Confirmed Signing with Link: Vesey signs with the New York Rangers

[Tawnos]

It feels like these highly touted NCAA players always choose a destination that at first glance don't make the most sense hockeywise. But good for the Rangers, they needed some fresh blood.

I actually think they usually do make sense hockey wise, but people from other fanbases aren't well informed. I'll admit that I don't know as much about where Vesey would have fit elsewhere.

On the Rangers, there's a big top-9 winger opportunity this year. I'm sure Vesey will get it.

PLUUUUS AV really spreads out his ice time in the top 3 lines. You see things like 15-14-13 in the EV minutes for their top 3 centers.

 

[hamzarocks]

Good luck to rangers fans. Was hoping he would join you guys. He will make the loss of saralla(spelled wrong probably lol) not so bad. You all know how he has been projected for the past 2 years. A nice piece who can be a top 6 player. The rags are a attractive option and the big Apple will always attract young players. Good luck in the future.

 

[Speed Shooter]

He litterally picks the team with the worst future. Guess new York and Kevin hayes have that appeal?

That Harvard education sure came in handy, I guess? Yeesh.

Stunned as a Bruins fan. Really thought it was in the bag to be UFA and line up to play for his hometown.

Looks like at end of day he could give two ***** about that.

Will be interesting to see how he's treated in a Rags uni. Not all that warmly, I'm thinking.

 

[Riptide]

Lol and the Rangers window has not closed. If anything the window is opening. Only players over 30, Nash and Lundqvist. Our young players, will be better. Zib, Miller, Kreider, Hayes, skjei. Staal will have a bounce back year. If Nash stays healthy another 35+ goals. If the Sharks can make the Stanley cup finals with a very old roster, that most thought would miss the playoffs why can't the Rangers. Bunch of haters.

No one is saying the Rangers cannot make the playoffs. In fact I'd be very surprised if they didn't over the next few years. But there's a big difference between making the playoffs and being a legitimate "contender" or suggesting that NYR's "window to win" is opening. A teams window isn't based on the teams average age, but the age of their key players. The fact that Lundqvist, Staal and Girardi are all old and tie up 19.7m in cap space while (Lundqvist aside) not providing anything close to good value for that is pretty alarming - especially when you look at the term of those contracts.

Lundqvist being 34 is kinda of a big deal. Nash, meh, whatever - NYR absolutely has the youth up front to replace him if need be. But the bigger issue is that they have a 32 yr old Girardi making 5.5m who's more of a 3rd pairing D who gets played as a top pairing D. Which as a Pens fan is great. Staal isn't nearly as bad, but he's far from great, and isn't providing anything close to his cap hit.

The issue for me (and why I question this move) is not only does NYR have a lot of young winger/forward options - which means him getting the minutes he will want could be questionable, is that neither Stepan, Zib or Hayes are all that great as centers who make their wingers better. Don't get me wrong, Stepan is a very good center, and one I'd love to have if we didn't already have Crosby and Malkin. But he's not someone who really makes the players around him better. And that's even more true for Zib and Hayes.

Add in Lundqvist (who's easily a top 5 goalie) being 34 and maybe having 2 years left before he starts declining, and a lot of cap tied up in a couple of marginal blueliners (Staal and Girardi). So while NYR's forward group is reasonably young, they still need to make some fairly big changes, and even then their success long term is still questionable due to Lundqvist's age and the contract he has.

 

[Sabre Dance]

You're honestly expecting a career low for Hayes and then saying Vesey is going to only produce 30 as well. Cmon if he was on the Sabres you'd be having bad a different tone. Take a lap.

30-39 is 30 to me.

 

[SML]

Because you haven't lived life to the fullest until Susan Sarandon tweets you a congrats for signing you NHL contract.
Hockey is different here.

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

Congrats to the Buffalo Sabres who wasted a perfectly good asset.

 

[TheGuarantee]

Lol his GPA was probably 2.5.... Doesnt seem like an academic type

A Harvard degree is a Harvard degree. In comparison to your 3.8 in trade school, any employer would take the Harvard degree.

 

[BroadwayStorm]

Guess Nash just didn't quite feel like it last year

You realize he was injured a long time right? Of course not, you were busy ignoring the ********* of a season the Leafs had for 3rd consecutive year.

 

[TheGuarantee]

30-39 is 30 to me.

The educational system in Buffalo needs some fine tuning then.

 

[KPower]

Can he break Selanne's 76 goal rookie record?

 

[Dijock94]

You're biggest issue is Hank's age and your D prospect pool being extremely thin and led by Skjei, who has 2nd pairing potential.

The defense is thin but Skjei has better than second pair potential. He almost looks like a carbon copy of McDonagh when you watch him play. He has the potential to be top pair for sure. Everything else I agree he is the only prospect on D

 

[Nalens Oga]

Anyone here remember Allan Stanley and what happened to him?

 

[Toews2Bickell]

Didn't want Stamkos? Lol

Or Panarin.

 

[Sabre Dance]

Congrats to the Buffalo Sabres who wasted a perfectly good asset.

What will we do without one of the 4 3rd round picks we had last draft? Many teams wasted more believing they were contenders.

 

[Babcocks Marner]

Congrats Rangers.

 

[Auston Matthews]

You realize he was injured a long time right? Of course not, you were busy ignoring the ********* of a season the Leafs had for 3rd consecutive year.

You realize he played 60 games and even if he played 82 games he would have 20 goals?

 

[Samuel Culper III]

I gotta say, I'm stunned he chose the Rangers. I pretty vehemently insisted that signing him was a pipe dream earlier in the summer. I'm very surprised. It's a good surprise, but I've got some crow to eat as well.

 

[SEALBound]

I don't understand all the butt hurt fans.

The Rangers have some of the youngest forwards corps in the league who have playoff experience and who can score 20+ goals any of them. When Nash wants to he can score 40. Zuccarello is a great player and Miller and Kreider are just starting to scratch their potential. I don't see the decline on that end.

On defense you have McD, Skjei and the Undertaker not to mention Kevin Klein who is a very good defensive d-man and then you have two albatross contracts on a guy that is hot and cold like Staal but when he is hot he is shut down and a guy that is really banged up in Girardi who fell off last year but for all we know could or could not bounce back to a respectable defensive dman like hes always been.

And Lundquist shows no signs of slowing down. Even if he did Shestyorkin looks like a great young goalie who is about a year or two from NHL time and is already starting in the KHL. Not to mention the Rags have about 3 other goalies in the system who could all backup Henrik.

The weakspot is the defense but they could potentially trade Nash for some help there. I am not even convinced a puck mover is the problem. We had a great one the last two years and Alain Vignault didnt know what to do with him.

Vesey is not gonna come in to play the top two lines. He is gonna come in and finish for two puck movers like Hayes and Buchnevich in the third line. That will also be a big line that isn't exactly a bully line but they all protect the puck well. The pressure is on the top two lines and I am not worried about them.

This makes our 4th line even stronger with Lindberg, Fast and one of the thousands of fast penalty killers we signed this offseason which means goodbye Tanner Glass which is a plus.

We got nothing out of St. Louis his final year or from Eric Staal yet we still made the playoffs.

I am not worried about the window closing. The average age of the team is a bunch of 25 year olds with a ton of playoff experience already. Dont make me laugh.

I just want to know where the fans get this stuff from?

The Penguins had an awful team 2 years ago and got hot last year and won a cup. Give me a ****ing break.

The Rangers are not a Vesey away from beating the Penguins. If you go back to last year and add Vesey...you still lose to the Penguins. Maybe in 6 instead of 5.

Lundqvist is getting old as well and he's been the backbone of the team forever. No one is going to help you guys out on Staal or Giradri. Nash while decent in the RS, has been a no show in the playoffs forever. You do have some good forwards, I'll give you that...but I fear you guys will be heading for the "always make the playoffs, always out in the 1st or 2nd round" trap for awhile. GOod enough to make it, not good enough to win.

 

[BruinDust]

Nash Step Zucc
Kreider Zib Miller
Vesey Hayes Buch

By far the best top nine in the NHL. Doesn't matter how trash are defence is, this group is a contender

Your joking right?

No legit No.1 C

No legit top end scoring winger (Nash ain't that guy anymore)

Couple rookies who have proven zilch.

And a bunch of 2nd liners.

 

[Positive Vibes]

Since he signed and the watch is over the rest of the decent free agents will sign very soon

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

All the people hating on the kid for making a decision. Jesus ****ing Christ.

The Rangers are not even a bad team.

We'll likely never find out the reasoning. But he made it. Don't all **** on us at once...

The sweeping generalizations that the Rangers are rapidly declining and have 0 prospects/future is overplayed and wrong.

Except that it's not the fact is since 2012 the NYR have given away picks and prospects like candy on Halloween when you do that the prospect pool suffers and that's fine if you win championships like Chicago but New York hasn't.

It's going take a couple years to restock the farm.

 

[TLEH]

Tell me more about this future that you know so much about.

Tell me more about the future then, cause regardless of the vesey situation they're still looking at high paid defenseman in staal and Girardi that suck, Nash has underperformed. Relying on guys like Lindberg and Hayes to bring depth scoring when Hayes was getting less and less minutes as the season went on right? AV still has glass doesn't he? Yandle is gone, Dan Boyle is gone, who's gonna move the puck up to the forwards, Skjei and McDonough gonna have to do it all. I am not bitter in the slightest about where he went but I do find it curious that NYR fans can beam About some bright future ahead. I personally don't see it. I even said the day he narrowed down his teams. The negatives outweigh the positives for me and the team that got handled by the Penguins got worse, not better for
Me.

 

[sabresfan129103]

Got a good player for nothing. Grats Rangers fans. Hope he will be a good one for you guys.

 

[Riptide]

haha its very hard to explain... their time to win a cup was a couple years ago... sure they will still compete and make playoffs but unfortunetly I don't see a cup for a little bit now until this deadly group of youth keeps getting playoff experience and gets a few years older

I think you mean until they move Girardi and potentially Staal (although he's much less of an issue) and get a couple of guys who can really move the puck. And then they pray that Lundqvist can still provide great goaltending worth his 8.5m cap hit for the next 5 years.