I was much happier with Halpern's game today. He seemed to be rather invisible in all the prior games.
I have a hypothesis that Halpern has been hiding a bit of an injury for a little while. I am not sure anyone noticed this but in the first games of the season they had Rupp taking quite a few face-offs in place of Jeff. Odd for a guy who throughout his career has been VERY good there.
He took quite a few last night and won most of them. He looked very good which is great, they need him to play 7~9 minutes a night to take some pressure off others.
Torts is a ****ing dick for doing that, especially since he hasn't called out other guys for equally stupid things.
Coaches push buttons to get players going. Some players respond to certain things differently. Hagelin is most likely the type of player who is driven to be better and when someone calls him out, he mans up and uses it as motivation.
I'll trust Torts' judgement on this one considering the Rangers were 1st in the East last year.
But hey, if you want to hate on him blindly, go for it.
Hagelin and Halpern were everywhere. Nice game for them. Hank looks like he's getting back into a rhythm, which is good to see. Good things seem to happen when our defense get the puck on net. They need to keep at it.
I'm not really sure how to respond to this. Absolutely ridiculous.
He's not entirely wrong. The guy isn't a great hockey player. He skates worse than some kids I see in pee-wee leagues, isn't strong on the puck, not physical at all, doesn't have great hands.
Certain players just 'have it', Derek Stepan is not one of those players. He might take a little more time to mature (he's still very young), but certain fundamental things about his game/talent will never change drastically (skating, hands/skill)
He's not entirely wrong. The guy isn't a great hockey player. He skates worse than some kids I see in pee-wee leagues, isn't strong on the puck, not physical at all, doesn't have great hands.
Certain players just 'have it', Derek Stepan is not one of those players. He might take a little more time to mature (he's still very young), but certain fundamental things about his game/talent will never change drastically (skating, hands/skill)
See, he never mentioned any of this. All he did was claim that Derek was a "bust" and needs to be removed.
He's not entirely wrong. The guy isn't a great hockey player. He skates worse than some kids I see in pee-wee leagues, isn't strong on the puck, not physical at all, doesn't have great hands.
Certain players just 'have it', Derek Stepan is not one of those players. He might take a little more time to mature (he's still very young), but certain fundamental things about his game/talent will never change drastically (skating, hands/skill)
You really don't think Derek Stepan is a skilled player? If so, I wholeheartedly disagree.
We are talking about the Stepan who produced 96 points his first two regular seasons, right? I mean, you can't call Zach a bust yet, he has just been drafted.
Last edited by SoftEuro4thLiner: 01-30-2013 at 08:50 AM.
Speaking of Stepan - this was the first game that I can remember where our forward line with Stepan-Cally duo a part of it - showed some semblance of chemistry and looked dangerous offensively.
Really am upset with Cally's injury - he is this team's heart and he's going to be terribly missed even if his offensive production and PK skill can be replaced.
Girardi definitely deserve a star for last night's effort - I actually went with all defense - G, McD adn MDZ.
Speaking of Stepan - this was the first game that I can remember where our forward line with Stepan-Cally duo a part of it - showed some semblance of chemistry and looked dangerous offensively.
Really am upset with Cally's injury - he is this team's heart and he's going to be terribly missed even if his offensive production and PK skill can be replaced.
Girardi definitely deserve a star for last night's effort - I actually went with all defense - G, McD adn MDZ.
Agree, Girardi-McDonagh had moments that reminded me of last season. Very solid game.
Coaches push buttons to get players going. Some players respond to certain things differently. Hagelin is most likely the type of player who is driven to be better and when someone calls him out, he mans up and uses it as motivation.
I'll trust Torts' judgement on this one considering the Rangers were 1st in the East last year.
But hey, if you want to hate on him blindly, go for it.
It's not blind hate, and you should know I've defended Torts against his ravenous angry mob. But Hagelin played a great game and you call him out? He didn't have to do that to make him play an awesome game, since he played THIS game great. Seems like Torts just being an ass.
We also got to first in the East playing our 6th d-man 3 minutes a game, which is something I still strongly disagree with and something it seems like we're going to be doing again.
He's not entirely wrong. The guy isn't a great hockey player. He skates worse than some kids I see in pee-wee leagues, isn't strong on the puck, not physical at all, doesn't have great hands.
Certain players just 'have it', Derek Stepan is not one of those players. He might take a little more time to mature (he's still very young), but certain fundamental things about his game/talent will never change drastically (skating, hands/skill)
...In what world is Derek Stepan not skilled? The world where you can successfully push your agenda that he isn't a good second liner?
And u never hear anything "bad" about Stepan, ever. The guy is a bust, period. Get him out of here and get a guy that can play real hockey.
troll perhaps? Hard to explain the comments other wise.
In any event this kind of thinking...or lack of it...is exactly what can screw a franchise up. When you have people internally who lack any shred of patience with young players.
The Rangers fell victim to this many times. Hard lessons. Currently they are dealing with it better. Short term sacrifice. Long term gain. Big picture.
a decent player, should be able to score 20 goals in an average year...but nowhere near as good as ppl want to make him out to be.
A lot of the hype came from shredding the WJC competition at age 19... it happens with 1-2 guys a year.
Notably, one Derek Stepan did the same thing. For Stepan, a center doesn't need to be a great skater or exceptionally strong. Derek isn't flashy, but please note the kid, at his age is playing top PK minutes for us. He is a solid 2 way center whose defensive play at his age is well ahead of the curve.
Not sure how I feel about Torts calling out Hagelin. I think he was really pissed about the team almost giving away the game in the third and he got a question about Hagelin and sort of went off about it without thinking too much. I have faith in his ability to manage the guys though, he's done well so far. If he can keep Hags hungry and playing like he did tonight, that's fine by me.
