Didn't you get the memo? Always blame the goalie when we're losing. Always. Disregard that we could've been down 4-1 after the 2nd period.
Listen, I know he's Swedish and all, and he won you that gold medal, but he's allowed 3 goals or more in 8 of his 11 and his GAA and SVPCT has been above 3.00 and below .900 pct, respectively in that span.
The Henrik apologists sound just like the Drury apologists (who have been pretty much eradicated from this board).
Henry has been nothing short of sucky since the Toronto game. One great game every four or five is not what he's paid to do -- young defense or not.
I miss Fro, Feds and Rozi all quality players that created space on the ice for other players and played the game the right way. I know Fro struggled somewhat early ona and people were against him but man o man do we ever miss him. He was coming around and would have prob been hitting his stride at this point. Its really unfortunate hes out and not returning, plus Feds solid hockey is also missed and not to mention Rozi.
I miss Fro, Feds and Rozi all quality players that created space on the ice for other players and played the game the right way. I know Fro struggled somewhat early ona and people were against him but man o man do we ever miss him. He was coming around and would have prob been hitting his stride at this point. Its really unfortunate hes out and not returning, plus Feds solid hockey is also missed and not to mention Rozi.
Henrik isn't to blame although that Carcillo goal should have been stopped. The bottom line is they are not creating enough good scoring chances and certainly not scoring enough goals.
That is due to 2 reasons...
1. Rozy should have never been traded. I said the trade was bad then, and it's bad now. That first pass out of the zone is unbelievably important and Rozy was good with that. Staal, as great as he is purely defensively, has an AWFUL first pass out. Girardi's isn't very good either. It's pretty sad, but Sauer or McDonagh may have the best. Gilroy and Del Zotto both don't have as good of passing as you'd think or like.
And forget the passing, but Gilroy and Del Zotto are just so bad now that you don't want them on the ice. You can live with one of the, but not 2.
2. I blame Tortorella for the lines right now. The wrong guys are on the outs. Our last line for a few games was Zuccarello, Christensen, and Wolski. Each of those guys are probably in our top 5 best passers on the team. You need your best passers to cause goals. Other guys are getting too many minutes too who probably shouldn't be. I'd start to pull Prust back to around 8 mins per game.
And Anisimov needs to improve.... His release is so slow that he needs a ton of room to score or cause goals and that amount of room will just never happen against good teams. He's got to figure out ways to score without those roomy rushes up ice.
The balance feels wrong and I just think the Rozy trade is what did it. Those veteran D-men who know how to pass have a lot of value and unfortunately some people around here didn't understand that. It's no coincidence that Phoenix is playing extremely well lately and Rozy is averaging almost 20 mins of ice time.
this team is just devoid of talent. 38 shots against today? nonsense, how many of those are the rangers coming down the wing, crossing the blue line, and letting a soft wrister go right to the goalie. I was at the game today, and can count on one hand the "quality" chances the rangers had on boosh today. The flyers, on the otherhand, had ~24 shots, utilizing one timers, deflections off good screens, and good shots with the offense spreading our defense out like a high school team. Ill take philly's 24 shots, over the Ranger's 38 shots every day of the week.
This team has no creativity...blue collar hard working guys will only get you so far, which is usually around february/march when they usually run out of gas.
as much as i consider hank a franchise goalie, he doesnt work on the rangers. he came to this team during a rebuilding period, and was more than anyone thought they were going to get. he is too good for this team. The current rangers team is not good, but they will never be getting the top five/ten draft picks consistently due to having Lundqvist, he's a step forward, the rest of the rangers roster (sans a few plaayers) is a step back, unless this team makes serious changes, they aren't going anywhere.
I'm starting to lose my level-headedness with this team. The stupid mistakes, the soft goals, it's getting to be too much to handle. All I even care about now is Sather making an exciting deal. Bring in Bogo!
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"Trust me I'm an expert, I watched 13 rangers games on NHL center Ice this year through streaming." -Starburst
"I don't even understand what the point of all this arguing is. Are you guys hoping that the other side is going to have an epiphany and go 'Oh, OH! You're right, we ARE going to lose this series!'" -Crease
I call shenanigans on the concussion. Its an injury that can be easily be faked.
He pulled some garbage in Minnesota too after he signed his 2nd contract with them after a stellar year stats-wise. He was accused of dogging it ,and not playing through some injuries that 95% of the players in the league wouldn't even complain about. His pattern of missing games is starting to resurface here in New York. Why should he worry? he got his money from Sather.
Even last year, I always thought his early production was motivated by the Olympics. Everything was down-hill after returning from the games in Vancouver. He missed a week or so with a sore groin. And there were times when Torts himself said he had to convince him to keep playing and work through the "injuries".
He's too soft for my liking. I seriously doubt he completes his 5 year contract as a Ranger because the organization, as well as fans, will grow tired of him and his shenanigans.
Henrik isn't to blame although that Carcillo goal should have been stopped. The bottom line is they are not creating enough good scoring chances and certainly not scoring enough goals.
That is due to 2 reasons...
1. Rozy should have never been traded. I said the trade was bad then, and it's bad now. That first pass out of the zone is unbelievably important and Rozy was good with that. Staal, as great as he is purely defensively, has an AWFUL first pass out. Girardi's isn't very good either. It's pretty sad, but Sauer or McDonagh may have the best. Gilroy and Del Zotto both don't have as good of passing as you'd think or like.
And forget the passing, but Gilroy and Del Zotto are just so bad now that you don't want them on the ice. You can live with one of the, but not 2.
2. I blame Tortorella for the lines right now. The wrong guys are on the outs. Our last line for a few games was Zuccarello, Christensen, and Wolski. Each of those guys are probably in our top 5 best passers on the team. You need your best passers to cause goals. Other guys are getting too many minutes too who probably shouldn't be. I'd start to pull Prust back to around 8 mins per game.
And Anisimov needs to improve.... His release is so slow that he needs a ton of room to score or cause goals and that amount of room will just never happen against good teams. He's got to figure out ways to score without those roomy rushes up ice.
The balance feels wrong and I just think the Rozy trade is what did it. Those veteran D-men who know how to pass have a lot of value and unfortunately some people around here didn't understand that. It's no coincidence that Phoenix is playing extremely well lately and Rozy is averaging almost 20 mins of ice time.
I don't know what game you watch but Girardi makes some great passes, it is not his fault our forwards can't handle a pass. Girardi is a very smart passer. and should be used more on the pp. they just don't want him to look better than Staal
This Hank bashing and unconditional support back and forth is absolutely hilarious.
On one side you have the Hank loyalists who say he is always perfect and any goal against is the defense's fault. Then you have people arguing the complete opposite and that about 99% of the goals he has given up over the past month have all been soft.
Anyone ever think maybe there is a middle ground? He has had some bad bounces with the deflections, the defense hasn't been great and he has definitely given up some soft goals. But he has also made some incredible saves lately that have kept this team which can't score goals (the real problem of the losing) close in some games.
Tonight, that third goal was definitely a soft one, yes it came from a defensive miscue and he made the first save, but there is absolutely no reason for his stick to be on the right side of his body off the ice. He keeps his stick in front of his legs where it belongs and that puck doesn't go in.
POTG: I thought Stepan played a really good game, and his line was really good, so I guess they will be broken up next game.
the bad: NBC, just because I had to stream the game.
the redden: officials. really? the flyers didn't commit a single penalty?
NEW YORK – Frustrations are starting to boil over for the New York Rangers as the losses continue to mount.
After starting the year 29-19-3 over their first 51 games, New York has fallen into a 2-7-1 slump over their last ten. This afternoon, the Rangers (31-26-4) scored the first goal for the first time in eight games before allowing Philadelphia (39-15-5) to score the next three en route to a 4-2 win on NBC’s “Hockey Day in America.”
“I am upset because the way we played tonight, I think is the way we need to play,” said a visibly upset Brandon Dubinsky. “But it hasn’t been consistent. If we had been consistent, today would have been a small bump in the road with a lot of wins behind us. But that hasn’t been the case because we haven’t been consistent with the way the effort’s been and the way we’ve been playing.”
Obviously it's not the worst thing that could happen, but my point is that it's more about the roster (and, as such, Sather) than the coaching. And firing him would be a very short-run move, and these really haven't helped us in the recent past. Yes, we want to remain competitive right now, but it's ultimately about the long run with such a young team.
I don't think it's a short term move. I think exactly the opposite.
When Torts was brought in, everyone talked of how he was the one who would put us over the top--Renney was good for what he did, helping establish a younger roster, but Torts was the closer. He was going to bring us to glory.
The team wasn't close to glory. They still aren't. I don't think one player changes that. I didn't think Tortorella was the coach for the team when we hired him and I don't think he's the coach for the team now.
Quote:
If you want to build a successful team and system, then keeping a coach for more than a couple of seasons, and letting him assist in the development of the youngsters, would be prudent. That way everyone is on the same page and players can continue to develop without confusion. If we were just a brutally bad team, and had taken an obvious step back with Torts, then maybe I'd be more inclined to agree with you. But that's not the case; Torts, IMO, has gotten more out of this team than expected, and up until this slide, the team was overachieving tremendously.
We did keep a coach around for more than a couple of seasons, until we foolishly fired him. To bring in "the closer." It was dumb at the time and is proving to still have been silly. I agree with continuity, I think it's good. But I don't think Torts is the guy I want to keep long term, nor the guy that I want to help build the team.
More than expected? Really? We missed the playoffs last season. We're potentially going to miss the playoffs this season. I'm not expecting a Stanley Cup, but I think we're at minimum an eight seed. Both last season and this season. I figured we'd finish between sixth and tenth. Same as last year. Sixth if the season went very well, tenth if it went poorly. Last season, it was obviously closer to "poor" than "good." I'm seeing that this season again.
But I don't see how this is all on Torts. That first half of the season, with this team, was better than anything Renney has ever done in my honest opinion. I know you'll probably disagree, and it's definitely arguable, but this team pre-Vancouver was great.
I don't know what's happened, but I don't think it's all on the coaching and you can't tell me you do either. Something's gone sour and it happened fast, i can't imagine it was Torts.
It is most certainly not all on Torts. I have never argued that it is.
That first half of the season was great. However, the season is 82 games. If the second half of the season is as bad as the first half was good, what does that tell you?
Last season, as a whole, was mediocre to poor. This season is quickly turning--as a whole--to poor. If he can't consistently get solid results from the team, he shouldn't be here.
You need to get out of your Ranger fan bubble and watch some other teams on a consistant basis if you think letting in "softies" is only unique to Henrik.
No kidding. Roberto Luongo, anyone? Martin freakin' Brodeur? Hell, the Sabres fans kill Miller when he lets in his softies. It comes with the territory being on of the game's elite netminders. Which is exactly what he has been, year in, year out, since he arrived.
I almost would like to see him traded, so fans can remember what it's like to not have an elite goalie between the pipes.
He does let in soft goals. Sometimes he'll go through stretches on where he'll let in one per game. SO DOES EVERY GOALIE IN THE LEAGUE. No one is immune to this.
no. it's hank's fault when it's hanks fault and that's it. I'm not ignoring our green defense or the team's inability to score 2g a game for nearly 4yrs, but this doesn't absolve hank for not stepping up when we need him, because you see, he's getting paid as if he were one of the best, when he so clearly is NOT!
So who comprise the best? Give me a list, I'll take the names to their respective fanbases, and we'll ask about allowing soft goals. And you'll realize that it happens to every single goalie out there, no matter how elite. Miller, Vokoun, Nabokov, Luongo, etc.
This Hank bashing and unconditional support back and forth is absolutely hilarious.
On one side you have the Hank loyalists who say he is always perfect and any goal against is the defense's fault. Then you have people arguing the complete opposite and that about 99% of the goals he has given up over the past month have all been soft.
There's no such group. The "Hank loyalists" will to a tee admit that he gives up soft goals, as do all goalies. We just disagree with the label "soft" being applied so liberally. As in shots the are deflected in the slot, shots that bank of defenders' stick and into his head, breakaways, etc.
I think people need to calm down a bit. What do you honestly expect with this team? We're basically rolling 4 3rd lines. I don't think anyone thought we'd be playing better than we were now; the early part of the season was just a nice anomaly. Even if it wasn't, the way this team plays wears players down, and the team looks tired. Still, it's no excuse to play like they have the past few weeks.
Torts has been getting the best out of this team, and for what this team is, he's done a good job. There is a major lack of talent, skill, creativity, and intelligence on the ice. When you have so many deficiencies on your roster, you have to play the "dump-and-chase" style. Just observe this team on the rush. They basically skate right into the defenseman, no good passes, no smart moves. Just right in a straight line, and that's evidence that the team needs a shakeup. We have plenty of grinders. That's why I don't understand people that want to give up assets for players like Neil. What do we need him for? To make more offensively boneheaded plays? Acquire Richards and a puck mover in the offseason, and this team is a much better team on the ice. There are no experienced puck distributors, and Richards is that. In a few years, we can have Wolski, Stepan, and Zuccarello as puck distributors as well, but I do think they need one now as well, no matter the cost.
In a few years, we can have Wolski, Stepan, and Zuccarello as puck distributors as well, but I do think they need one now as well, no matter the cost.
I'm about done waiting for "a few more years."
We were a playoff team as recently as a few years ago. A playoff team that integrated youth into the lineup and remained competitive. Now we're a non-playoff team that integrates youth into the lineup and is wildly inconsistent. It's great that the future is supposedly bright and all, but that's not doing anything for me now. I've been hearing about the bright future for a long time. Haven't seen it yet...not even close. I've seen regression.
And please, BB, I love you man, but do not tell people to calm down. I've been watching this sorry franchise for entirely too long to just calm down, look at the big picture, and wait for the future to develop. It's ********. I've heard it all before. That's wonderful that you can remain calm and levelheaded with this team, but I can't any longer. I don't think that's unreasonable, either.
