ThirtyONE

What year is it?

I would argue that their schedule hasn't been easy at all. They've played the most games in the league and have done it almost exclusively on the road. It hasn't been pretty. Definitely work to be done. But it definitely hasn't been easy.

They played really well against Columbus and won. They played pretty poorly against Seattle and won. Is this team good? As said above, they lost so many 1-goal games over the last few years, it seems like they have the ability l to pull them out now.

Can we move this thread? It's no longer Rangers related.

Without Kravstov in the mix, I just feel like there's a real hole in the lineup. The fact that Greg McKegg is playing NHL games consistently is really concerning. Initially, I was hoping that when an injury happened, that would open the door for someone like Gauthier, not McKegg. I do think the Rangers need another skilled winger sooner rather than later.

Drafts are a crapshoot. Thats why you accumulate a million picks when you're rebuilding. You're basically hoping to get one NHL player out of a draft. So yeah, in a way picks are more valuable than the prospects selected with them.

Personally I'm underwhelmed by Chytil in every way. He had a short burst last year that was impressive but he plays the game like he's 150 lbs. He can't win a draw and because he doesn't play "a man's game" as Gallant put it, I just have a hard time seeing what his ceiling is. Maybe he will become a 2C. But he looks a lot like Anisimov who was fine but never blossomed. He's not strong enough to play the 3rd line role and not skilled enough to play the 2nd. Anisimov had a fine career. But there's a reason he's out of the league at 32.

All the guys Drury brought in have been good. Sammy Blais has certainly stood out and I look forward to him burying a few people in front of the home fans. Also conditioning as been mentioned as a reason why the Rangers take over games late. I don't think it'c conditioning, I think it's physicality. They beat the piss out of their opponents for 60 minutes.

agreed. the french connection. weak link there is chytil but nothing can be done about that

Yeah, I don't hate this at all. Goodrow's game is interesting and could be a real compliment to Strome and Panarin. I think they need to get another winger by the deadline so Blais can push down and Hunt can be an extra forward. But yeah, that's an interesting start.

Offense is a problem. I mean that much is obvious. The top two lines don’t look like they have any chemistry, and you know what, Panarin seems to miss Strome — which is funny because it wasn’t the other way around last year. but the fact that they just swept the road trip without a second line is pretty insane. The fact that I assumed the game was over after they went down 2-0 means that things are different this year. the guys who were brought in to play a specific role have been phenomenal. Kreider has been phenomenal. Now we just need to figure out who’s playing where on the top 2 lines once everyone’s back.

Before they signed everyone I was hoping to get Toews as the 3C For 50% retained.

This summer I was hoping they'd be so deep that Kreider would be a 3rd liner. Now we're looking at Rooney on the 2nd line and McKegg on the 3rd.

Rangers MO is to wear the other team down and pop in a goal mid-way though the 3rd. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a strong 3rd here and won this in OT.

Hot hand doesn't mean play your starter every game. We're paying Georgiev 3m dollars. He should be capable of playing the Sens. And if he's not, Kincaid should be here instead.

Honestly, I think it's because they're way more physical than most of these teams. The other team takes a beating for 50 minutes and the last 10 the Rangers take over.

Team has a much different feel defensively. That final shift by Goodrow was insane, starting with the faceoff win.

Wait, aren't you the one who hates Hartford?

At this point Gauthier is gonna have to change his game if he wants to be a regular. Learn to PK or win faceoffs or something. Puck handling is not for him.

Yeah. In a perfect world, Blais is on the 4th line making that 4th line a lot of fun to watch. 2nd line Sammy Blais means we're desperate for warm bodies.

This is just all so dramatic.

Hunt was supposed to be a fringe NHL roster player. Now he's on the 3rd line... Get well soon Strome and Kakko, we need you.

They've had faceoff coaches over the years. They had one this year at camp. Just seems to me some people just suck at them. At this point, if you're Mika or Strome, are you really gonna get better at faceoffs? I have a hard time seeing it. This is part of my problem with having a Mika/Strome 1/2 punch. Neither player can win a faceoff so you can't necessarily swap one for the other if you need a big win.

Mika won something like 5 of 30 faceoffs. You pretty much can't have an effective PP if you can't win a faceoff.

Excuse me, you can't say nice things about Trouba here, sorry.