absolutely not letting my wall of text go to waste so here's some hot takes on this season so far that no one asked for (x-posted from the last thread)
1. on the PP teams are defending the Zib one timer well right now and Panarin and Fox haven't figured out that they can't keep playing catch as an alternative. Panarin makes so much room for himself but he keeps looking for that cross ice pass to Zibanejad and passes up a lot of good opportunities because of it. Fox just needs to get pucks on net. This is stupidity. They cost themselves several chances trying to un-super glue the right wall PKer from Zibanejad in the last few games. f***ing give it up and take what you have. Though I think some of this is them being aware that Trochek has not been a reliable shooter in the slot and hasn't recovered pucks well enough to justify these chances.
2. Goodrow sucks. like legit sucks. he is so f***ing slow and talentless. someone can feel free to bring up that he has more points than Kakko and Laf, I don't care. He got a mega contract off the back of being by far the worst player of the 21st century's version of the grind line. Congrats and enjoy it before your buyout.
3. We're running two 4th lines without Chytil. But not just two 4th lines, one of them is a better than average 4th line while the other is probably the worst 4th line in hockey. Carpenter and Reaves on the same line is just hilariously ineffective. Snails laugh at their speed going up the ice. Blais isn't much better because while he's definitely faster and way more talented he can't do anything with it since the other two are about 3 rink lengths away from him when he enters the zone. It doesn't help that 90% of their shifts are with f***ing Schneider and Hajek who are both absolute bozos with and without the puck. I know Reaves has his army of defenders that wax poetic about muh swagger muh culture when we win but it's really telling that the same army is awfully quiet the other 90% of the game where he does absolute f*** all. Where's the swagger now that we need it? Where's the "confidence" he gives them" I'm waiting, they sure could've used it last night.
4. The other line of Vesey-Goodrow-whoever the f*** is fine but that's not a line I want to play more than 7-8 minutes a game. We all said this about Vesey, his game being reinvented is great and he's legitimately a very good defensive forward and grinder now, but he has not a lick of offensive talent or scoring touch to speak of and we have too many players at this point that that title applies to. With Chytil who brought talent and Blais as 3RW, it was better because they were for sure more of a threat, but it still wasn't enough. Blais clearly does not have untapped potential, he's a 3rd line grinder and that's that. He still doesn't have a single RS goal for the Rangers!!! Kravtsov being ballsacks and 10000% useless is another kick in the nuts. we really needed some talent in the bottom 6 and we're seemingly not going to get it. Concur that Krav is very reminiscent of Buch's first year here but Buch flashed talent every game while this dumb f***ing chicken can barely handle a puck without getting mauled. This is a serious problem. We're going to wind up making the exact same trades at the deadline because our bottom 6 is completely useless with the puck. Ironically, they are useless and cost a lot of money. That's usually how it goes here.
5. Kreider has legit not looked good at ES in three years. He is the ultimate floater now. Can't win a battle for shit, no effort in his stride, loses the puck on the boards CONSTANTLY. I wouldn't have such a f***ing issue with this if he PLAYED LESS AT ES. Gallant deploys him like he's a weapon. He's so slow at this point he's actually a liability on 3 on 3 and in other faster situations but he's out there never leaving the ice like he's MacKinnon. I appreciate the billion goals we got out of him last year but we signed him to be a utility, own the boards, own the forecheck type which he decidedly hasn't been since the f***ing thing was signed. He's a third line PP specialist now, so drop him to the f***ing third line and play him like it. So sick of watching him fart over the ice with no tempo and no effort.
6. Schneider could never be a top 4 D and this board will still fellate him because of that time he beat up Sharangovich and sent Boqvist to the shadow realm. He's terrible. He is insanely unreliable defensively and gives entry to the slowest players in the league. I wouldn't have such a problem with this if he got a healthy dose of scratches to watch his mistakes (last year, at least) and WE DIDNT PUT HAJEK ON THE SAME PAIR WHILE HE STRUGGLES!!!!!! Part of why Hajek being the 7D boils my piss so much is that it was telegraphed that Jones would sit a lot. Fine. He probably deserves to. But then you need a 7D that does something. Hajek is utterly useless and makes all of Schneider's many faults even more egregious. We are running the worst bottom pair in the league for the third f***ing year in a row. And I know that everyone's bottom pair sucks but guess what, they still play 10+ minutes at ES. I don't think i'm asking for much to get a bottom pair that brings SOMETHING.
7. Overall though, I think we will be fine. We've definitely tightened up defensively, this team has started slow every year that I can remember, and there's too much talent in the top 6 to be completely feckless. I think this board has a specific look in mind when we're "not getting puck luck". It doesn't look like getting stoned every night on 7-8 A+ chances. It looks like exactly what we're seeing. No bounces going our way, 50/50 pucks going the other way every time, those faceoffs that you win so cleanly your own D aren't ready for it and they leave the zone, goalies not giving rebounds, etc. There are real issues, though, and it feels like these real issues are the same every year and never change. Kinda tired of it.
