Maybe not enough for a full, separate thread, but maybe people want to have the chance to discuss this player, on whose shoulders a lot of our collective hopes rest.
Kinda sucks that hes already 20 and half the other elite young players are in the league at 18-19 years old. But he is a defensman after-all - and oh, he plays for the Rangers.
His 18 year-old brother had a nice goal today too.
He better be playing in NY next season, it get annoying seeing none of our prospects given a legit chance. Let him develop in NY, Tired of the Rangers saying there not ready when others around the league are playing LOTS of minutes at 18-21 year olds. Our prospects get 3-4 mins a game if they are lucky, when they are 24 years old BTW
I think unless he has a disastorous camp next year, we will definitly see him with the Rangers next year. I remember about a month ago, Al was interviewing Don Maloney about the Rangers prospects, and Maloney said the Rangers probably rushed him back down too soon. Hopefully with Staal, Tyutin, and Pock playing next year our d will start getting younger. And that is not including anyone from Hartford.
He better be playing in NY next season, it get annoying seeing none of our prospects given a legit chance. Let him develop in NY, Tired of the Rangers saying there not ready when others around the league are playing LOTS of minutes at 18-21 year olds. Our prospects get 3-4 mins a game if they are lucky, when they are 24 years old BTW
Happy Birthday Mr. Staal. Only 4 more years until you aren't too young to be called up to the Rangers! But then you only play 8 minutes game, because you're too young...
Who cares where he is playing next year, all I know is that defenseman take longer then forwards to develop and he will sooner or later develop into that top defenseman.
Take your time Mr. Staal...no rush.....you will be a key player on the Rangers for years!
being able to play in the AHL by a couple weeks - too bad.
I do have serious doubts he'll be playing in NY, however. Will not be surprised one bit if he plays in Hartford.
But it's not an awful thing if he DOES play in Hartford. He's a defenseman and they normally take a bit longer to develop. I'd have no problem with it if he shows he isn't ready.
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But it's not an awful thing if he DOES play in Hartford. He's a defenseman and they normally take a bit longer to develop. I'd have no problem with it if he shows he isn't ready.
A bunch of us might not mind...but you know people will start calling him a bust if he can't make the NHL right away and be effective...that's the funny part about message boards
The Rangers should definetly give him 9 games immediatley when the season ends. If he looks good, keep him, otherwise send him to Hartford for the post season. (if they make it)
Who cares where he is playing next year, all I know is that defenseman take longer then forwards to develop and he will sooner or later develop into that top defenseman.
Take your time Mr. Staal...no rush.....you will be a key player on the Rangers for years!
BINGO! I just want kids here when their ready. As long as he's making the proper progress in his game, I'm fine if he needs a year at Hartford. Look at Tyutin; he still makes mistakes you'd attribute to being young.
BINGO! I just want kids here when their ready. As long as he's making the proper progress in his game, I'm fine if he needs a year at Hartford. Look at Tyutin; he still makes mistakes you'd attribute to being young.
Also agree.
I'm guessing part of the impatience with Staal, besides that he's the top prospect, is the success his brothers are showing, especially when one is two years younger. But that's obviously not the way to look at it.
his 20th b-day had to be before January 1 to be able to play in Hartford; just missed it.
Jon - agree totally, and I think that's where he will be. He seems as though he still may have a ways to go.
I think he does, too. Personally, I want them to be as careful with Staal as they can possibly be. He's our top prospect and he can be an absolutely ELITE defenseman if he's handled right and let develop. A few cups of coffee next year would be perfect for him, IMO. Give him 2 games here, 3 games there and spend the rest of the year in the AHL. Even the year after I'd be fine with them doing that. I think he'll debut here around the age of 22 or 23 as a full time player.
i completely agree with the sentiment that he should not be hurried, after all he JUST turned 20 and JUST played in the WJC's. he is a D-man, which takes longer to develop and mature, so i wouldn't mind him splitting duties between Hartford (mostly) and NY next year.
and just because he is a stud d-man in Jr's, doesn't mean he is better equipped than even Malik, et al at the NHL level. hell, he even looked a little off in pre-season and in the AHL playoffs. no need to rush the kid.
Dank said it best, about how Staal looked a little off in the preseason. If you ask me, I've seen his low and high points since he was drafted. I've seen him come up in the preseason both years and have the play look like it was passing right by him, and I've seen him DOMINATE the WJC and shut down players like Malkin, Kessel, Okposo, Mueller, Ryan, etc... He's got a lot of time, there's no need to rush him. So, don't be surprised when he's down in Hartford. Will he get called up next year? Undoubtedly.
I thought he played well enough this preseason (and last) to deserve a long look in preseason, especially given how the Rangers' blue line looked to start the season. It was worth a look in another preseason game or two, and maybe even an NHL game (and if a conditioning stint was permissible, without counting towards the 10 NHL games, which I assume it wouldn't, that would've been a way to get a longer look to see how he improves from game to game and see if he is ready). Again, it's not rushing, but at the same time, kids do often respond to challenges and do often get better while playing at a higher level of competition, but of course we'd have to deal with the growing pains, which I'm not sure management was ready for.
