I'm all for patience and wish we could just end this season if it's gonna continue this way and fast forward to the draft but I'm just trying to enjoy certain players get better.
A few things:
-I'd like to see Valentenko finally get a chance if McD is going to miss a few games. He's the perfect guy to annoy Philly and really, can he be any worse than Gilroy in his own zone?
-Maybe one of these guys turns into a first line talent or they eventually draft one. Could it be Kreider, Thomas? Maybe Werek becomes Holmstrom or Fasth turns into that darkhorse prospect.
-If there is any way I'd like to get Avery and Wolski off this roster next year. Both are too inconsistent and are taking up spots of younger guys.
-McCabe's been ok, but his shot hasn't done anything yet. Honestly, if the are lucky enough to have Drury retire and Redden leave for Europe; throw some money at Erehoff. That guy is underrated.
And Lundqvist does have to improve a bit, but really, as I said we expect him to go out on the ice and win the game every night? That's absurd, he's not a robot. There are plenty of other players on the ice with the game on their stick that fail to come through so if Lundqvist gives up 2 goals and the Rangers only score 1 -- he's not to blame.
41 ****ing shots on net and 1 goal.... 1? Really? If you're up 2-0 in a game that changes the ENTIRE complexity of the game -- being down by a goal heightens the pressure on the entire team and makes mistakes far more likely.
The problem with this team IS scoring consistently -- and also --- getting the lead and putting teams away when they have the chances. It wouldn't matter what goalie was here so long as the Rangers keep giving other teams the feeling that they can come back because the Rangers aren't going to put them away on the score sheet.
This team has focus, but after a while its pretty easy to get worn down in that regard when it becomes a game by game situation!
MisterUnspoken-No Wolski is only 24 and not old but what I meant was that I'd rather see a kid like Carl Hagelin skating, Roman Horak winning faceoffs, or Ethan Werek getting dirty than Wolski do his disappearing act.
He's too inconsistent. Not a bad player of course.
And Lundqvist does have to improve a bit, but really, as I said we expect him to go out on the ice and win the game every night? That's absurd, he's not a robot. There are plenty of other players on the ice with the game on their stick that fail to come through so if Lundqvist gives up 2 goals and the Rangers only score 1 -- he's not to blame.
41 ****ing shots on net and 1 goal.... 1? Really? If you're up 2-0 in a game that changes the ENTIRE complexity of the game -- being down by a goal heightens the pressure on the entire team and makes mistakes far more likely.
The problem with this team IS scoring consistently -- and also --- getting the lead and putting teams away when they have the chances. It wouldn't matter what goalie was here so long as the Rangers keep giving other teams the feeling that they can come back because the Rangers aren't going to put them away on the score sheet.
This team has focus, but after a while its pretty easy to get worn down in that regard when it becomes a game by game situation!
To be fair, 25-30 of the 41 shots were from terrible angles with no chance of scoring. They really only had 3 or 4 real chances. At least Dubinsky is playing himself into a cheaper contract this summer. Early in the season he looked like a 4 million dollar per year man. Now he'll be lucky to get 3.
Take away the shootout and Hank is AVERAGE. Sorry but he gets outplayed too often by the other goalie.
Is this opinion or fact?
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Now the whining Europeans will start with "how can he stop deflections?" Like other goalies do. Get off the goal line. It must be so frustrating to play in front of a goalie that cannot handle the puck at all who plays so deep in his net that the slot is immense. There are so many tips at the edge of the crease because Hank is TOO DEEP. He's average.
His style has his strengths and weakness's.
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Next Cally and Dubi. Nice players. Third liners. Both ruin too many prime scoring chances and Dubi is clueless with the puck in the O-zone.
How many 3rd liners in the league are good for 20G a season?
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Right now we have two 4th lines - Boyle, Prust and Feds and Christ, Prospal and Avery and two 3rd lines Ani, Dubi and Cally and Step, Zucc and Wolski. How can you score without a 1st or 2nd line? You don't
We were scoring a few months ago w/o a 1st line.
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Next Zucc (again going to hear it from the Euros). The experiment has failed. He's too small to be effective; simple. He can pass but he cannot score except in the shootout. Next year we should move on from this one
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Who replaces Zucc? And why are they going to be more successful? Wolski-Stepan-Zucs has show flashes of brilliance, and a good amount of their generated scoring chances came from various plays by Zuccs. He hasn't been much of a defensive liability, hasn't taken nights, or even shifts off. He's engaging. How many games has Zucs played, btw . . . . ?
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Vinny Prospal; a waste and a major contributor to the team's poor play the last month.
Ok. Who replaces Prospal?
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And finally, Torts for the McCabe/Gilroy pairing. They are both challenged defensively. Why play them together? So, they can be on for both even strength goals against? Poor coverage. One is weak and the other is slow. Great pairing.
What should the pairings be? You want Gilroy, or McCabe on the second-pairing? You want one of the the guys you're criticizing, playing more minutes? You want that second-pairing of McD and Sauer split? Or do you prefer Eminger replaces one of Gilroy/McCabe? Probably Gilroy, since he's incompetent defensively.
Both scenario's are destined for failure, imo. Our group of defenders are, just too young. Much like our team.
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Season over folks. Now let's drop to 12th so we can get a top 5 pick. Not gonna torture myself tomorrow night since I'm going to the Sunday massacre at the Garden. Just brutal
So the reason's were lost tonight were:
-Henrik's godmode form can be penetrated by an almighty deflection.
-Cally and Dubinsky are 3rd liners instead of 2nd liners.
-MAZ is too small and should be replaced by _______.
-Prospal sucks and should be replaced by _______.
-Torts, for pairing together McCabe and Gilroy.
You know, you probably shouldn't go to the game on Sunday. Definitely not. They'll get massacred. Or worse, they might win, and you'll prance around like a giddy schoolgirl with unrealstic expectations. This team is composed of kids. We've been banged up the entire season.
Instead of making some suggestions, you point out the obvious. An opinion tainted due to a bad loss, but that's what ultimately happens when you can't call a spade, a spade. This team has too many spare parts to function properly. Assuming they're going to run all all cylinders and outperform most teams from here on out is just a good way to let yourself down.
what kind of players need to come to new york for this team to be a contender?
hard to say. you could bring in a sniper, but the current guys miss on the pass, or you could bring in a creator, but the current guys flub the opportunity.
NEW YORK – Even scoring the first goal of the game couldn’t help the Rangers tonight.
After allowing their opponent to open the scoring during seven of their last eight losses, Sean Avery broke the ice just 3:13 into the game by wristing in a brilliant feed by Erik Christensen. New York even took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission – they had been 12-2-2 this season when leading after 20 minutes.
But Minnesota got three deflection goals – one of them a deflection off Matt Gilroy’s stick – and defeated the Rangers 3-1 at Madison Square Garden Thursday night. The Rangers (33-29-4) finished their three-game homestand without a single point. They’ve lost each of their last four home games.
MisterUnspoken-No Wolski is only 24 and not old but what I meant was that I'd rather see a kid like Carl Hagelin skating, Roman Horak winning faceoffs, or Ethan Werek getting dirty than Wolski do his disappearing act.
He's too inconsistent. Not a bad player of course.
The issue with this is that the entire team is inconsistent. I can't pick the inconsistency from the pile of inconsistency.
I believe Wolski gets the benefit of the doubt and at least another season to show he can be a useful player.
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Originally Posted by Dr. Ogrodnick
To be fair, 25-30 of the 41 shots were from terrible angles with no chance of scoring. They really only had 3 or 4 real chances. At least Dubinsky is playing himself into a cheaper contract this summer. Early in the season he looked like a 4 million dollar per year man. Now he'll be lucky to get 3.
Perhaps so but when Minny buries 3 of their 4-5 chances the whole game and the Rangers bury one.... that shows that the team lacks a killer instinct. If Cally scores and makes the game 2-0 the Rangers win this game hands down. There is no way that Minny comes back from that. THAT was the difference in the game, giving Minny hope that they could come back.
It's the same damn thing every game. We better hope Brad Richards and Gaborik are both here next season to score some goals and set up the rest of the guys or the Rangers are in serious trouble again.
Funny thing is that Torts, in his post game, said exactly what I said earlier in this thread. I just listened to him. He said it better than me, but the point still stands:
You need to stand on the throat of your enemy when you have the chance or when you walk away they will slit your throat (on the scoreboard)
The Devils weren't exactly terrible for half the season, but they just weren't winning for whatever reason. They fire MacLean, and next thing you know, they're on fire.
To say the Rangers suck is ignorant. A sucky team goes out and gets outplayed. The Rangers outplay everyone. They outchance everyone. It's just this constant bad luck that's been with them since the start of the year. Normally, teams can play through a tough stretch, but this team actually works harder and has worse results.
What good does "tanking" do? The only way that would even be acceptable is to throw all the chips in, trade Lundqvist for a goalscorer and let the kids develop on Broadway, while losing 6-4 every night.
Yeah. The whole season is bad luck. To believe otherwise would be an ignorant thought.
We need to find a way to score more...we outplay our opponent for most of the game and lose a close game because of confidence...the team has lost all its confidence, but all it should take is string 2 or 3 wins in arow together where the team scores 3 goals at least...and then the confidence is back up, but it needs to start with one game, just one, and the one is tonight. The rangers have to realize that they have hit rock bottom and cannot go any lower so now it is time to just shoot, all the time, no passing! just shoot!!!! And McCabe better start netting goals to help this team.
Prospal...i like his attitude, I know he cares, but he is not noticeable at all out there. I think his knees are done, which is slowing us down. Last year it was redden and partially jokinen slowing us down before prospal came back we had something now it is like the whole team exhaled when he came back...and it CANNOT be that way!
You need to get out of your head that our goaltender is separated from the team. When the team is playing like this, he will fall with them. The game scenario for tonight is probably the worst a goaltender can face. Not many shots, but when they come, they are usually of the sort where you have to look like a monkey on acid to keep the puck out of the net. No, I don't mean "monkey on acid" as in "Theodore putting his stick along the ice", I mean the serious crap where you save physically impossible goals. So not only do you have little to do, you face hell when you have to act.
Kind of ironic that the ultra whiner - that whined on whining Europeans of all things - complained that Hank plays deep in his net and can't stop deflections. Ironic, because Hank wasn't playing deep on the second deflection and had no chance on the deflection because of it. He would have a hard time saving it anyway, because that puck went crazy, but still.. not that the goalie style matters much against deflections, because of the difficulty and the nature of the shot, but that's nothing I will get into. If you don't get it, you don't get it.
If you want to get money out of your goalie...
1. No matter the contract, your goalie can't see through bodies. Just a thought.
2. No goalie likes deflections. Just a thought.
3. Goalies like the defense to take care of the crease action. Just a thought.
Sure, Hank hasn't stolen games. But the number of goals allowed these last 20 games or so have had a ridiculously high amount of no chance goals against us. Who's to blame for that? The defense and Hank need to cooperate better, because too often does the defense look like a burden more than help. Too much screening of our own goalie, too many deflections off our own players and then they don't take care of the opposing players anyway if the puck gets through! If you aren't helping your own goalie anyway, just get the hell out of his way. If you want your goalie to perform, you need to give him an opportunity to perform. This, will never change. I honestly don't see how Hank could've had better statz after this ugly stretch of games, regardless of form, considering how the goals have happened. Sure, a softie once and there, which is normal... but the rest? Pure hell. Deflections, deflections, deflections, screens, screens, triple rebounds, deflections, breakaways, roofed lasers... you get the idea. Kind of the opposite how we score our goals.
Regardless of age, talent and injury lists... I honestly believe alot of the blame comes down to strategy. What do we do on most nights? At best, we grind the puck along the boards in the offensive zone for 40 minutes. We then give it up, pass it to no one, or just flat out flub on the puck. Where the hell is the crease traffic and the goalie screens?! And yeah, a shot or shot pass that actually comes towards the vicinity of the net usually helps. I've been watching this team non stop since the lockout. I'm still waiting.
I'm also not sure about our defensive strategy, which seems to bite us in the ass more than help Hank. Sure, it looks great when you're 1st in blocked shots in the league... but when you consistently miss the blocks and act as a screen - or even worse, deflect the puck - I'm not so sure anymore. And then I haven't even mentioned all the injuries from blocking all those shots. If we can't help, stay out of the way and make sure the opposition do the same.
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Originally Posted by Whoot Whoot
I hate 2011 style hockey.
Henrik would have been better with his style in the 90's where you could actually touch a player standing in front of the crease.
This team needs to spend like the whole summer in the weight room.
Well, Philly and to some extent Boston seems to have as a strategy to exactly do that. Touch players that aren't where they like them to be. They seem to get away with it, perhaps because their names are Pronger and Chara. Not sure if we would though.
Renney was right. If your goalie is your best player, you play a 1-2-2 forecheck (defensive forecheck). Torts isn't playing up to his player's potential. We don't score enough goals to justify playing 2-1-2.
2011 hockey. Can we go back to the 1980's when every shot wasn't blocked?When sticks weren't in the passing lanes. Jari Kurri or Mike Gartner would gather speed coming out of their own zone and rip a 45 foot shot past the goalie who was not dressed like the Michelin Man. No back checking. No four players standing around in center ice. No five players collapsing below the hash-marks. It's hard enough to beat the goalie wearing a snow suit without having the other 5 players protecting the net. Kurri would have to get past 2 players in the neutral zone,not have the defenseman deflect his shot into the netting to beat the snow suit wearing goalie and worry about the other forward back checking to score a goal in the current NHL.
