Gravesy

"Look John, those guys carrying the cup have white gloves on"!

If you've met 4 assholes before lunch, chances are you're the asshole. I don't think any deeper analysis is required when it comes to AdA.

Of course a debate like this will pull all of the Rangers best 2nd rounders anywhere...vs 2nd rounders over the last decade. But no one has done the math that matters...5 years without a 2nd rounder. Regardless, points proven about if the rangers are going for it. They clearly are. Within their means. It's not black and white. It's grey. The tea leaves are simply ego. The thing here is that a single 2nd rounder by itself doesn't hold a great deal of value. As has been stated, a 2nd rounder statistically has a slightly better than 1 in 3 chance of becoming an NHL player. However, by the same thinking, 5 years of 2nd round picks should produce at least 1 and possibly 2 NHL players. And 2 NHL calibre players on ELC's with a contending team is worth a lot. So treating 2nd and 3rd rounders like they're pocket change over time isn't great. Drafting well isn't as important in the NHL as it is in the NFL, for example, but if you put yourself in a position where you take so few swings that you're unable to backstop your roster with decent players on ELC roster construction becomes a lot harder.

Yeah, it’s a total crapshoot at that point. I think personally, from a philosophy angle, I’d rather take a swing at someone with offensive upside in the late 1st but having a strong opinion either way makes little sense.

Pronman. Hard to get overly excited, but I guess if he pans out as a super athletic, physical 2nd pair shut down guy that's useful.

That’s fine. Let’s not waste everyone’s time pretending he’s our 1st line winger in training camp. 3rd line guy. That’s the expectation now.

Meh. Its unlikely. But it’s worth kicking around slightly. It really isn't. He's not what they need at all.

Sure. But I think he’d be more valuable if he and the Rangers accepted what he is at this point. It’s fairly safe to say he has limited offensive upside. He can, however, be an effective mid 6, defensively responsible, puck possession type of guy. Let’s treat him and pay him as such. If we do, he can still have a good career; just not the one we hoped it would be.

I mean, I don't know him. So maybe he does want to stay, although he'll obviously say that until he's not staying. He just looks like he's carrying the weight of failed 2nd OA squarely on his shoulders. And he'll be doing that for his entire tenure with the Rangers, knowing our fans. But hey, maybe it works. I actually hope it does. He probably has little no value on the market, but he fills a role the Rangers need and he does it adequately, for the most part. If he can be kept around at a low cost I have no urgency to get rid of him.

Kakko just looks like this experience has broken him mentally. I don't think I've ever seen an NHL player with less confidence in his own abilities than Kakko as this playoff run went on. By the end of it he was playing with his shoulders above his ears. I think it's just a case of his skillset not translating to a higher level of competition. In Finland he was just about quick enough and just about strong enough to dominate on a larger surface. He simply can't do the things that made him such a highly regarded prospect against faster, stronger opposition. And that's obviously very tough to come to terms with. He's certainly not the first prospect to experience something like that, although it isn't usual for someone drafted that high. I think he can definitely remodel his game and have a good, long NHL career as a responsible, checking line winger and mid six tweener. He may have to do it somewhere else than New York for his own good though.

I mean, he’s not wrong.

Given it’s 2 games at MSG, my feeling is it’s closer to a coin flip.

I’ll happily raise my hand. We’re still in about as good a position as you could hope to be in a conference finals series. It is certainly not over and the obituaries are premature. That being said, I retain the right to be fucking seething for another day or two about the fact that we had a 50/50 shot of having FLA over a barrel and coughed it up on a hideous play by a guy who really should know better.

Yeah, I’m still angry about it tbh. In that situation, in OT in the conference finals, you simply cannot play a marginal pass along the blueline. I mean, your coach would take your head off for that in bantams. You put it on net or, if you can’t, put it in the corner. Total school boy stuff.