What is your most unpopular Rangers opinion?

[Fitzy]

Thought of a few more: 1) the MSL trade was horrible for us and 2) Pionk was a good player (in a limited role).

I agree that Pionk was solid. I think the MSL trade was absolutely the right gamble at the right time. We paid a lot for what was basically a rental, but he got us to the finals.

I'm surprised I havent gotten more kickback about my opinions on Richter and Cherepanov though.

 

[CasusBelli]

I agree that Pionk was solid. I think the MSL trade was absolutely the right gamble at the right time. We paid a lot for what was basically a rental, but he got us to the finals.

I'm surprised I havent gotten more kickback about my opinions on Richter and Cherepanov though.

Same here on Richter. I’d give the guy a B only because he was a career starter and had a few excellent playoff runs and two good seasons. That’s what the stats say.

Luongo, as a counterexample, consistently put up solid save percentages even in front of lottery Panthers teams.

 

[doomscroll]

Jesper Fast is a top-six player.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

Oh yeah.

Glass was better than

Boogaard
Brashear
Haley
Asham

And possibly better than Halpern, Orr, and Jody Shelley.

Yep.Glass would skate circles around Boogaard.

I’d throw guys like Darrel Powe in the mix too.

 

[Bluto]

The Rangers would have won the cup if they had traded for MSL in 2012... allegedly a package was discussed.

Esposito is the worst thing that ever happened to the Rangers.

The Rangers win the ECF in 5 games and the SCF in 6 with Weight and Amonte in 1994.

The Rangers would still not have made the playoffs for 7 years even if they had acquired Sakic.

If the Rangers had traded for Lindros instead of Philly, they would have been a dynasty in the no-cap era.

Messier should have never been brought back.

Jagr should have been retained.

 

[NYRFANMANI]

Management is gonna f*** up the rebuild.

Also like Casus Belli, I find the MSL trade abysmal. We got fleeced back then, should have gotten him for way less.

 

[Ben Grimm]

I don't know if this is controversial, but these are my top 15 Rangers in alphabetical order:

Andy Bathgate
Frank Boucher
Bill Cook
Ed Giacomin
Rod Gilbert
Adam Graves
Vic Hadfield
Bryan Hextall
Harry Howell
Brian Leetch
Henrik Lundqvist
Mark Messier
Brad Park
Jean Ratelle
Mike Richter

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Henrik Lundqvist is the biggest reason the Rangers haven't won a Cup the last 10 years.




And what I mean by that is this: His stellar performance for years, prevented us from getting high draft picks which you need to build in the salary cap era. He's his own worst enemy in a way

 

[Hockeyholic]

Leetch was more impactful in the 94 run than Messier. That might not be an unpopular opinion though.

 

[SA16]

I don't know if this is controversial, but these are my top 15 Rangers in no order:

Andy Bathgate
Frank Boucher
Bill Cook
Ed Giacomin
Rod Gilbert
Adam Graves
Vic Hadfield
Bryan Hextall
Harry Howell
Brian Leetch
Henrik Lundqvist
Mark Messier
Brad Park
Jean Ratelle
Mike Richter

That looks like alphabetical order.

 

[leetch99]

I don't think younger fans truly know just how sick of a player Pavel Bure was.

The guy scored 437 goals 779 points --- and almost all of them occurred before his 32nd birthday.

Then you realize the guy lost 250 some odd games to lockouts, contracts, and injuries. There's no "projecting bias" when saying you could add 33 percent to his totals had he played in those games. So now you're looking at a guy who could've posted 581 goals and 1000+ points by age 32.

And that doesn't even take into account that his knees were a train wreck in the finals years of his career, so who knows how much more of a boost his numbers would've gotten. The sick thing is that even on one knee he was a still a lightning bolt on the ice.

And then, on top of all that, he barely got a boost from the high-scoring era of the 80s and early 90s. He spent the majority of his career in the clutch and grab, defensive era. Can you imagine his numbers in say, 1986? This guy could've challenged the single season goal scoring marks of Gretzky and Lemieux --- no exaggeration.

I remember watching him in 1994 and it was like watching someone from another planet. This is a guy who made Leetch, Andersson, Kovalev look like average NHL skaters --- that's the kind of level he was playing at compared to his peers.

He was terrifying to watch from the Centerline in on Richter in 94 . As far as unpopular opinions go....I had a couple . First was when we started on the last big run and Matt Carkner force fed and rag dolled Boyle after his hit on EK in the playoffs.....I pretty well knew we were not constructed well enough to win a Cup unless we had incredible luck since as a team we were soft overall and couple of years later when I suggested adding Chara as a UFA for 5 Million a season....got chastised on that one...OLD -SLOW- No GOOD -Wore OUT . I figure I was vindicated on both opinions with us showing no post season hardware since . Shows just what you get with soft playoff clubs . Teams have to be built for playoffs which are not for the faint of heart . It is that simple .

 

[Unusual Suspect]

Rangers have the most boring broadcast crew in the NYC area

As relates to Rosen and Micheletti only. I'm fine with Giannone and Pidto and Carter, who has grown a LOT the last year or two (and Trautwig, should he return), and I flat out love what Dave Maloney and Valiquette bring.

 

[leetch99]

I also loved the Liberty uniforms . Many did not .

 

[Siddi]

This was an unpopular take at the time, but I think opinions have changed through the years: No, Torts did not hold back the offense in 2013, and we wouldn't have beaten Chicago had we made the finals that year.

We always matched up well against Chicago during Torts. We even had a winning record against them.

Sean Avery was a great player for what he brought to the ice.

 

[Glennsoe]

Lias Andersson is as over rated as zucc was under rated...

 

[WojtekWolski86]

Henrik Lundqvist is the biggest reason the Rangers haven't won a Cup the last 10 years.




And what I mean by that is this: His stellar performance for years, prevented us from getting high draft picks which you need to build in the salary cap era. He's his own worst enemy in a way

Remember when Hank got us to the playoffs with Erik Christensen as our #1C? Lol

Also Wolski led the team in playoff scoring that year.

 

[TheDirtyH]

My most unpopular opinion this season is probably that neither Zibanejad nor Strome have been good two-way players and that in the case of the former, he could be, but doesn't seem interested in doing so. The second part of that is that Chytil has been our most committed and responsible defensive forward since his call-up (save for our man Jesper).

Also, Buchnevich is a top six winger who's off the puck play and forechecking ability are extremely underrated.

 

[Irishguy42]

My actual unpopular opinion: Some of the retired jerseys shouldn't be there, and belong in a 'Ring of Honor' type deal.

You can start with Graves, Messier, and Hadfield. I'm still debating on Richter.

 

[Edge]

Colin Campbell is the reason Robitaille didn't perform better here

I liked the NHL better when it was more rough and tumble. I miss enforcers.

For all the skill on display in today's NHL, it's not a better product. It's lost something over the years.

Retiring a jersey is about more than on-ice accomplishments. That's why Adam Graves deserves the honor.

The 1995-96 Rangers were better than the 1996-97 Rangers and actually would've gone further if they didn't make those TDL moves, or made smarter moves.

Sergei Zubov was a lot more frustrating of a player than people remember.

Chris Drury was a better Ranger than he's given credit for.

Jaromir Jagr was an amazing player, but the Rangers were never going to win with him as the centerpiece of the team.

 

[TheDirtyH]

For all the skill on display in today's NHL, it's not a better product. It's lost something over the years.

Especially this. I'd add that there isn't more skill on display now than there used to be and that creativity has been the first sacrifice of the 'speed and skill' preference.

Also, a 2-1 or 1-0 game can be--and often is--more exciting than a high scoring one.

 

[True Blue]

If the Rangers had traded for Lindros instead of Philly, they would have been a dynasty in the no-cap era.

This is one of the more interesting fantasy-like discussions. What would have happened if they were the ones awarded Lindros? Maybe no Messier. Does that mean no Cup? Lindros would still have to play in a division with Scott Stevens.

Or the other take, maybe they then would have kept an Amonte and Weight and Marchant (speaking of strength at center....Lindros, Weight, Marchant with an Ian Lapperierre as the 4th line center). Fun what if, but too much brain power to to try to reconstruct the past.

 

[UnSandvich]

Especially this. I'd add that there isn't more skill on display now than there used to be and that creativity has been the first sacrifice of the 'speed and skill' preference.

Also, a 2-1 or 1-0 game can be--and often is--more exciting than a high scoring one.

This. One of the best games of hockey i've ever seen was us against Detroit a few years ago. 1-0 final, Howard vs. Lundqvist, something like 90 shots on goal combined between the 2 teams. Was at MSG for that game, and it was incredible

 

[will1066]

Unpopular opinion: The bye week gave the team a much-needed rest, and it will come out flying tonight.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Mark Messier was unfairly awarded the cup-winning goal in 1994

 

[TheDirtyH]

This. One of the best games of hockey i've ever seen was us against Detroit a few years ago. 1-0 final, Howard vs. Lundqvist, something like 90 shots on goal combined between the 2 teams. Was at MSG for that game, and it was incredible

Even though we lost, this was one of my all-time favorite Henrik performances and Rangers games to watch.