Too much over analyzing right now from some of you. Renney made one small switch and I dont find that to be a big deal. This 5 day break is really getting to some of you.
Well by that logic, Renney could make another small switch and just bench Prucha for Orr to add a fighter to the lineup. The story can be player a is going to line 4, or the story can be Renney is finding new ways to reduce Prucha's minutes.
Renneys problem is that it takes him almost 3/4's of a season to get the lines right, and then another change. After 2 good games, with lots of goals and team D, he shouldn't be messing with things. The change is minor, but there is no reason for it. If it came after a loss, fine, but he should leave well enough alone.
Problem is the coaching staff don't trust Prucha's defense. He gets a lot of his goals on the power play. I still don't know how he will mash in with Betts. Betts and Ortmeyer have better chemistry.
Dupuis Cullen Ortmeyer is a very good checking line.
Although I'd prefer Ortmeyer be moved to the 4th line, and Prucha play RW with Dupuis and Cullen, I don't think it's a big deal. As long as the top two lines stay together for now, it's okay.
The story can be player a is going to line 4, or the story can be Renney is finding new ways to reduce Prucha's minutes.
That is basically it. Renney has not had much use for Prucha. Not last year when he was scoring and not this year. Not at all surprised by the move. As mentioned, the trade was not made to have another 4th liner on this team. Not surprised, but still dissappointed. I think that Renney is treading the point of no return when it comes to Prucha and development.
What's funny is that despite all of Renney's efforts to minimize Prucha's ice time, he is still 4th on the team in goals.
I think those are hard guys to compare Colton Orr to. All those guys make better decisions with the puck then Orr does, but I do think he has made some strides in being a better player than he was earlier in the season. However he's still not a guy that should be a staple to your lineup every game.
I agree.
But I also like to add that Orr is improving. He kind of kept up against Washington. He is defenitly better now then he were when he came last season.
I could see Orr joining that group 3-4 years from now. He needs to improve his foot speed ect. But overall its great to see him developing.
I thought that was the heart of the blog entry. I would have to assume Holt, right?
Quote:
Montoya was just scheduled to return to the ice today from a knee injury. So Valiquette appears to be the more likely candidate to be called up. Normally, Valiquette would require waivers to be brought back to the NHL. But he can be summoned without risk in this case as an emergency injury exemption
The "flu" is just a case of colds. I wouldn't get too worked up about it.
Quote:
Jaromir Jagr sat out practice today with his second bout with the flu this month. While Jagr almost certainly will play at Carolina (doesn’t he always?), don’t be surprised if another wave of illness goes through the dressing room -- Renney was hit hard by it yesterday
I am having a hard enough time finding the justification
of Prucha being so misused this year, but now he is relegated to the 4th line in favor of Dupuis? Within this organization it is always the same thing. Another team's trash is always better than anything that comes from within your own system.
how Prucha gets bounced to the 4th line with addition of Dupuis. Is Adam Hall better then Prucha, NO. Dupuis was traded for Hall. Can Dupuis be that much better then Hall if traded straightup. Nearly the same age. One slightly better then the other in different facets of the game, although I can't remember Hall doing much good.. Honestly. Now your telling me that Dupuis, never a 30 goal scorer or fan favorite at the garden now slides above Prucha on the depth chart. Who is Renney kidding. How can Petr gain confidence if he is constantly being shot down. If he loses his first power play spot, that will be the final straw. This is the best two pp line production we have had all season.
Why are we not going with the same lineup that has won 2 in a row and go 5 out of 6 possible points..
Maybe Prucha, Cullen and Dupuis(if he is as defensive as everyone claims)
Maybe Hollweg Betts Orty/Orr.
Why change whats working Tom?!??!
The 3rd and 4th lines are getting identical ES ice time. Does it really matter for Prucha if he is playing with Betts/Hollweg instead of Cullen/Ortmeyer? Neither group is particularlly good offensively. I would have left the Prucha-Cullen-Ortmeyer together because they showed chemistry recently, but if its broken up its not the end of the world.
how Prucha gets bounced to the 4th line with addition of Dupuis. Is Adam Hall better then Prucha, NO. Dupuis was traded for Hall. Can Dupuis be that much better then Hall if traded straightup. Nearly the same age. One slightly better then the other in different facets of the game, although I can't remember Hall doing much good.. Honestly. Now your telling me that Dupuis, never a 30 goal scorer or fan favorite at the garden now slides above Prucha on the depth chart. Who is Renney kidding. How can Petr gain confidence if he is constantly being shot down. If he loses his first power play spot, that will be the final straw. This is the best two pp line production we have had all season.
Why are we not going with the same lineup that has won 2 in a row and go 5 out of 6 possible points..
Maybe Prucha, Cullen and Dupuis(if he is as defensive as everyone claims)
Maybe Hollweg Betts Orty/Orr.
Why change whats working Tom?!??!
Prucha aint the only one to be screwed around. Thomas Pock a healthy scratch again, why wont Sather just trade him. Heck at least get a 6th round pick for him, at least we will get something for him and not lose him for nothing when Pock becomes a UFA this summer.
u didnt know or dont watch the Sabre/Hurricans/Ducks amongst a few other top teams:
"The 3rd and 4th lines are getting identical ES ice time. Does it really matter for Prucha if he is playing with Betts/Hollweg instead of Cullen/Ortmeyer? Neither group is particularlly good offensively. I would have left the Prucha-Cullen-Ortmeyer together because they showed chemistry recently, but if its broken up its not the end of the world."
They roll 4 good lines that can skate amd score, at least the COP or CDP pairings might generate chances as a 3rd line(as seen in the last game in Boston for example), we might have fresher lines and generate more chances throughout the lineup. Shortening the bench does not win games. It is not the end of the world, just the end of the Ranger season.
I agree, get something for Pock. Maybe get a draft pick for the one we gave up in the last draft to get Zaborsky or retrieve the one we gave up in the Isbister trade(2008 5th rounder and Petruzalek??figure that one out)
I wonder how we would look if we had gotten Brendan Witt instead of A. Ward. Sean Hill looks pretty good this year as well.
I still say a HARD HITTING/Crease clearer who can skate is needed.
Betts line had 10:20 of even strength ice time against the caps, and Cullen had 10:23. Thats 3 seconds we are talking about.
Against Tampa it were 1 minute and 20 sec, or two shifts.
Thats a heck of a downgrade for Prucha. Diiiiissgusting!
Let's be fair in the argument and acknowledge that it's not just about the minutes. It is about roles and linemates also. Betts is a straightup defensive center, no real offensive upside, no passing. Prucha will not do anything there, neither did Hossa, neither did Ward. Hossa suddenly gets the promotion in minutes and linemates and he is getting on the scoreboard.
Cullen is no offensive dynamo but he may as well be compared to Betts, and I'm not trying to knock Betts. The COP line had chemistry and a nice balance: speed, shooting, checking. Renney struggles all season to develop chemistry amongst his lines and the moment he gets his struggling young guy going he puts another hurdle in front of him. The fact is Renney should be doing everything he can to make Prucha a success, just like he is doing for Hossa. Now I know that Prucha is never going to play on the 1st two lines under Renney's tenure but at least with Cullen he has a chance to put some points on the board and build on his young career.
Prucha aint the only one to be screwed around. Thomas Pock a healthy scratch again, why wont Sather just trade him. Heck at least get a 6th round pick for him, at least we will get something for him and not lose him for nothing when Pock becomes a UFA this summer.
why would a team give something up for pock if THEY are also going to lose him for nothing?
Cullen is no offensive dynamo but he may as well be compared to Betts, and I'm not trying to knock Betts. The COP line had chemistry and a nice balance: speed, shooting, checking. Renney struggles all season to develop chemistry amongst his lines and the moment he gets his struggling young guy going he puts another hurdle in front of him. The fact is Renney should be doing everything he can to make Prucha a success, just like he is doing for Hossa. Now I know that Prucha is never going to play on the 1st two lines under Renney's tenure but at least with Cullen he has a chance to put some points on the board and build on his young career.
What I find really interesting were Renney's comments on what their plan was with Hossa.
Quote:
“We felt that if we could establish a really sound defensive base, get him some penalty killing and help him to define a role for himself that he might be able to become more coonfident and we could present him with the next challenge. But I can’t tell you this was preconceived.” -Renney
Thats exactly what I have been saying about Prucha, and what needed to be done with him this season. With Petr it haven't been so much about pure defense as it is/was with Hossa, who pretty much only have been used in 3rd/4th line and PK situations here for a long time, but with Prucha its about getting him to a point were he can contribute no matter what line he is on, or what side his linemates wake up on. And I am not talking about scoring goals or producing, but taking the puck up ice, forechecking, just challenging D's, getting shot off on his own and stuff like that.
We all agree that Prucha haven't been in a good situation here in NY this season. He is a bad fit with Shanahan obviously (they play the same style), Cullen haven't been able to play as a 2nd line C, our depth players don't have enough offensive skill ect.
But that doesn't hide the fact that while played on the 1st/2nd/3rd/4th for this team, Prucha have often dissapeared for long stretches and not been able to really get involve and contribute.
Inorder for Prucha to be successful in this league he must get past depending on his linemates inorder to get involved offensivly (not producing but getting involved, beeing around the puck).
If we play Straka with Hollweg and Orr, Straka wouldn't score much, but he defenitly would contribute allot. You know he would comeback and help Holly in the transition game and stuff like that. Prucha must add thoose aspects to his arsenal, and I know that he got them in him. Nylander often get caught up ice and its extremely important to have a LW who is fast on the backcheck on that line, so Straka is a lock on that line even if he aren't scoring. Lets say we had Yashin as our 1st line center, he is kind of slow taking the puck up ice from his own end, but good down low. Straka would be a lock on a line with him too, since Martin is really good at taking the puck up ice.
Straka have been a extremely streaky scorer his entire NHL career, but there have always been allot of offers on the table for him, since he is so verstaile, he makes his linemates better. Thats what Prucha always were able to contribute with in Europe. He played with a slow center in Dopita, Prucha were the first man in on the forecheck, the first man back to skate the puck out of his own end. Thats something I haven't seen from Prucha in the NHL. I haven't seen him lift a Hollweg or a Betts at all.
This is a example of a typical play from Prucha in Europe (remember that Prucha never scored much overhere and still made WCH teams over guys like Havlat among others) the puck ends up in Prucha's zone, his center and D are pressuring the other team around the boards whie they are starting to circle it, in comes Prucha flying heads first, bumps into 3-4 guys, swaps like a mad man after the puck, gets it undercontroll and accelerates with it in traffic but gets it out and starts a counterattack at full speed. You always saw him around the puck, it was truly amazing to see, no matter where the puck were, Prucha was there.
While Prucha have been able to adjust to the NHL in a great way in many aspects, like scoring goals, this is a example of a aspect of his game that he still haven't been able to adjust. In the NHL when he have gone back in his own end he have ended up on the back of a much stronger and bigger player and lost his coverege. He must find new routes here, learn new ways to use his skills in these aspects.
For me Prucha is very much developing as a player. I don't care what age he is. He is a very late bloomer, I mean he looked like a 16th year old in the face last season... Prucha aren't a Ziggy Palffy, he can't make it playing a 1-way game alone. But I still strongly belives in him. And I belive that he got a ton of potential. I can defenitly see him peaking as a 30-35 y/o, just like Daniel Alfredsson, have Straka ever been a better player then what he is right now? Nylander? I still see Prucha as a developing player, as work in project. And I see him in a position were he can work on his "flaws" without much pressure. He defenitly wouldn't have room to explore his game defensivly and in the transitiongame if he were on the ice with Jagr every shift.
I don't feel Prucha are beeing misused, I feel he is beeing developed. I also think he is making progress, I defenitly think he have improved from the first week of the season in many aspects.
But Hossa had nothing to build on, hence Renney's efforts to establish his confidence. In my opinion, Renney's decisions have only taken away that confidence within Prucha. At this point in the discussion though, we're splitting hairs. We'll know if you're right when we see Pruch riding shotgun with Nylander or Straka.
I don't mind prucha with Betts and Hollweg. I think it makes that third line a quick more defensive unit. The ice time has been the same, so things should be alright.
with Prucha playing with Betts is they've played together for at least 20 games in two seasons and Prucha has zero goals while playing with Betts. Prucha has scored more goals playing with Cullen, in what may be a near like amount of games, and thus it makes a bit more sense to play him there, or to just sit him.
But that doesn't hide the fact that while played on the 1st/2nd/3rd/4th for this team, Prucha have often dissapeared for long stretches and not been able to really get involve and contribute.
2 weeks ago, that statement could have easily applied to Hossa as well. Chances are, 2 weeks from now, that statement WILL apply to Hossa.
