.

I tend to agree with this post, but I wonder how much of it is just the system and how much is the talent level. Would adding a couple more D and a top-6 center who can make plays help us clean up our puck management, or would it even matter?

 

[eco's bones]

I think a few things are happening that have helped to turn our disastrous start around:

1) Henrik is playing a lot better. The timeliness of his saves is another thing.
2) the defense tightened up a bit and going back to DeAngelo going back to Hartford that was part of it--the Rangers stopped experimenting game to game and settled more or less on 6 guys.
3) Nieves getting promoted and taking over the 4C position--which has pretty much allowed the Rangers to roll 4 lines and have put Fast and Grabner into the kind of roles they're best at.
4) the power play is clicking and the team is getting contributions from players on all lines + we have Buchnevich just building his confidence.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I think a few things are happening that have helped to turn our disastrous start around:

1) Henrik is playing a lot better. The timeliness of his saves is another thing.
2) the defense tightened up a bit and going back to DeAngelo going back to Hartford that was part of it--the Rangers stopped experimenting game to game and settled more or less on 6 guys.
3) Nieves getting promoted and taking over the 4C position--which has pretty much allowed the Rangers to roll 4 lines and have put Fast and Grabner into the kind of roles they're best at.
4) the power play is clicking and the team is getting contributions from players on all lines + we have Buchnevich just building his confidence.

If we're being honest, it's 1 and 4.

 

[aufheben]

This thread never fails lol

 

[surf]

I still love the must win game 8 or the season is over..LOLOLOL...Gotta love the impatient younger fan base..Or the even sillier older fan base who believes non sense like that...

 

[Machinehead]

I think a few things are happening that have helped to turn our disastrous start around:

1) Henrik is playing a lot better. The timeliness of his saves is another thing.
2) the defense tightened up a bit and going back to DeAngelo going back to Hartford that was part of it--the Rangers stopped experimenting game to game and settled more or less on 6 guys.
3) Nieves getting promoted and taking over the 4C position--which has pretty much allowed the Rangers to roll 4 lines and have put Fast and Grabner into the kind of roles they're best at.
4) the power play is clicking and the team is getting contributions from players on all lines + we have Buchnevich just building his confidence.

Our defense would be playing even better if DeAngelo was in. Kampfer is an abomination.

 

[eco's bones]

Our defense would be playing even better if DeAngelo was in. Kampfer is an abomination.

Maybe--part of the point is we had too many defensemen up turning it into a nightly situation of musical chairs. At least one of them had to go to Hartford and I'd have probably sent Kampfer that direction but DeAngelo would still be fighting for ice time--especially for the premium scoring situations that Shattenkirk's been gobbling up.

Part of the problem with DeAngelo as I see it is he needs not only a regular shift--he also needs power play time and Shattenkirk is just a better overall player in just about every respect to DeAngelo and is his main competition for the PwP time so.....the other thing is Tony doesn't seem to be tearing it up in Hartford since he landed there---at least not offensively.

 

[Inferno]

we're powerplaying and henriking ourselves to win.

Shattenkirk has been ridiculous.

 

[Riche16]

Either way it won’t last and people who think it will are delusional.

This team has some glaring weaknesses and some glaringly awful contracts that they aren’t getting even 10% value on.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

the team is still struggling to generate offense 5 on 5.

Powerplay is saving our (and AV's) bacon, not sure if its sustainable.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Lack of offensive depth, not good enough defensively, questionable goaltending. I still don't think this is a playoff team. Its looking more like what I thought prior to the season than our start to the season though.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

I think we're a wild card team, but just like last season we'll last 1 round or maybe 2 if we play someone sucky in the 1st round again.

the team isn't a contender though unfortunately.

 

[Ola]

From a will we make the POs POV, just saying that looking at rosters in the East. I think CBJ and Tampa (Toronto?) have a little better rosters than the rest, all other teams also have major issues. It’s not always pretty when Washington, NYI, NJD, Boston, Philly and the likes play.

 

[Blueshirt Special]

the team is still struggling to generate offense 5 on 5.

Powerplay is saving our (and AV's) bacon, not sure if its sustainable.

I think the PP is SUPPOSED to save you. I think that is one of the main factors of championship teams. We finally have a real PP QB and a true top line center. We haven't had a real PP threat in forever. It changes the dynamics of how the opposition plays against you and that should ultimately allow for improvement in 5x5 play.

 

[Tawnos]

Either way it won’t last and people who think it will are delusional.

This team has some glaring weaknesses and some glaringly awful contracts that they aren’t getting even 10% value on.

Personally, I think the team can shore up one weakness and be among the better teams in the division. The thing about this era is that even the best teams have a glaring weakness or two. Chicago’s center depth has sucked for years, even when they were winning Cups. Pittsburgh won the last two Cups with a weak D group that was even weaker last year than it was the year before. Their forward depth didn’t perform particularly well last year either.

If the Rangers can figure out that 3rd line, which really just requires one player, they’ll be in good shape.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Lack of offensive depth, not good enough defensively, questionable goaltending. I still don't think this is a playoff team. Its looking more like what I thought prior to the season than our start to the season though.

It'll be close either way.

Our division is kind of awful. Our conference top to bottom is pretty mediocre.

But the truth is as Inferno said, Lundqvist and the PP have been the difference along with some good fortune (Tampa's 2nd goal in the 3rd being incorrectly waved off, playing the Bruins while they were ultra banged up, getting Vegas' 4th string goalie, etc.)

Now they lost games earlier this season that they probably should have won, but we'll see what this team is able to do when the PP inevitably cools down.

 

[NickyFotiu]

I think we're a wild card team, but just like last season we'll last 1 round or maybe 2 if we play someone sucky in the 1st round again.

the team isn't a contender though unfortunately.

2-3 weeks ago some people on this board said no way were we making the playoffs so we have improved!

 

[Ola]

It'll be close either way.

Our division is kind of awful. Our conference top to bottom is pretty mediocre.

But the truth is as Inferno said, Lundqvist and the PP have been the difference along with some good fortune (Tampa's 2nd goal in the 3rd being incorrectly waved off, playing the Bruins while they were ultra banged up, getting Vegas' 4th string goalie, etc.)

Now they lost games earlier this season that they probably should have won, but we'll see what this team is able to do when the PP inevitably cools down.

I think things like that tends to be streaky. Sometimes it’s the 3rd line scoring a couple of goals a game, someone like Nash scoring on every thing, Hank standing on his head.

 

[True Blue]

But the truth is as Inferno said, Lundqvist and the PP have been the difference along with some good fortune (Tampa's 2nd goal in the 3rd being incorrectly waved off, playing the Bruins while they were ultra banged up, getting Vegas' 4th string goalie, etc.)

Agreed with this. A couple of good tests this week. The truth will be how this team performs defensively against better teams. The PP is a check mark that is for sure.

 

[Whitehawk1186]

This is a good team, and no question we make the playoffs. Pittsburgh has regressed significantly, and Washington is not going to win 3 straight President's Trophy's. The division is wide open, and if we can do a better job at sustaining 5v5 pressure we are in good shape.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

This is a good team, and no question we make the playoffs. Pittsburgh has regressed significantly, and Washington is not going to win 3 straight President's Trophy's. The division is wide open, and if we can do a better job at sustaining 5v5 pressure we are in good shape.

Oh that is very questionable. Even with their 6 game streak they're not currently in a playoff position and they've played more games than just about everyone.

Whats crazy is had this team missed out on Shattenkirk, they're at the bottom of the standings right now. The PP is literally going to be what makes or breaks this team.