Long live the King

19 minutes ago, jsrangers said:

Agreed some things are different for sure, mostly to me they're a team not just a bunch of individuals, full credit to Lavy for that.

 

But Pete you really think Chytil is a number two center on a serious cup contender? I don't think so he can't even carry Tro's jock at this point in his career. I don't see how he can be counted on for much of anything going forward until he proves it.  I think the hope was always that Chytil grew into the 2 center and except for a 5 game heater in the playoffs there's been no sign of it.

 

Lost their #1 goalie? the backup lost for the first time in regulation in what 11 games just two games ago.  Rotating top line right wing, your just moving around deck chairs, Kakko is a JAG or a hair above at this stage in his career. He like Wheeler shouldn't be near anybody's top line based on play. Right now when he returns he probably sends Brodzinski packing?

 

They still struggle in many of the same areas. That's unfortunate. Racking up points in the regular season is great but if I remember right the team with the most regular season point usually don't take the cup. In response to the thought that we bitch nd the team has the most points in the league.

 

Do I give credit to Lavy for being way better than GG, YES. Do I still think there's big issues (unless regular season champs is the ultimate goal) YES. Final grades don't get published until the spring.

 

 

With Kakko they were 1st in GA.  Without Kakko they are 23rd.  The team would be much better with Chytil as the second line center and Cuylle-Trocheck-Kakko as the 3rd line.

4 minutes ago, Br4d said:

The Rangers are 8-5 since the first Bruins game with 42 GF and 44 GA.  They are 5-1 in 1 goal games over that span.  That's the mark of a team that is getting very lucky over a significant span of time.

 

Not sure what needs to change but if they score 42 goals and allow 44 over the next 13 games they're just as likely to be 1-5 in 1 goal games as 5-1 over that span and the record is very likely to no longer be 1st in the conference, maybe not even 1st in the division.

They gave up half of those 44 goals in 4 games.  Outside of those 4 bad games they have 36 GF and 22 GA.

22 minutes ago, Bugg said:

Streaming is bullshit. Last night's Amazon game had the audio fading in and out all game. The tech is no better than your old cable package, and you can't toggle between different channels, which is the idea to keep you on their channel. . It's a pretense of some kind of improvement to get more $ out of you . This doesn't appear to be HD. 

 

Wheeler-1-0.

19 minutes ago, Blue Heaven said:

This is my biggest complaint w/ streaming

16 minutes ago, JHS said:

It’s a horrible experience overall.  Thank God it’s very few games we have to deal with this.  It’s not a huge deal but not much fun.

You can easily jump from game to game...

5 hours ago, Pete said:

They don't play the same position. He wouldn't have to block so many shots of he possessed the puck. 

Meh.  He gets 70+% DZ starts.  Still xGA is 11, but only had 6 scored.  And he's been on the ice for 5 GF.  With Cuylle and Kakko/Brodzinski his line generates more shots than the opponent.   

14 minutes ago, Br4d said:

Half a save a game is half a goal a game, no?

1 hour ago, BrooksBurner said:

Of the 458 forwards who have logged ice time this year:

 

Nick Bonino: 38.81 xGF% (#423), 36.3 CF% (#453)

Barclay Goodrow: 40.16 xGF% (#410), 38.93 CF% (#442)

 

This is what's behind our top 2 centers. Our center depth is ass. Bonino has won 13 more faceoffs than he's lost, so we should probably pump the brakes on him being some faceoff aficionado here that makes up for him clearly being the weakest link in the forward group by far. Goodrow is dead weight carried by Vesey, and to a lesser degree, Pitlick.

Yes. Bonino is good on draws.  He's 40th in the league in FO%.  He's 16th in PKFO%.  Can't have too many guys that can win draws.  Only reason he doesn't take more draws is Trocheck is so good.  Pitlick is the dead weight.

2 hours ago, Drew a Penalty said:

 

More fiesta?

 

Yea.  Apparently they call him Trocho Cinco

I agree they need better 3c, but Bonino isn't coming out of the line up.  He wins draws and he's on of the top penalty killers.  Pitlick is the odd man out.

Trocheck has been real good, but I still like his game on a more Fiesta grinding line like the 3rd.  So with that Lindholm for the 2nd line is my first choice.  Monahan would be my 2nd choice.

7 hours ago, BrooksBurner said:

Zuccarello lol

 

The extension changed everything. I was all on board with him as an upcoming rental option before they gave him that.

You never know.  They've got a long way to go to get in the playoffs.  With the down year they could look to move him before the 35+ contract kicks in.

https://nypost.com/2023/12/14/sports/kandre-miller-back-at-rangers-practice-after-mystery-absence/

Reading the quotes I'd guess he had a death in the family.

Here's the whole play.  Zub didn't even do anything.

10 hours ago, BrooksBurner said:

The sv% is on the whole and it’s very good, rather than time slicing stats. You can’t just pick out a 5 GA game and throw out the two shutouts.

 

The difference in GSAA and HDSV% is also astounding. Quick has been giving them a good chance to get leads and win games. Shesterkin has not. He’s not making nearly enough quality saves, and he’s just letting in some pretty bad goals right now to get the team behind the 8 ball early.

I'm not picking out the shutouts and focusing on the 5 goal game.  See above.

Shesty's had 2 stinkers in a row.  Prior to that his HDSV% was .821 on the season.  There's a lot of recency bias because of the OTT and WSH games.

During the 10 starts prior to those 2 stinkers (10/24 to 12/2),  Igor was 8-2 with a .926 SV%.  His HDSV% was .864.  Quick had 6 starts during that time with a HDSV% of .818.

11 hours ago, Pete said:

That's just not true. Dude has a .922 sv%, that's got nothing to do with goal support. He's got a 2.20 GAA. Why would you try and downplay that?

11 hours ago, Pete said:

Yea, he just happened to get them...

That's not what I mean.  Yes he earned them.  My argument is against the notion that Quick has been a million times better.

Sample size matters a lot here in terms of overall SV%.  Quick has 4 lights-out starts.  Those go a long way to boosting the overall SV%.  He stopped 55 of the first 57 shots he faced on the season.  Going into last night he was 5-0-1 with a .898 SV% in the previous 6 starts.  If not for the goal support he's gotten, he could just as easily be 5-3-1 on the season and this thread is never even started. 

Just now, BrooksBurner said:

 

Nobody cares about this since it lacks context of the individual games.

 

Wins are a team stat. I'm not looking at those.

If you don't care then why post his SV%?  Shesty was on an 8-2 stretch with a .926 SV% before the team played 2 shit games front of him.

10 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

 

Nobody cares about this since it lacks context of the individual games.

 

Rankings (min 10 games)

 

Quick

 

SV% .922 5th

HDSV% .859 4th

GAA 2.20 4th

 

Shesterkin

 

SV% .908 20th

HDSV% .795 31st

GAA 2.83 18th

 

It's not luck. He's simply been a million times better. Goalie controversy? Not in the long run, of course, but right now, yeah, Quick deserves more of the starts. If it's a shooting star hot streak, take advantage of it.

Quick's SV% is below .900 in 5 of 9 starts.  He was lucky to get goal support to win those games.  He happened to get 2 shutouts to boost his overall SV%.

1 minute ago, jsrangers said:

Agreed all true yet his GAA is more than . 5 better and SV% is slightly better than Igor's. Igor's gotta be much better imo or I think we're in trouble in the long run. Safe to say nobody had Quick starting off 8-0-1, those numbers are way too good to be true.

Yes, Igor can and needs to play better.  Yes, Quick has played well.  No, there isn't a goalie controversy. 

Quick has 9 starts.  Gave up 3 goals twice, 4 goals twice, and 5 goals once.  He's simply lucky to get goal support in those games where Shesty hasn't. 

At this point I'd try...

Cuylle - Zib - Vesey 

Panarin - Goodrow - Laf

Kreider - Trocheck - Brodzinski

Pitlick - Bonino - Wheeler

Then find a RW to bump Vesey to the 3rd line.

12 minutes ago, Br4d said:

Sending Wheeler down resolves nothing unless the Rangers have somebody down there who will be better at RW than he is and I don't think that's the case right now.

 

One of the things that is becoming clear is that Hartford has little or nothing to resolve the Rangers depth issues at the moment.

Well yea teams don't generally store top 6 players in the AHL.  2 long term injuries in the top of your forward group are gonna hurt any team.  Drury needs to work the phones.

Need a C and RW.  Can't wait for Chytil and Kakko.  Gonna be rough having Nash, JBrod, Wheeler, and Pitlick all in the lineup.

Drury has to figure something out.  Can't keep going with Pitlick, JBrod, Nash, and Wheeler all in the lineup.  Goodrow-Bonino-Vesey should be the 4th line.  Gotta find answers for the gaps in the top 9.  Can't sit around waiting for Chytil and Kakko to come back.

12 minutes ago, MuddyInTheMiddle said:

 

Anyone else want to set any other parameters to the very basic concept that you can build a team with offense, defense, and goaltending by managing your team's cap correctly?

Isn't that's what's being said?  Not paying too much for goalies?

4 minutes ago, MuddyInTheMiddle said:

Twice apparently; if it makes you feel better, I'll let you win your narrow argument, and then you can go back to sniping with Brooks Burner about whatever it is that you were arguing about.

Vasi only made $3.5 during the 1st cup.

28 minutes ago, Br4d said:

 

The hole that needs fixing is 1RW.  It's needed fixing for years now and we keep throwing away a 1st round pick plus every year on a rental.  Can't keep doing that.

 

Othmann is a LW and Perreault is at least 2 years out, currently playing college hockey.

 

As to nobody to replace Miller - the Rangers can easily slide Gustafsson up to 2D and you can't let the 3D stand in the way of 1L.  The Rangers need to become a better team up top right now.  We've been sliding by with improbable come from behind victories and last second goals.  That's luck.  It will not continue unless the top line becomes a lot more consistent than they've been so far.

Laf was a LW too.  Getting a young RW blocks Perreault weather he's 1, 2, or 3 years away.  There is no fill in long term for Miller.  Gus is a rental.  So you're making a trade that blocks your best prospects and have nothing on D to replace Miller.  A rental RW fills a need right now.  You trade Miller and your D is trash the next time Lindgren breaks something so you're renting a D now anyway.

Just rent the RW and don't bring in a long term road block for your best prospects.  

41 minutes ago, Br4d said:

The Rangers probably need to make non-rental trades for both 3C and 1RW at this time.

 

Trocheck is just fine as a 2C and slots into the cap appropriately at that level.  Lafreniere works as 2RW for now.

 

How the Rangers make the trades they need to happen happen is an open question.  Cap, NMC's and talent levels all play into the difficulties involved.  At a guess K'Andre Miller has to be part of the package for the RW.  The Rangers just don't have enough talent readily available for it to go any other way.

The issue is there's no one to replace Miller.  A long term RW blocks Othmann and Perreault.  The hole that needs a long term fix is 3C.  Miller is an overpayment for a 3C. 

The play is rentals again for this year's run.