OT: NY Rangers 2023-2024 Thread
- Thread starter Tango Two
- Start date
I think it's put up or shut up time for him. Without making SERIOUS strides, I don't see him making the trade deadline.
I'm looking for any signs of why he was a concensus first overall pick, and I've seen none.
Othmann and Cuylle impressive.
Kakko’s ability to protect the puck should elevate him to 1st line with Mika and Kreids.
Othmann has jump, hands and physicality, play him on 2nd line and see what happens.
Addition of Wheeler is going to help 3rd line, he can also move into top 6 because of injuries or a shake up.
Bonino led 4th line will be improved.
Laf should be benched, he’s played in Two exhibition games and remains unskilled and invisible
Kakko’s ability to protect the puck should elevate him to 1st line with Mika and Kreids.
Othmann has jump, hands and physicality, play him on 2nd line and see what happens.
Addition of Wheeler is going to help 3rd line, he can also move into top 6 because of injuries or a shake up.
Bonino led 4th line will be improved.
Laf should be benched, he’s played in Two exhibition games and remains unskilled and invisible
Unless they somehow look out of place, I'd keep both Cullye and Othmann for up to the 9 games allowed. Think they (so far) have earned a solid look; then, if needed, returned to Hartford.
Think Laf may very likely "play" himself out of town by December. The only positive about his game is that he plays with an edge. Lots of players selected behind him have that quality.
Thought it was good to see pressure on the puck in the Devils' zone. I'm hoping to see a lot of play like the 2nd period last night. Hopefully it won't take long for the players to adapt to any semblance of defensive structure.
Think Laf may very likely "play" himself out of town by December. The only positive about his game is that he plays with an edge. Lots of players selected behind him have that quality.
Thought it was good to see pressure on the puck in the Devils' zone. I'm hoping to see a lot of play like the 2nd period last night. Hopefully it won't take long for the players to adapt to any semblance of defensive structure.
The thought of Laf on power play is laughable.
You’re talking about a guy who can’t and has never crossed the blue line with speed and created open ice for himself or players around him.
His goals have all been no brain, fortunate bounce tap ins
You’re talking about a guy who can’t and has never crossed the blue line with speed and created open ice for himself or players around him.
His goals have all been no brain, fortunate bounce tap ins
He had a pass on the PP last night that was nothing short of atrocious; tried to thread it through AT LEAST 2 Devils players, and I think both were looking at him. Forget low percentage, zero chance that pass was going to work.
Please let this go Mods, I can’t find the other thread😊
Krup-
Hopefully you’ll join in again, I haven’t seen you.
Here we go.
How about the obvious talent of Bedard from Chicago, fun to watch.
Bedard, Hughes and Zigras remind you of our elusive, dynamic number one pick….lol
Krup-
Hopefully you’ll join in again, I haven’t seen you.
Here we go.
How about the obvious talent of Bedard from Chicago, fun to watch.
Bedard, Hughes and Zigras remind you of our elusive, dynamic number one pick….lol
They lost to the Devils, who in my opinion are an excellent team.
A team who can win the Stanley Cup.
If Defensemen Hughes turns into a 70 point guy….look out.
You didn’t know that?
I have no clue what to expect from the Rangers this year.
Laviolette employs a 2-1-2 forechecking style. I like him making Kakko, Laf, Cuylle available to do the dirty work for each line but I don’t see who the second forecheck guy is when we have so many forwards who just want to play on the edges.
His system relies on the defense getting very involved in the offense, which I think is smart for the Rangers based on the skills of their defensemen. I would rather we give up more goals on odd man rushes than watching them constantly pinned in their own end because the coach thinks not taking risks and just conceding your own zone is safer.
Shesterkin better be on form because I think Quick is beyond even Benoit Allaire fixing.
Overall, I think we can finish anywhere from having to battle hard for a WC spot, to being comfortably in the playoffs and in the division battle with the Devils and Canes.
Laviolette employs a 2-1-2 forechecking style. I like him making Kakko, Laf, Cuylle available to do the dirty work for each line but I don’t see who the second forecheck guy is when we have so many forwards who just want to play on the edges.
His system relies on the defense getting very involved in the offense, which I think is smart for the Rangers based on the skills of their defensemen. I would rather we give up more goals on odd man rushes than watching them constantly pinned in their own end because the coach thinks not taking risks and just conceding your own zone is safer.
Shesterkin better be on form because I think Quick is beyond even Benoit Allaire fixing.
Overall, I think we can finish anywhere from having to battle hard for a WC spot, to being comfortably in the playoffs and in the division battle with the Devils and Canes.
You‘ve been around long enough to know the NYR luck, lol. LAF would have been taken by every other team first, and each one would have been disappointed as well.
As far as this year’s outlook, it‘s the same old song. Like almost every year - NYR will win a lot of games, probably be better than most, but come up short for the cup. And once again, not take the steps (i.e. lose…and lose a lot) to secure young talent to be able to win champs over a multi year span (see PIT, see NJD, see CHI, etc.).
Not sure why you’d say that, unless you think every team that wins the lottery and moves up is undeserving. Which has a lot of merit.
CHI only jumped 2 slots, same as NJD to get HUGHES. Certainly there have been a lot more teams that got luckier and made a bigger jump. Look at NYR with LAF. In retrospect, I guess you can say, they got what they deserved, a 3rd liner, lol. They really didn’t deserve a first overall that year - they were probably the 15th worst team that year.
Look at the teams that have been able to jump up multiple times, while some don’t win any. NJD won the most - 4 times! There is a lot of undeserving to go around…
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And unfortunately the draft lottery hasn't really accomplished what it was created for. Now instead of having 2 teams trying to lose all of their games at the end of the year, you have like 10.
I will be interested to see how the young players develop under Laviolette. I think with any new coach this year will be a journey early on but hope to see the team grow as the season goes on.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I have a lot of Devils on my fantasy team so we will see how that goes.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I have a lot of Devils on my fantasy team so we will see how that goes.
It’s a tough spot, because some of the tankings have been legendary. I think the latest tweak is ok, can only move up so much, and aren’t able to move up more than twice in 5 years. I would push the latter even more - you are lucky enough to win once, you are not eligible to move up in 5 years.
The Rangers draft angst is mainly based on the totality of just missing out on Hughes, who was rightly viewed as the type of talent that doesn’t come around very often, having him go to a rival, then winning a draft for a guy who was wrongly hyped as a similar talent.
The Rangers also got screwed by Covid. Much of the normal predraft evaluating didn’t happen the same way that year, so the evidence for Lafreniere’s status was restricted to his dominance of the weakest junior hockey league.
With a normal predraft process it is possible some of Laf’s failings would have shown up. Kind of like with Shane Wright, who was the no brainer number one draft pick 12-18 months before his draft, until a weaker last junior year paired with a more discerning view in his predraft evaluations led to his drop.
Probably. But such is NYR luck…why would those years be any different, lol. But most of the pain is self inflicted. Look at their first rounders over the years. It’s pretty brutal. Those were mostly just plain old crap decisions. Much worse and malignant is the org’s raison d'être. The org wants to put asses in the seats and make the playoffs almost every year. Note winning a champ is a distant goal compared to those two. Their historical trades, drafting, spending, lineups and results all bear this out.
One might say the org is incompetent or a joke. Look at the above post with the 1 in 83. That is completely missing the point. I would say they have, and continue to achieve EXACTLY what they set out to.
Very few changes to the personnel from last year. The biggest change is th eHC and his system Hopefully, the players buy into it. I can see getting off to a slow start but turning it up in January and into the playoffs.. If elite Igor is in net you always have a chance.
The Rangers didn’t miss on that many first rounders because pre-rebuild they didn’t have that many first rounders.
They were constantly trading away their first at the deadline to make a run when they weren’t close a top contender. That’s why last year was so frustrating. Nothing about how they played all year said they should be trading a first and second for Tarasenko and Kane.
Your point about the playoffs is the big one. Most fans would take a few down years in return for a championship run. The Ranger organization can’t handle missing the playoffs. I wish Dolan would just sell already.
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
Guest
Laff looks really good with bread. Best player on the ice tn.
Cuylle looks real good too.
Wheeler looks cooked, like he has sand in his skates.
Give me vesey over any guy on the 4th line
Cuylle looks real good too.
Wheeler looks cooked, like he has sand in his skates.
Give me vesey over any guy on the 4th line
Don‘t mean to harp on the one thing we don’t agree with, but this just isn’t true.
Let’s just look at their top 12 picks over the past 25 years:
Kravtsov
Anderson
McIlrath
Stall
Montoya
Jessiman
Blackburn
Brendl
Lundmark
Yeesh. That…is a disaster. It’s actually a minor miracle they have been a functioning, and even if no cups…successful, org.
LAF/KAKKO were gifts and no brainers. But even including them and their extremely unsatisfactory first few years, it’s still awful.
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
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Yeah, for shitty teams, lol. I could be wrong, but I’m guessing this is probably the worst hit rate (one guy?!) for any team for top 12 picks for the last 20+ years. Not a good look.
I didn’t mean to say they didn’t miss, but that they didn’t have too many picks to miss with.
As I said “prerebuild” they had first round picks in only about half the previous 20 years, and most of the ones they had were middle to late middle of the first round. They weren’t good drafting, but for the most part they weren’t missing with high picks.
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
Guest
Rangers system is in good shape. Over the next two years theyll have the following players in the lineup under 27
Fox
Lindgren
Kandre
Schneider
Zac Jones (maybe?)
Laff
Chytil
Kakko
Cuylle
Othmann
Perreault
Berard
Sykora
Rangers have done a great job acquiring young talent recently
The narrative that theyre old is so laughable and only said by morons who dont realize average age jumped because of 1 year rentals like wheeler, bonino to bridge the gap for the young guys
I wasn’t able to watch last night, but caught a good chunk of the 1st and 2nd periods on the radio. Kenny Albert and Dave Maloney were mentioning Laf’s name more than anyone else. Sounds like he was very visible out there, and not just on the goal.
I’m gonna save accolades for Laf when he doesn’t disappear against high pressure tight checking teams.
He played well last night.
Cuylle is going to help.
Buffalo had 0 shots on goal when Lafreniere was on the ice at even strength last night, and he won 4 of the 5 face offs he took.
Trying to keep the sunk cost fallacy in mind, the Rangers will be improved (and they can stop trading away 1st rounders) if he just turns into the effective Panarin RW they have been missing since Fast left (even if, like Fast, his point totals don’t wow anybody).
I saw an amazing stat after the game. Obviously the Panarin/Chytil/Laf line looked good and, because it is the second line,they got a good amount of time playing with the Fox Lindgren pair. There were only 2 minutes and 27 seconds during Gallant’s entire coaching tenure when Panarin, Chytil, Lafreniere and Fox were on the ice at the same time.
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anon_0k9zlfz6lz9oy
Guest
Laff was the best player on the ice. He got hosed not getting an assist on the bread goal. He made that entire play happen.
It’s was a weird game for that line. CHYTIL is brutal on faceoffs and always looked like a shoot first RW to me. LAF great on faceoffs. Right handed shot on LW, lefty on RW. On both goals, LAF made plays on left, PANARIN on the right. But they made it work and dominated. Very early, but if these top 2 lines lines hold form, KK turns it up, with TROCHECK a true shut down third, look out. Should be interesting to see how this all works out.
Kreider sometimes takes faceoffs for Mika, so I have no problem if Laf does the faceoffs on that line.
One concern I noticed with the top line is that in a game with a decent amount of power plays, Kakko kind of gets lost because Kreider and Mika get separated from him on the pp so it takes a while before they are all together at even strength.
Cuylle looks like he is going to be fun to watch because he is isn’t going to leave anything on the table.
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