His entire lousy season people were speculating what injuries Gaborik had that doomed him to such a lousy season. We know about the shoulder. Some people here seemed to "know" that he was scheduled for reconstructive knee surgery while playing on that knee (?!?!).
So when so we hear that he's scheduled for twelve surgeries and will be as good as new next year?
Just watch how he plays in the World Championships, I guess..
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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
He's not hurt. He mentioned a few times over the season including in the playoffs he's 100%. He just had an off year and there's no excuse that can be made for him.
We have to let this go, he had a bad season. End of story.
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"I used to pray for good things . I used to ask the Hockey Gods for puck luck for the NYR .
Now all I want is Torts the smug stupid goatee clown to be fired , . I hate Torts . Please hockey gods make him get fired. Please Sean punch him in face" -- Dorado
I am actually surprised to learn he wasn't injured. I mean he really stunk it up this year. I know scoring was down for a lot of guys...but a drop off of nearly 50% is pretty drurious. Did opposing teams play him differently this year? Or did he just have a bad season? Regardless, we certainly need him to return to form to have success going forward.
well he was hurt earlier in the season. I want to know if he thinks he came back too early and if he was 100% all season. playing hurt and playing at 90% are different things to players. he definitely looked slow, especially one-on-one and going around players on the outside.
Very true. But you can't help but think what the hell happened
Oh I wonder... On another board, I had some discussions with other posters who were certain that his shoulder hadn't completely healed, and that was the main culprit of his poor play, but I argued that there were other elements of his game that were lacking this season that could not be attributed to a shoulder injury. The main basis for me thinking he wasn't playing injured, was the way Tortorella would answer questions about his play from the media. He was professional in his responses, but they were more or less responses to challenge Gaborik to be better. I feel if Torts had known the guy was battling a debilitating injury and he was trying his best, he would have been a bit more reserved in his responses. There was that rumor about him waiting to undergo knee surgery as soon as the off-season, but now we know that's not true now. For whatever reason, the guy wasn't focused upstairs, and it translated to poor play. One poor season is not enough to negate what he was able to accomplish the prior season (and at other points in his career when he's been healthy), and it's not enough for anyone to go on to draw any definitive conclusion about how he'll likely play this upcoming season. So that being said, he simply needs to kick it into high gear and have a strong season next year.
If he wasn't hurt, I really wonder what the heck happened to his shot. Sometimes it looked like the lasers we're used to, other times like a Scotty Gomez slapper. Only reason I thought his shoulder injury might be lingering was because of this. Last year he was straight sniping. This year? The puck was landing ever so softly in the goalie's chest. What gives?
And hurt or not, I don't like him playing for Slovakia. Maybe he gets some confidence back, maybe not. What he's not doing is resting up for what should be a summer of intense workouts for him after such a bad year.
He wasn't hurt, Gabby had an off-season. It happens to everyone, let's see how he does in Worlds and next season, if he keeps up the lousy play then we can begin speculating.
He's not hurt. At the same time, I don't think his shoulder was 100% for most of the season. I do think he looked a million times better down the stretch than at the beginning of the year, just couldn't get anything to go in. will see what happens next year.
Perhaps it was a mental thing with the shoulder where Gaborik in his mind did not feel strong enough with the shoulder and just played on the perimeter and did not want to test the shoulder?
who knows.. I have heard that it takes a year to get over the issue with major shoulder surgery.
I just find it hard to believe a player in his prime at age 29 years old who is a game breaker have such a disapointing season without some sort of issue going on whether it is physical or mental.
With that said... this is hockey.... Tape an aspirin on the shoulder and get out and put the puck in the net!
I'm a little worried, that within a week of the meeting of Torts, Schoeny, and Slats at NYR practice last season: the NYR defensive game got a ton better, and Gaborik's scoring disappeared.
I didn't think anything of it, until his miserable play this season.
It's not enough to say that he had an off year: we need to dig deeper than that and ask why.
He is not a player who over performed, had a career year, and reverted to norm.
He is not a player who should be showing the effects of getting older; though I would agree with a poster on another thread who suggested that the peak years for high end players were happening at a younger age.
He is not a player who was adapting to life in the big city.
He is not a player who has been accused of a lack of effort: when he's struggled in the past before, it was due to injuries.
Sure, he might have been limited by the system Torts put in, but when he had chances, he repeatedly failed to deliver.
What then? It can only have been two things: off ice issues that prevented him from concentrating (didn't I hear somewhere that he broke up with his fiancee? Some people can use work as an escape but others can't). Or injuries.
For sure, I thought that he had some nagging injuries and I am shocked he is playing in the Worlds.
In many ways, this is the big question for the Rangers? What the heck is wrong with Gabs?
