Gravesy

Neither of them thought he was built for the playoffs. Keenan in particular didn't think the could help them get past the Devils, which is what they built that team for specifically. It's tough to be too categorical about it given we'll never know what would've happened if they did with Neil Smith wanted and rolled into the playoffs with the team that won the Presidents Trophy. But the Devil series definitely became the physical war they envisioned at the deadline.

That shit got me grounded. I was in the kitchen eating a bowl of cornflakes. The house phone rang, my mother picked it up and goes "your brother would like a word with you". He goes "You won't believe it, they've traded Tony!" "For who?????" "Brian Noonan and Stephane Matteau" And with that I yelled "FUCK OFF" and launched the bowl of cornflakes across the room. I was so mad. I couldn't believe it. Tony Amonte trade for two complete water carriers. My mother didn't care about Tony and gave me a couple of days to think things over. I guess a cup is a cup, but that one hurt and did so for a very long time.

Kakko feels like a tweener to me. He has the hands and size/strength to dominate against weaker opposition on a bigger surface where his lack of burst and foot speed isn't punished as much. I could see him absolutely tearing the KHL a new one. I don't think his skill set ever translates to a legit top 6 NHL player. And like you say, he doesn't have the punch of a great 3rd liner.

Surprisingly many to choose from. I'll say Quick because I thought he was a genuine early cut candidate, and Cuylle because he's been a valuable and consistent contributor from the hop whilst I expected him to at least be up and down and possibly do a bit of yo yoing between the Rangers and the Pack before settling in.

That looked ACLy* to me. *not a doctor Yeah, that's a pretty disastrous injury for him if it's as bad as it looked. He'll get another shot given the pedigree, but without any of the protection and patience he's had up until now. Really feel for the guy.

Probably that I'm still not convinced this team has the personalities to lean on when the going gets tough in the playoffs. It's unquestionably a very good team, fairly balanced and I'd say without many obvious holes in the lineup. Certainly, none that can't be addressed at the deadline. But if I'm going out of my way to find things to worry about, which you must as a Rangers fan, I'm worried too many of their best players are fair weather guys, streaky and not really the types to put the team on their backs when things look bleak. And that is basically a requirement for any successful Stanley Cup run.

1. Artemi Panarin 2. Igor Shesterkin 3. Chris Kreider 4. Vincent Trocheck 5. Alexis Lafrenière 6. Erik Gustafsson +1 7. Mika Zibanejad 8. Jacob Trouba 9. Ryan Lindgren 10. K'Andre Miller 11. Will Cuylle 12. Kaapo Kakko 13. Jonathan Quick 14. Barclay Goodrow 15. Jimmy Vesey 16. Blake Wheeler 17. Braden Schneider 18. Nick Bonino 19. Tyler Pitlick 20. Zac Jones 21. Spicy Pork and Broccoli 22. Dylan Garand This feels absolutely insane but

Losing Goodrow and adding Kane makes the Rangers worse imho.

This. They know what they have (or don’t) in Spicy Pork Boy.

My favourite Graves image/moment is him skating around in pre game for G7, no helmet on looking up at the stands as every single person of the 18500 in the Garden chants “we want the cup”. Every time I see it I try to imagine the sheer weight of pressure of pressure on those guys. Incredible.

Yeah, luckily for the first time in a while the Rangers HC doesn't treat the 4th line as a penal colony/doghouse for underperforming players. Wheeler would kill that line. Next move is the press box.

He didn't "only" win the Stanley Cup. He was the heartbeat of that team in many ways. A lot of it has to do with the way he played the game and the person he was too. He went out there every night and went head first into everything, taking an absolute beating for the team with no consideration for his own health and general well being. 100% willing to sacrifice it all for the team. Their numbers are comparable, but to me Graves is an absolute legend. Kreider is a good player, great guy and a career ranger. That's good too, but to me longevity isn't enough to earn legendary status.

Both of those penalties were purely down to not being able to keep up with the speed of the game. He's cooked and probably shouldn't be on the team, unfortunately.

Really looking forward to this one. Should be a good test. It does feel a bit like one of those where you’re coming off a great road trip and then get your fucking clocks cleaned. 3 down after 12 minutes type of thing. At the same time, I feel like this is the first time this group has been able to show up on time consistently. Should be a good one.

It's a good, but not great roster. It's tough to have a strong take on the culture from outside, but one of the fatal flaws in this roster in terms of real contention is that your core of good to great players are prone to taking nights off and complete disappearing acts. I don't know if that's down to culture, leadership or what but it's there. It's far too early to make a definitive call on whether Laviolette can fix it and whether his system can mitigate it in terms of helping this team win consistently even if their best players aren't firing. But I had my doubts going in to this season and they haven't been alleviated by what I've seen so far.

1. Igor Shesterkin 2. Chris Kreider 3. Mika Zibanejad 4. Adam Fox 5. Vincent Trocheck 6. Filip Chytil 7. Artemi Panarin 8. Ryan Lindgren 9. Jacob Trouba 10. K'Andre Miller 11. Barclay Goodrow 12. Kaapo Kakko 13. Alexis Lafrenière +1 14. Jimmy Vesey 15. Erik Gustafsson +1 16. Braden Schneider 17. Blake Wheeler 18. Will Cuylle 19. Nick Bonino 20. Tyler Pitlick 21. Zac Jones 22. Jonathan Quick

Maybe I’m seeing what I want to see, but I thought the main difference was that he looked half a step quicker all night. And that makes a huge difference. Whether that is down to physical training or skating technique, or that he was just more mentally engaged or indeed that the Sabres were still at pre season speed is hard to say. But I thought he got to more pucks, looked quicker with the puck on his stick and were able to make more plays because he kept up with the pace of the game better. Hopefully it’s not just a mirage.

Yeah. I don't know much about them either, but when I read stuff like this it makes me highly skeptical, given we have a #1 and a #2 pick whose struggles are very closely linked to a lack of skating ability and speed. Obviously I'm not shitting on the pick or anything like that, just worried that yet again we've taken a first rounder with skating issues.

He was definitely not as hyped as Dahlin. Dahlin was seen as a generational d prospect. I’m pretty sure Pronman had Laf behind Hughes in the same article from Lafs draft year.

It’s a bit of a wonky list. He has bedard in 2nd or third and he’s not even in the nhl yet lol It’s a ranking of them as prospects, not how good they are now.

Maybe my irony detector is off, but surely you're joking.