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The Jacob Trouba Dilemma the Rangers Must Solve


Slobberknocker

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1. Not to belabor the point, except that thanks to this idiotic schedule every point has been belabored by now, but I am still having trouble comprehending David Quinn’s decision not to use Jacob Trouba as his right shutdown defenseman on Saturday against Edmonton’s top line featuring Connor McDavid in the middle and near equal Leon Draisaitl on the right.

 

If you want to tell me that the coach didn’t believe that Trouba’s partner, Libor Hajek, was up to the task in his eighth NHL game, OK, I can understand that. But despite the fact that Quinn said on Sunday he didn’t want to switch pairs again after doing so after the opener, I would contend that the coach’s priority should have been — and should be — to find a partner for Trouba capable of playing against the opposition’s top guns.

 

For if that is not the objective, if Trouba is not out against Nico Hischier and Taylor Hall in New Jersey on Thursday or against Alex Ovechkin on Friday in DC, then what on earth was the point of acquiring No. 8 from Winnipeg and then signing him to a seven-year contract for a cap hit of $8 million per that is exceeded by only four defensemen — Erik Karlsson, Drew Doughty, PK Subban and Oliver Ekman-Larsson — in the NHL?

 

The blue line at this embryonic stage of the season is just the dog’s breakfast that was feared. Quinn and his staff either didn’t think Brady Skjei could handle first-pair minutes with Trouba off No. 76’s performance in the opener, or they didn’t feel the team could move forward with the all-rookie (lower-case at the moment) third pair of Hajek and Adam Fox.

 

So that would leave Marc Staal among the varsity lefties to skate with Trouba. That pairing would leave Quinn with a mix-and-match among the bottom four that may not be at all ideal, but neither is the personnel. The priority must be to construct a top pair featuring Trouba and then fill in behind that as best as possible.

 

This is what a rebuild looks like on the blue line.

 

https://nypost.com/2019/10/14/the-jacob-trouba-dilemma-the-rangers-must-solve/

 

--

 

not sure this deserves it's own thread and something to be watched but Brooksie may well have a point here. if you have an 8mln a year horse you don't leave it in the barn.

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The dilemma isn't that Skjei or Hajek can't play first-pair minutes, it's that Trouba isn't a true #1 who doesn't need a first-pair capable partner. He's just not in the same class as the Doughtys and EKs who can be good with just about anyone. Long term, assuming Fox progressese, the best usage of Trouba is on a heavy DZ matchup pair. Basically the Sharks model:

 

Trouba/Hajek = Braun/Vlasic

Skjei/Fox = Martin/Burns

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I'll give it another week, but I don't get the continuing love affair with Hajek. Not that Lindgren is a stud, but it would seem like playing solid defense is more of a priority than wishing on some other guys theoretical abity to move the puck a bit better.

 

Hajek was, by all accounts, bad in the AHL last year, yet, here he is continuing to get every opportunity to skip the step of AHL success.

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I'll give it another week, but I don't get the continuing love affair with Hajek. Not that Lindgren is a stud, but it would seem like playing solid defense is more of a priority than wishing on some other guys theoretical abity to move the puck a bit better.

 

Hajek was, by all accounts, bad in the AHL last year, yet, here he is continuing to get every opportunity to skip the step of AHL success.

 

Lindgren looked really good in preseason, too, and from the reports I'm reading, has been steady-as-they-go in Hartford since. I'm on board, but the idea of him being a better 1D than anyone else is unlikely.

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Lindgren looked better than Hajek in the preseason, and Hajek has done nothing thus far to convince me he deserves a spot on the team. I feel like he was picked because he had a few solid games last year before getting hurt, which is fine, but not enough to carry him too far into this season if others showed up and played well throughout camp/preseason/AHL games.
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I was also pretty confused by the assignment of DeAngelo and Staal. Firstly, DeAngelo can't play defense. He just walked on almost every single rush.

 

Second, Trouba is the best defender on the team. He should be playing 28+ minutes a night against the best players, period.

 

That said, it's only been 3 games and this is the exact kind of thing that gets ironed out over time. Hopefully they give him the reigns of the defense sooner rather than later.

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Skjei - Trouba in practice today

 

I like that pairing the best going forward. Skjei needs to play with some balls too!! ...instead of hitting opposition wingers with his purse.

 

DeAngelo, and I know he missed a lot of training camp, is a defensive liability right now. I'm curious to see if and how he progresses over the season.

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Still early yet, maybe he'll click with someone.

 

Sent from my Z981 using Blueshirts Brotherhood mobile app powered by Tapatalk

Trouba doesn't have the skillset to put up 80 points unless he has something ridiculous like 45 on the PP. We should basically be hoping that he turns into Alex Pietrangelo.

 

And if he needs to click with someone...that's kinda my point about being a #1. EK put up 78 points as a 21 yo playing with 35 yo Philip Kuba, 37 yo Sergei Gonchar, and 33 yo Chris Phillips lol. Those elite guys produce regardless of their partner - You need some trust/chemistry, but that shouldn't be particularly hard to find for those top guys.

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Trouba doesn't have the skillset to put up 80 points unless he has something ridiculous like 45 on the PP. We should basically be hoping that he turns into Alex Pietrangelo.

 

And if he needs to click with someone...that's kinda my point about being a #1. EK put up 78 points as a 21 yo playing with 35 yo Philip Kuba, 37 yo Sergei Gonchar, and 33 yo Chris Phillips lol. Those elite guys produce regardless of their partner - You need some trust/chemistry, but that shouldn't be particularly hard to find for those top guys.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding your point, but I’m not sure how that’s relevant. I mean, I agree, but the discussion here is about why Trouba isn’t given the tough assignments against the oppositions best line. Not whether he can put up #1 d numbers playing next to JAGs.

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Maybe I’m misunderstanding your point, but I’m not sure how that’s relevant. I mean, I agree, but the discussion here is about why Trouba isn’t given the tough assignments against the oppositions best line. Not whether he can put up #1 d numbers playing next to JAGs.

I was responding to the Leetch comparison...

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I don't mean to speak for anyone, but I'm pretty sure the Leetch-Beukeboom model is less about comparing the players to the exact skill level of each player as much as it is about the overarching dynamic of pairing an offensive-minded mobile D (Trouba) with a solid-in-his-own-end-type (Lindgren?).
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I don't mean to speak for anyone, but I'm pretty sure the Leetch-Beukeboom model is less about comparing the players to the exact skill level of each player as much as it is about the overarching dynamic of pairing an offensive-minded mobile D (Trouba) with a solid-in-his-own-end-type (Lindgren?).

Right, but Trouba isn't a good enough offensive player offensively to be put in that comparison, especially with Fox in the mix.

 

If you're saying Fox is Leetch, then fine. That I'd agree with. But not Trouba.

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Right, but Trouba isn't a good enough offensive player offensively to be put in that comparison, especially with Fox in the mix.

 

If you're saying Fox is Leetch, then fine. That I'd agree with. But not Trouba.

 

He isn?t good enough to be called a mobile offensive defender? I disagree.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Blueshirts Brotherhood mobile app powered by Tapatalk

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We haven't seen enough of Trouba's play to say whether this is a good or bad signing. They have played 3 games, and with this dumb schedule, they haven't had time to click during real games. We haven't seen enough of anyone yet to really say they are good or bad yet.
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We haven't seen enough of Trouba's play to say whether this is a good or bad signing. They have played 3 games, and with this dumb schedule, they haven't had time to click during real games. We haven't seen enough of anyone yet to really say they are good or bad yet.

 

Not to belabor this point even more but after tonight, the greater majority of the NHL will have played 7 or more games already while we've only played 3. It's hard to fault Quinn for pairing decisions on such a small sample size of games.

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I don't mean to speak for anyone, but I'm pretty sure the Leetch-Beukeboom model is less about comparing the players to the exact skill level of each player as much as it is about the overarching dynamic of pairing an offensive-minded mobile D (Trouba) with a solid-in-his-own-end-type (Lindgren?).

 

Bingo. Leetch was pretty special

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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He isn’t good enough to be called a mobile offensive defender? I disagree.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Blueshirts Brotherhood mobile app powered by Tapatalk

You can call him whatever you want - good job ignoring the second half of the post - but he's not good enough to be given the Leetch/Beuk treatment when he's the second-best offensive RHD on the team, long-term. It's stupid to try to find a D partner who compliments his offensive game before doing that for Fox, b/c you'd be diminishing the value of both.

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