Pete

Lots of indications teams don't really care about that anymore. Lots of talk about that subject on 32 Thoughts recently. Yea you burn a year, but it makes the body of work to judge the next deal on much smaller, which benefits the team.

Yep. I put a little more onus on the player because I don't really entirely buy they "he had to grow into his body and this change couldn't have happened sooner" stuff, but I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm just skeptical that's all it was.

I don't think that was the motive...I don't think they have any illusions of a college freshman helped them beat the Rangers.

No, and no one really does. But, as a head coach, his actions (or non-actions) have impact and rippling effects. You can't ignore it, these guys are not paid millions of dollars to yell "Line change!" And, if you watch the video, the analysis is obvious. But so were some of the choices. The things that held Lafreniere back were: Ice time, both ES and PP Skating Work ethic (shift to shift, not talking about summer stuff) Being told to play a game that wasn't his game, affected other players And then let's add in the overall lack of continuity with the lineup that affected everyone Now I don't blame Gallant at all for 1-3. But 4-5 rest directly on his shoulders.

Yea I don't think Brendl was the lynchpin of the Lindros deal.

I don't know that Ros has really earned anything. Chytil's shooting mentality is desperately needed on that line.

I mean, that's fine but this guy looked out of shape and was always huffing and puffing. He's definitely leaner this year, but an efficient stride where he is getting from point A to B with less energy means he's less gassed. It's all related. His bad attitude, maybe he just didn't like the coach, and now he does.

How many more players and analysts need to say it, tho?

Lavvy says anyone in a contact jersey is ready to play, but are they really doing this kid any favors by putting him right back into the playoff mix after missi ng the season? What I will say is that if there's a team to get him in there against, it's a slow one like they Caps. And if he's in a top 6 jersey I have to believe his on RW for Roslovic.

Just finished watching the whole thing, what an analysis. I'm not going to admit that I whacked off a couple times, but I will admit a boner lasting more than an hour.

Breaking down his skating stride and getting him stronger on his edges is something they specifically did this summer, but that could have been done at any point. You don't need to be 22 years old to do that.

Agreed on the patience aspect. It's incredibly hard to watch other teams get number one and number two picks who immediately come in and make an impact. But Lafreniere's draft class especially has taken some time to come into their own. For example I'm much more patient with Miller and Schneider as late first round picks, and even Othmann. I don't think there's anything wrong with high expectations from top three picks, because what else have we known over the past decade? Turns out these guys need a lot more seasoning for various reasons. I'm in no rush to move any of them.

I don't think it's an "either or situation". Yes, he put in a tremendous amount of work to get better, but why did he wait 3 years to do it? There's an argument to be made that it's because a new coach was coming in. Maybe he didn't see the point in working hard to be relegated to the third line with no power play time and just being told to chip pucks in. He likely had some conversations with Lavvy that spurred a desire to work on things over this particular summer that have been a problem since day one.

I completely agree. Firstly, Boyle did a breakdown on NHLNet about how many more carry-ins Laf has this year previous seasons where he would just dump the puck in. That also aligns with Bread's take. The takeaway is that he's carrying the puck with confidence because he has a plan. There was never really a plan after "getting the puck deep" which is a direct indictment of the coach, along with the directive that playmakers don't make plays they get pucks deep. You're not getting the best of your talent with that dumb down shit. Are the other hand, I also don't think any other coach would have changed the power play or put Lafreniere ahead of anyone else in the lineup, so that responsibility doesn't lie with Gallant. He just did the logical shit that anyone else would have done. That said, knowing what we know now, had he stuck with Lafreniere on the right side for more than 30 seconds, this process could have begun last year.

Realistically you would expect your first rounders and second rounders to be locks in the NHL in some capacity. Everything else is gravy. That doesn't mean they will all be high end players, though. When you look at who the Rangers have coming, you could easily see in 2-3 years this team being comprised of: Lafreniere Miller Schneider Cullye Kakko Perrault Othmann Sykora Maybe even Chytil! Who were all first or second round picks. Then sprinkle in later rounders like Zac Jones, Edstrom, and Brett Berard... That's half of a 23-man roster and those guys will be sprinkled anywhere from the top lines to the bottom pairs, and we haven't even talked about goalies. It's getting really hard to say they don't draft well. And we haven't even gone back to guys they drafted like JT Miller who are now 100 point players. What's up for debate is how well they develop guys, but you can see they're trying to remake Hartford. The present and future are both bright.