actually can someone tell me how many stanley cup finalists or winners we have in the squad?
talking about playoff experience/leadership....
Well, we have Feds who has 2 cup rings, and that's it, I believe. Prospal has some experience, obviously, as well as McCabe, but this team is extremely young and inexperienced. Which is why even getting swept in the 1st round this year would be considered a success, to get players like Anisimov, Stepan, McDonagh, Sauer, Zuccarello, and Boyle some much needed playoff experience.
Everyone is playing well for the most part, fulfilling their roles.
If Drury comes back in the lineup, either Zuccarello or Wolski? Of the forward group, they're the biggest liabilities defensively, although they're not really that much of a liability.
I'd venture, Wolski of the two? I like Zuccarello's ability create. Maybe put Dru on that line on the LW or Step on the LW and tell Dru to find openings and shoot a bit more then he was when he was in the lineup.
Still, not sure scratching Wolski would be wise.
Christensen is playing well for now.
It isn't that Drury played all that bad when he was in the lineup, his offensive confidence dissipated, though. His defensive game was still fine.
He hasn't played in so long, though.
Its a tough situation.
Next year, there really won't be room for Drury, or his contract. And I think its time to give the 'C' to Callahan or Dubinsky. (If its Callahan, give Dubi an 'A').
The playoffs are going to be very valuable experience for Stepan and the rest of the young guys considered part of the core. So they won't come out of the lineup.
so we have 2 guys in the line up with any sorts of experience and both are considered fringe.
I would say - they will be in the line up if they are able to lace their skates....
I still cant get over how people make it seem like Dru in some way is much worse than he once was. When was this once was? the guy is not that old. The fact is Torts came and set things straight, Drury was played way in over his head with Renney and obv will accumulate more points when hes on the PP all the time, but he wasent good enough then nor is he now to contribute in the way GM and Renney tried to believe. Hes a 3rd or 4th line guy when hes playing 100% intensity and is quite effective at that roll, now and in the past. Maybe a year or two he was a 2nd line guy but with Buff i didnt see his talent level any different. Just plain and simple pathetic signing there was not this slide in that last year or two. The Slide is Torts who plays guys not based on contract, and everyone followed along thereafter. But as i said the only way u put Dru in the lineup is at the expense of Wolski, Christ is to talented to have sitting out esp with some chemistry with Gabs. Boyle is a force but if he were to struggle that might be the only center u can take out.
He is worse than when we signed him and he's never ever-ever-ever been worth the contract he signed. At this point he's washed up and for all those who want to sign Richards next year--that cap space can only come out of one player--and that's D-r-u-r-y. Rangers right now have 4 lines they can roll and get offense out of--put Drury in the lineup and we'll have three--because he won't be able to keep up and he won't be able to make plays.
so we have 2 guys in the line up with any sorts of experience and both are considered fringe.
I would say - they will be in the line up if they are able to lace their skates....
I don't think Fedentenko is considered fringe at all. He's a very significant part of our current team. Without him, they look completely different, most noticeably Prust and Boyle, Boyle in particular. Boyle slumped with Fedetenko out, and now he's creating a bunch of chances. Ruslan opes up space for him with his on-ice intelligence.
I don't think Fedentenko is considered fringe at all. He's a very significant part of our current team. Without him, they look completely different, most noticeably Prust and Boyle, Boyle in particular. Boyle slumped with Fedetenko out, and now he's creating a bunch of chances. Ruslan opes up space for him with his on-ice intelligence.
I still cant get over how people make it seem like Dru in some way is much worse than he once was. When was this once was?
I don't understand this statement. You didn't see a difference between his level of play this year compared to even last? I know he didn't play a lot, but what I saw was shocking. He looked like Ted Drury, not Chris Drury.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven Mastrosimone
I would gladly play Drury over Christensen.
I think it's a tall order for Drury to perform at a Christensen level right now.
I think it's a tall order for Drury to perform at a Christensen level right now.
Offensively — I agree.
Defensively — not quite.
We have the offensive depth. Christensen is far from a necessity; and he doesn't seem fit for playoff hockey. He's very weak on the puck, and isn't very good defensively, at all. He's also struggled a bit in the past few games, and if he keeps struggling — it's a no-brainer, IMO.
I know people (not you, in particular) love to rag on Drury's alleged intangibles, but the truth of the matter is that they are actually a valuable commodity; especially for such a young team. If we decide not to dress Drury, then we have one player with a cup ring, that actually played a part in that cup: Fedetenko. His experience, defensive game, and never-say-die attitude is an extremely valuable asset for a team that has ~7 players playing in their first ever playoff action.
1) I fail to see how the contract effects this team's potential.
2) So you're ready to trust Sather with capspace? The same guy who handed out this contract?
3) You can't do anything about the contract now, so it's not an either or thing.
1. That space could be used to get any number of great players. That is elite player money going to someone who not only doesn't give elite results but hasn't given any results this year. Drury has positive points to his game, there is no doubt about that, but spending that amount of salary cap space on a player that has his strengths and his production is an enormous handicap on the team, especially when they have Hank at his cap hit (although thats 110% worth it) and Gaborik at about the same ( I think Gaborik is worth that as well). I talked about this is the "Do we need Lundqvist" thread - in today's league you can't have a goalie with that kind of salary unless you are smart with the cap in other places. Drury's contract is by FAR the worst contract that is affecting this team's cap space. Until someone somewhat worth that money is taking it up this team will only be a fraction of what it can be. Look up the biggest contracts in terms of cap space and look at the guys who make around what Dru makes and less - there are players who change games night in and night out that make millions less than him. You can't have a team reach its potential when you're paying 7 million dollars for nothing in a cap world. It doesn't matter how good of a leader that guy is or what the story behind the contract is - its just not possible.
2. What's the fear exactly? That he's going to waste it? Its being 100% wasted right now - its literally going toward the hope of maybe winning slightly more faceoffs in the future. 7 million dollars. Almost anything would be an upgrade over the current situation. I don't see where that argument ends. He gives out all the contracts no matter what. You can't say that he should never get cap space again because he screwed it up in the past. He's not the best guy for the job at all but a team has to be run here and the person in his position has to deal with how the space gets used. If he could get a 30-30 player for that thats a big upgrade for the whole team.
3. Something will be done with it. I really don't think that this team will be losing that cap space to Chris Drury next season.
He is worse than when we signed him and he's never ever-ever-ever been worth the contract he signed. At this point he's washed up and for all those who want to sign Richards next year--that cap space can only come out of one player--and that's D-r-u-r-y. Rangers right now have 4 lines they can roll and get offense out of--put Drury in the lineup and we'll have three--because he won't be able to keep up and he won't be able to make plays.
Replace Boyle with Drury? Really? Jesus...
Hey man i cant agree more with the liability or lack of ability for better word that he displays on many nights, usually shown when put in positions over his head. But he does have an energy on occassion and he does have experience which i kno may not mean much but it could give the group a different outlook going into the playoffs. Like i said Avery must must must be in the line-up, tonights game proves that, the guy is too valuable and we still need him, regardless of the penalties last game. So that means who is in who is out. I know Christ is off and on, but his ability to get 3 points in a game is needed. So if Avs maybe in for Wolski, that leaves Dru to only replace Prospal (not likely but possible), Christ(need his skill), Zucc(i would not sit him) or a long shot in Boyle. Im not suggesting they replace Boyle in the event he struggles he could sit a game or two. I mean its not like hes played amazing lately. But i wont cry if Dru isnt in the line-up, if u read my posts in that past about him u kno that, but Torts is smart enough to play him in the right role and maybe he could be more valuable than someone, that all im saying.
Dru's game may have deteriorated to a dreadful state but the level of disrespect he gets is equally as dreadful. Some folks have no class.
Performance equals respect, no performance, no respect.
That simple, I don;t care how many times the announcers talk about his "leadership, class, and etc." At the end of the day it comes down to, can you play?
granted its a very small sample size but avery has won like 65% of his faceoffs this year. put him in for wolski and he can take draws in a worst case scenario. drury can stay away lol
i would sit MZA before Christensen. Christensen is capable of winning us a game here and there....MZA is not.
Fully agree.......MZA is providing nothing right now. I would actually rather Avery at this point that MZA. He may be good one day, but right now he is mehhhhh.
When and if he gets a chance to play again.....Avery needs to be let off the leash and start barking at the opponents again. He needs start getting the other teams star players off their games again.
Hey man i cant agree more with the liability or lack of ability for better word that he displays on many nights, usually shown when put in positions over his head. But he does have an energy on occassion and he does have experience which i kno may not mean much but it could give the group a different outlook going into the playoffs. Like i said Avery must must must be in the line-up, tonights game proves that, the guy is too valuable and we still need him, regardless of the penalties last game. So that means who is in who is out. I know Christ is off and on, but his ability to get 3 points in a game is needed. So if Avs maybe in for Wolski, that leaves Dru to only replace Prospal (not likely but possible), Christ(need his skill), Zucc(i would not sit him) or a long shot in Boyle. Im not suggesting they replace Boyle in the event he struggles he could sit a game or two. I mean its not like hes played amazing lately. But i wont cry if Dru isnt in the line-up, if u read my posts in that past about him u kno that, but Torts is smart enough to play him in the right role and maybe he could be more valuable than someone, that all im saying.
Look at it this way--Drury had a 30+ point season last year and the Rangers didn't make the playoffs. He gets paid a lot. It was not a good year apart from the Olympics for him where he was put in a defensive role. To me though the Olympics is nice but he's paid to make a difference for the Rangers.
This year--his season never got off the ground. Sure it started with injury but he still had time to get in game shape over the 23 games he did play and with all the injuries we were going through and he couldn't move up off the 4th line even then.
The Rangers are where they are because of players other than Drury. Some people might not like that but Christensen, Zuccarello, Avery, Wolski and even Frolov have contributed a lot more to the success of this year's team than Drury has. Drury's contribution this season is about equal to Boogaard's--maybe a bit better than Todd White. I don't know what justification you could have for yanking one of those guys out of the lineup and bringing in Drury.
This is such an exaggerated notion. The notion that Sather is some child who just threw money at some nobody. Drury was coming off two near-70-point seasons with 30+ goals in each. Couple that with his reputation of being a clutch playoff performer and an all-around solid player. Most Rangers fans at the time were thrilled that we got him. Most of us thought he was overpayed by about 1.5-2 million at the time, and we all would've been much more okay with that overpayment if he continued to put up 50-60 point seasons. He scored 50+ in his first two with the Rangers. Last year he dropped to 32 and was a noticeably different player. He lost a step. This year, it's just progressed even worse, and the injuries certainly haven't helped.
Not to mention there were other bidders for him willing to give him the same contract or close to it / possibly even a little more than that. We got Scott Gomez on the same day and Gomez actually peformed the way he was expected to. He put up 70 points and then 58 points before we traded him.
Now, the main issue is that Gomez and Drury are not and never were 7.5 and 7 million dollar players, but that IS what their market value was. All free agents are overpaid this way. We happened to get two of them on the same day. And we also happened to give one of them a full NMC. That was a mistake. Sather knows it was a mistake. But if it had worked out and Gomez had some magical chemistry with Jagr and Drury improved upon his seasons in Buffalo and scored 75 points and we won a Stanley Cup, then the overpayment would've been justified. But like 29 other teams each year, we didn't win the cup so all the moves are scrutinized and mistakes are amplified.
Wade Redden is another story. We should've done a better job scouting / watching him and realized that he was never going to be the same player he was in the clutch-and-grab era. It was certainly a mistake, but in Sather's one defense, there were many teams after Redden and Sather did what GMs of most teams WISH their GM would do, and do what it takes to get the targeted player here. If we had did our homework better and targeted Streit, our defense would be arguably the best in the league right now. Staal and Streit, McD and Sauer, Girardi and... anyone. Wow.
Sather has made mistakes, sure. But he's never made a mistake without reason. All those moves were to make us a better team. And it's not as if we gave up promising young players to take risks on these overpaid, overrated veterans. Sather turned Gomez into McD+ and used the cap-space to sign a guy who scored 40+ goals and 80+ points with us last year. He admitted his mistake with Redden and did what was best for the team by burrying him. Drury's final year will likely be bought out if he doesn't retire on his own. I do trust Sather with cap-space. I trust that he knows our need and will do what it takes to get him here. That means Brad Richards. I'd rather have a GM like Sather who takes the chance in free-agency than a guy like Dean Lombardi who talks about their needs but is too afraid to make a big move so he continuously settles on plan C or D. How good would the Kings be if they had signed Kovalchuk? How good would the Kings be if they had signed Gaborik the year before?
Just because some of Sather's free-agency signings (that were mostly applauded at the time of each signing) haven't worked out doesn't mean he's incapable of signing the right players and having them work out. To think otherwise is just naive. This team isn't on a 10-year rebuild plan and they shouldn't be. We HAVE the young core and we have even younger prospects in the pipeline who will be joining that core in the next 1-3 years. It is TIME to make that big impact move that takes us to the next level with the Penguins, Flyers, and Bruins. That move is Brad Richards and Sather is a GM who is going to go after him hard, as he should.
I agree with this to ane extent. The Redden signing really colors this view of Sather and warrantedly. COmbine that with Gomer, ROszi, Drury all being overpaid, Boog, kotalik and you have the reason why people have gotten fed up with Sather attempting to fill our needs
