Jdog99

i like vatrano in place of laf, and laf moving back to his natural position. But itd be worth seeing what copp can do centering that third line, with either chytil or goodrow on stromes right.

Copp > Strome    cya strome

how odd is it that the eastern conference playoff teams were pretty much set in stone by the last 1/2 - 1/3rd of the season?

You had to be thinking Kreider was partially lucking out all this time...but now it seems he might indeed have to developed into a net front savant...40+ goals a year a possibility for the duration of his contract?

Georgie working his ass off to be traded 

Shesty is more valuable for sure, if he keeps up this performance year after year. But that's the thing about goaltending - you very often see significant drop offs after a a few great seasons. Hard to see Mcdavid not being among the best in hockey for his entire career.

Theres nothing to 'fanboy' about Chytill at this point, but he has flashed some skill and potential thats not necessarily worth giving up on yet - depends on the return 

With such big and significant question marks lying over the future 2C/3C starting next season, and managing cap while trying to hold on to some of our young talent...I don't see how we can afford to make any move for this seasons run unless it also helps address those questions.

Kreids is faster than Mcdavid...gonna score more goals than him this season too

With Zibanejad in top form, Kreids will hit 50.

Chytil is done as a center here, I hope. Put him back on the RW next to Zib or Strome.

35 minutes ago, jsrangers said:

His skate started out against the post before Strome stick hits his pad near his skate. 

This view is a little different than the other one. But yeah both sides are dug in here, so not a hill to die on. Be better in the next game and avoid giving away big chunks of the game maybe?

 

 

Wow - look closely - you can see Talbot's leg go back simultaneously as he reaches to cover the puck. It's a standard goalie move - 100% voluntary.

As far as what we should be focusing on, the call or the less than stellar effort...

Sure, we've been in a funk for the last bunch of games. We were in a funk before that earlier in the season, and bounced back.

But if you can pull out a handful of wins or ties when your not playing all that well, that counts for alot. Its pretty uncommon for any team to peak early on in the season and just ride that high the entire way. Ideally your in peak form by the time playoffs kick off.

One more point on the call - dont goalies typically kick thier legs to back of the net in that situation to get some more leverage? Thats what that looked like to me.

25 minutes ago, Pete said:

Ask yourself if that goal was scored on Igor, what would you say?

 

My point of view is that a lot of calls like that can go either way, that's not as cut and dry as everyone here is making it seem ...but the team put themselves in that position where it cost them a game. 

I've honestly watched questionable calls go for the Rangers and been like 'eh...we were gifted one there'.

You even often hear Sam and Joe admit when a call going against the opposition wasn't all that solid. They may not be completely impartial, but they try to be reasonable, and they were dumbfounded at the call. Would be interesting to go back and listen to the Wild broadcast and listen to their take. 

I will say, you can argue the whistle should've been blown earlier - but that should just depend on whether or not the ref lost sight of the puck.

1 hour ago, Pete said:

Unpopular opinion here from me lol, if you were a third party hockey fan you might look at that play and say it was interference.

I'd say that at the very least, to waive off a goal like that for interference, you ought to have clear and significant physical contact that obviously led to the goal.

Just ask yourself this question and the right call becomes obvious: had the refs never waived off the goal in the first place, would there be much controversy for not having made an interference call there? No way.

Also, pretend this is a big playoff or cup series with fans all over watching. Do you think hockey fans would be satisfied with the game being called that way? It'd be one thing if the contact and impact was obvious, but the game would be better off if that kind of goal counted.

7 minutes ago, fletch said:

Blaming a ref for a loss is unacceptable.   When coaches hear kids complain about referees, the first thing to correct is to focus on things that they can control -  their play.  Given a 2-0 lead if the Rangers played hard for an entire 60 minutes, the game would have been under control, and not come down to a desperation final minute.  We simply weren't good enough.

Two separate issues imo.

If I'm a third party hockey fan - neither Rangers nor Wild - but just a big hockey fan watching an exciting game thats coming down to the wire, I'm pretty sure I'm disgusted by getting cheated out of seeing an amazing and totally legit buzzer beater followed by OT.

you know, bad calls are maybe to some extent part of the game - even those of consequence, like a bad penalty call that leads to a crucial goal in a game etc.

but this particular kind of call - a last second goal to tie up a game, that can be reviewed endlessly before upholding - CAN NOT be something the league gets wrong. I mean, what moment in sports is more exciting than a buzzer beater...it the f'n pinnacle. If your a professional league and f'ng that up, you got problems.

HOOOOLY SHT...just watched the replay...W T F???? HOW DOES THAT SHT CALL STAND!?@#$

3 hours ago, The Dude said:

Is it still apparent?

I mean, sure theyre not producing and dont stick out.  But you can definitely still see the high end skill with some of the passes laf makes and some above average puck carrying. Keeping the Shootout alive the other night was certainly something.  Kakko shows some impressive puck possession and passing ability too from what i can tell.

It seems most likely to me that the Kakko and Laf disappointment so far has to be related being on the big stage in NYC. Or maybe our culture.

I mean these guys skill and work ethic is still apparent, and there were basically ZERO red flags coming into this league. They'd be performing better within another franchise. 

4 hours ago, CCCP said:

which is fine.  would you rather see him as a non-gamer and sign him for cheaper?  If he's a non-gamer i'd want him gone

hard to say, it depends on what the alternatives are.

21 minutes ago, CCCP said:

i want to see how Strome does in the playoffs.  If he's a gamer, i'm all for re-signing him.  But i have a feeling that him, Panarin, and Zibby will disappear once the going gets tough

Fair, but if he's a gamer in the playoffs, his demand and price will be significantly higher than if they reach a deal beforehand.

If this is the player we have for the next 4-5 seasons, we're in pretty good shape. But its only been half a season thus far.

With Chytil starting to look good in a Top 6 RW role, the attention should be turned back to C depth, for 3C and/or eventual Strome replacement/insurance.