Look at how players players play once they get there. In any sport, unless you get a player who thrives on pressure they often look worse there.
I can't comment on other sports, but this is just selective memory in hockey's case.
For every Gomez or Richards that regresses after going to NYC, you have a Girardi, Prust, Boyle, or Stralman who excels and revitalizes their careers. In fact I'd say the biggest difference is age, and that happens in every market. Free agents regress all the time after signing big contracts with new teams - partly because their best years are behind them, partly because of system/environment changes. There's a million examples of this every year, not just in NYC.
That's not even mentioning the players who NY drafted or developed who go on to excel in the "pressure cooker," like Lundqvist, Callahan, Staal, etc. By the way, the idea that NYC is a pressure-filled city for hockey players is somewhat ridiculous as well. Sure there's a passionate fanbase and the stands are filled every night, but the amount of media coverage Rangers get compared to the Yankees, Giants, Knicks etc is miniscule. The players have even said they enjoy being able to blend into the crowd here in New York. In a city of 8 million, there's enough fans to make a passionate fanbase; but percentage of population wise, its not even close to a Canadian market, or even one like Minny/Boston.
^^ To be fair, much different things are expected of the Prusts and Stralmans of the world than of Gomez, Richards, etc.
Fair point. But very few big name FAs live up to the contracts they sign. And saying that NYC saps the will out of players ignores the players who are drafted and stay there, like Henrik or Staal.
Someone in the Trade Forum proposed T.J. Brennan (Buffalo) for Tom Wandell.
That seems like an ideal trade for Dallas, but I don't think Wandell would be enough to get it done. Brennan can't break into the lineup for Buffalo, but he's only 23 and was having a PPG season in the AHL during the lockout. He's also a high 2nd round pick (31st overall) for Buffalo.
Speculation was Rome's injury is significant, and Larsen's is obviously sounding like a concussion. It's impossible, I've tried numerous times, to get any information on the AHL injuries, but an extra D can't hurt with 5 injuries on D ... 6 if Daley has a setback.
Disagree. His effort resembled Arnott's for the better part of his tenure in Dallas; inconsistent at best.
Btw, I think NY has less of an effect on players than it does attract players who are prone to signing big contracts and following that up with less than stellar effort/bad luck.
I don't know how you can say that. He put up top 5 centre numbers in Dallas. Wasn't always playing at an elite level but he never played at an elite level in New York.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetalGodAOD
I can't comment on other sports, but this is just selective memory in hockey's case.
For every Gomez or Richards that regresses after going to NYC, you have a Girardi, Prust, Boyle, or Stralman who excels and revitalizes their careers. In fact I'd say the biggest difference is age, and that happens in every market. Free agents regress all the time after signing big contracts with new teams - partly because their best years are behind them, partly because of system/environment changes. There's a million examples of this every year, not just in NYC.
That's not even mentioning the players who NY drafted or developed who go on to excel in the "pressure cooker," like Lundqvist, Callahan, Staal, etc. By the way, the idea that NYC is a pressure-filled city for hockey players is somewhat ridiculous as well. Sure there's a passionate fanbase and the stands are filled every night, but the amount of media coverage Rangers get compared to the Yankees, Giants, Knicks etc is miniscule. The players have even said they enjoy being able to blend into the crowd here in New York. In a city of 8 million, there's enough fans to make a passionate fanbase; but percentage of population wise, its not even close to a Canadian market, or even one like Minny/Boston.
You have to include other sports when discussing the New York effect on players but I as well don't know much about the other sports. Self-developed players rarely have this problem unless they're weak mentally but look at all the free agent busts. Free agents bust everywhere but its an epidemic with New York sports teams. In every sport
I get the the New York media is on other teams more but the Rangers get their fair share of media attack. In Dallas Richards never had a negative word spoken about him, in New York when the Rangers are brought up it's different. Minnesota is a bigger hockey market but they're similar to Dallas in that they're a positive hockey market, they don't criticize the team often. Teams like New York, Boston, Philly, Toronto and Montreal are negative markets, where the media tends to critize the team often.
I'd take Richards back in Dallas, he's not the 90 point center but he could be a 70 point buy. A top six of Benn - Richards - Jagr , Whitney - Roy - Eriksson is even better then ours now. Benn can stil play center on the penalty kill and if he gets better at faceoffs take them for Richards.
I swear he misses the net by a pretty wide margin with 90% of his shots from the point.
Dillon and Oleksiak are the only two d-men on this roster who can hit the net.
The rest either shoot it wide or shoot it right into shinpads. The rest are near worthless with point shots, which is a big reason why this team is having to turn to forwards to play the point on the power play.
trading robidas for a good return at teh deadline would make this season a success, imo
I feel like I'm being teased again. If Ryder and Robidas go I won't even care about Morrow. Based on this speculation what would we want from any of those teams if they inquired about him? I'm not really familiar with their prospect systems.
It'd be awesome if he could still shoot like this:
But now it seems like this is the best we can hope for:
Looking at those videos makes me realize how badly he needs a confidence boost. I don't know what the coaches are doing with him or what's going on with him personally, but it definitely seems mental, and to a severe degree. He's over thinking and he certainly never tries to let it fly like that anymore. Dude needs to get his mojo back somehow, that a 4 month lockout didn't do enough to clear his head is pretty concerning.
Dillon and Oleksiak are the only two d-men on this roster who can hit the net.
The rest either shoot it wide or shoot it right into shinpads. The rest are near worthless with point shots, which is a big reason why this team is having to turn to forwards to play the point on the power play.
Benn hits the net, but he doesn't have a ton of power behind his shot.
Philip Larsen ran face first into the boards on Saturday. He received a gash on his forehead, but the bigger concern might be a concussion. Larsen was held out of several games last January with concussion-like symptoms. However, he also could be ready in a day or two if he has no symptoms, so the Stars do not want to put him on IR and potentially lose him for seven days.
Here are shots, missed shots, and blocked shots for Dallas D:
Player
BkS
MsS
Shots
Alex Goligoski
20
24
35
Stephane Robidas
29
16
14
Brenden Dillon
21
15
35
Trevor Daley
21
14
22
Jordie Benn
18
5
13
Philip Larsen
10
5
10
Jamie Oleksiak
7
4
3
Aaron Rome
12
3
6
I sorted based on missed shots ... it was a toss up between that and blocked.
Blocked shots counts the number of opponent shots that the player blocks. It is a defensive stat. For missed shots, I honestly don't know if it counts shots blocked by opponents or if it solely counts shots that are wide of the net.
Redoing the percentages using shots / (missed shots + shots) =
Blocked shots counts the number of opponent shots that the player blocks. It is a defensive stat. For missed shots, I honestly don't know if it counts shots blocked by opponents or if it solely counts shots that are wide of the net.
Redoing the percentages using shots / (missed shots + shots) =
another consideration for d-men shooting is that it's often the better play to just miss the net rather than risk getting the shot blocked for a break the other way. it's also sometimes the right play to just send it in the low slot area for random tips or deflections. to curate all shot attempts and distinguish between "correct" plays and instances where the guy simply misses an open shot or gets it unnecessarily blocked would be an interesting exercise... but not for me.
I feel like I'm being teased again. If Ryder and Robidas go I won't even care about Morrow. Based on this speculation what would we want from any of those teams if they inquired about him? I'm not really familiar with their prospect systems.
of the teams listed (mtl, nj, pit, ott), a trade with ottawa makes the most sense to me, assuming that they can hang around in the playoff race after all their injuries. spezza started skating again, so it's looking alot more likely than a week ago. ottawa has a lot of young assets, and they'd definitely want some veteran experience on their backend. for sentimental reasons, i'd try and go for local product stefan noesen.
if a deal were to happen, then it'll ultimately probably be a deal involving a draft pick or two, though.
I don't know how you can say that. He put up top 5 centre numbers in Dallas. Wasn't always playing at an elite level but he never played at an elite level in New York.
He had one really good year playing with an up and coming sniper on one wing and one of the game's most well-rounded two-way wingers on the other. His next season was pretty good as well but what about 2008-09? He also played some of the most PP minutes by any player in the league during his most productive years in Dallas.
I imagine his numbers falling in New York has less to do with waning desire than it has to do with the type of team defense his new team demands. As far as desire and consistency, he put up some good numbers in Dallas but his effort was always hit or miss. He got really revved up to play offense though, I'll give you that. He made Ribeiro look like a checking center at times.
Regarding the greater New York sports scene, I'm a fan of the big four sports so feel I can weigh in here. From what I've seen it's not so much that players shrink under the bright lights, though you could say that about a few (especially where the Yankees are concerned). What I've seen is that often New York teams seem to be really concerned about perception of their fanbases and don't want to be seen as the team that isn't pro-active about bringing in attractions to the zoo. They got Richards, the belle of the ball during that summer, but what they really got was a player on the wrong side of 30 with recent injury issues. When the Yankees bring in a guy with a big name who is obviously going to begin his descent from the prime of his career it doesn't mean that guy shrank from the media attention, it means the team bought a player with a name to show off to less-than-knowledgeable fans that they're trying trying trying. When the Yankees bring in a prime Alex Rodriguez they get MVP numbers.
