Stepan is not even the most "special" home grown player on the team currently. Staal? Callahan? Lundqvist or Girardi if you want to count them? And Graves was drafted and groomed by the Red Wings and spent parts of five seasons in Detroit and Edmonton before coming to New York.
This.
If Stepan is the mayor, then Staal is a governor, and Lundqvist is president.
Kid is finally showing a bit more of what he showed while at Wisconsin. When he's on his game, he can dictate the play with the puck on his stick. He's finally making plays.
Stepan is not even the most "special" home grown player on the team currently. Staal? Callahan? Lundqvist or Girardi if you want to count them? And Graves was drafted and groomed by the Red Wings and spent parts of five seasons in Detroit and Edmonton before coming to New York.
Why wouldn't Lundqvist be considered home-grown. We drafted the guy?
Girardi is a pretty fair argument as well. I'd go as far to say McD is homegrown as well.
Stepan is awesome, but it's our system that has been wonderful. Not only are guys in the lineup that are homegrown, but they are some of our most important producers.
Hard to believe we are even having this discussion. Never thought we would be here again after those dark years.
Why wouldn't Lundqvist be considered home-grown. We drafted the guy?
It depends on your definition of "home grown", thats all. If the criteria for "home grown" is drafted and/or developed in the Rangers system, then Lundqvist is home grown. So is Girardi because he developed in Hartford. So is Staal and Callahan because they were both drafted by the Rangers.
If someone's required criteria for being home grown is developing in the Rangers system, then a guy like Lundqvist who spent 5 seasons in Sweden after being drafted doesn't really fit that criteria.
Kid has stepped up his game recently. You can see the difference now hopefully he can stay a bit more consistent. I feel like our team is finally starting to come together.
Earlier in the season he deserved all the criticism he received
Disagree.
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Send him to Columbus and get Duby back. Can't skate, can't shoot, can't hit. He only makes a good pass, once in a blue moon.
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I'd only miss Stepan's mom if he was traded , not sure how his Dad pulled that one off .
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Personally, I think that Stepan is going to end up being a 12-15 goal scorer(full season) when all is said and done and if they don't get him some real scoring wings to play with, his production will stagnate going forward.
High Intelligence is not enough to survive and thrive in the NHL.
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Textbook Definition of a 3C on a team with average to above average C depth.
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I would take Jokinen as our 2C over Stepan every single day of the week. The reason this team cannot put the puck in the net is because our scoring depth consists of elite 3rd line defensive players instead of good-average 2nd liners.
Ha, well when you put it that way, he didnt deserve ALL the criticism he received, but he certainly deserved some. He was brutal most nights. Its still kind of sickening to see that a 22 year old kid who was very solid his 1st 2 seasons is subject to such knee-jerk reaction after a bad few weeks.
You didnt attach usernames to those tirades, but Im willing to bet most or all of them havent come back and admitted that Stepan is playing really well now.
At the time Stepan was getting ripped he deserved it. He was playing like trash well beyond this season. He looked bad dating back to before the playoffs last season.
He's playing the best hockey of his career right now. Here's to hoping he keeps it up because this team needs secondary scoring. Nash can't do it all
At the time Stepan was getting ripped he deserved it. He was playing like trash well beyond this season. He looked bad dating back to before the playoffs last season.
He's playing the best hockey of his career right now. Here's to hoping he keeps it up because this team needs secondary scoring. Nash can't do it all
Deserved to get ripped? Sure, I guess. He didnt deserve the mindless bashing about trading him for spare parts. Its mindblowing to me that people can watch hockey for years and still have knee-jerk reactions like that.
You wont find those people calling for him to be traded weeks ago eating crow in this thread now - they're likely off bashing the next guy thats struggling.
Lol at the guy who wanted "1 Goal Dubi" back for Stepan. Just wow.
Since we're going into 4 conferences, we'll definitely play Columbus at home next year. Waiting for the the Duuuuuuuuuuuu. If I were Dubie, I'd cry a little.
