RangersIn7

Yeah It’s a valid concern. 165 is VERY light for a center who will play 20 minutes a night against the other teams top defenders and top offensive players. He’s going to get hit and hit and then hit some more. As an example, they go up to Montreal one night and he plays 20 minutes. 18 of those come against Shea Weber who goes 6’5” 230 and isn’t phased by anyone’s speed or agility. Then two nights later they go to Tampa and he gets 18 minutes of Hedman. Now his skill will prevail over time But he’s definitely carrying risk at that weight in the middle of the ice for 18-20 minutes a night Shoot, he’s giving up 55 lbs to Morgan Rielly

He’s underweight. Not undersized He’s fine at 5’10”. Probably grow to 5’11” or 6’. Which is fine. That’s Crosby sized The 165 lbs is an issue though. Speed and weight are directly related. That’s why guys are playing lighter. But he needs to gain some weight. Playing middle of ice, at that weight, with the ice time he’ll presumably get, that’s a bit dangerous. He’s going to get hit A LOT. That’s what teams will do to slow him down. And he’s not hiding on the wing. Question is can he gain weight and get stronger without sacrificing too much speed which is his best asset.

Oh I know that dude Sorry if it landed the wrong way. I was saying that just to put it out there

Has anyone actually said that Hughes isn’t NHL ready? He’s going to play right away. Maybe Kakko is more NHL ready and he is the better, more productive, and more immediate impact player at the outset. But Hughes is a star before too long.

They’re going to do their due diligence and take a long look at both players. They went a little against the grain 2 years ago with Hischier over Nolan Patrick and while its not that close this year given the hype surrounding Hughes and deservedly so as he looks phenomenal, they’re still going to look hard at Kakko and at least consider the notion of selecting him. In the end though, highly doubt that they pass on Hughes

I don’t think there’s a danger of him not being useful and effective in a role They only question is how much offense they’ll get from him

He was never purported to have high-end offensive skill. Quality two-way game, leadership, effort, intangibles. I get why people are sour on him. Hasn’t shown much of anything thus far, he was clearly oversold as NHL ready and was drafted a bit higher than his ranking and in front of some others with higher skill. I’m not enamored with him either at this point. But I also didn’t buy the NHL ready label. So few guys are, and the ones that are usually posses undeniable skill that anyone can see, and they usually go top 3. Not comparing them, but for perspective Evegeni Malkin wasn’t NHL ready. Needed 2 full seasons after his draft year to reach NHL. He doesn’t have that. We won’t know what he is for another 150-200 games. But I still think he can be a very good NHL player. Just need time

Offensively there isn’t much apparent to Andersson’s game. But you never know. Still very young and inexperienced. He was never going to be Pavel Bure offensively.

Look at MacKinnon Wins Calder, then has 3 seasons after that where he wasn’t lighting the world on fire. Last 2 seasons he’s been an MVP candidate

You are probably right. And I think that bet pays off and they’re rewarded for their patience and faith in him. But if he can be pried away at a reasonable price, go get him.

Took only 10 face offs in the series His percentage his really improved though, despite taking so few. I really like the kid. I think in next 2 seasons he blossoms. If they agreed to a deal for Georgiev and Fast, I’d seriously look at that, and I’m not in love with idea of trading Georgiev before we know what Shestyorkin is.

He’s actually not playing center really at all anymore. If it’s any indication he took only 90 total face offs this year.

Fair series of questions I’ll start off by saying that I’m not assuming this guy is available or being shopped. While I did put it out there that maybe they’re down on him, I don’t know that to be the case and for all I know, they want to keep him. As for why Calgary might trade him, well they do have needs. No long term answer in goal. Bottom 6 lacks real bottom 6 guys. PK and PP could both use help as they were middle of league in both categories. They are LH heavy up front. And there’s no real veteran on that roster that’s really been deep or won anything. Now none of those necessitate a deal with the Rangers per se. Nor do I know off hand if they’d even have the assets for him, what the price would be, or what Calgary might ask for if the Rangers inquired about him. They might have some interest, in a package, for guys like Georgiev, Krieder, Fast, Strome, possibly Namestnikov, Vesey, to name a few. Again, Calgary might not want to move him at all. And while I did say that I’d like to see them take a run at him, if the price is too high, forget it. Maybe a contentious arbitration brings the price down. And I’m not advocating swapping Krieder outright for him, as that would be an overpayment based on their respective production, I’m just putting it out there. There was speculation last season that Bennett was available or could be had. Now he doesn’t have a contract, so maybe that’s still the case. If you’re Calgary, what are you looking for in a deal for him?

Bennett is also arb eligible so if it gets contentious this summer, maybe they look to deal him.

I really don’t think the book is closed on him developing into a very high level player. The skill level is there, he’s grown into his body, increased his strength, no one has ever questioned his skating ability and I’ll again cite improved possession numbers in reduced minutes while playing with bottom 6 talent as an encouraging sign. We’ve seen plenty of guys over the years take into their 5th plus season to really find their ceiling I’ll totally acknowledge that I could be wrong and that he may well be what is today long term. But I think there’s reasons to believe there is more there coming

Well the other reason I mentioned him was his contract status He’s RFA, so no long term or big dollar commitment would be needed with him.

That could be the case, though it seems like more of these guys drafted 4-10 are getting into their 5th and 6th seasons and finding that other gear to their game.

To shift gears a little, anyone have an opinion on the possibility of getting Sam Bennett out of Calgary. He’s struggled a lot there and is playing 3rd line minutes on the wing as a natural center. He’s definitely underperforming up there and it seems like they’ve lost faith in him, but his possession numbers have improved significantly over the last 2 seasons and he did just lead them in scoring in their loss to Colorado. I just have a feeling that he is poised for a breakout season and a change of scenery might help bring that out. I’d love for them to take a serious run at him. Turns 23 in June.

Wheeler’s extension kicks in next season too. His cap hit goes up to 8.25

Yeah probably. But it’s probably about equal in terms of actual value. Skjei has regressed a lot last 2 years and they’d only be getting one year of Krieder guaranteed and I don’t consider him a likely candidate to re-sign in Winnipeg, where as Trouba would be a very likely candidate to extend if traded to Rangers. Winnipeg could lose Krieder in all probability, so it’s more or less Skjei for Trouba. And Trouba is better than Skjei

I understand that. My line of thinking though is that if Winnipeg is dealing a D from the right side, they’d maybe want a D to play on their left side where they are thin in exchange They really don’t have a need for another top 6 winger with Laine, Wheeler, Connor and Ehlers I suppose acquiring Krieder could facilitate them trading one of the others for a LH D, but I can’t assume that.

Maybe They might do that. One year of Krieder might get it done if they are sure that they’ll lose Trouba.

I brought up Skjei because he’s the closest we’d have in terms of quality compared to Trouba and Winnipeg could use a LH D to play in their top 4 and Skjei would slot right in. Skjei and Krieder?

I?d be all over that too If he?d agree to go there and they?d do it for only a year of him, then they should absolutely pull the trigger on that.

I think it would be very difficult to get them to take a big salary back. Shattenkirk might make a little sense for them, as they could play him on their bottom pair and shelter his minutes. Maybe a change of scenery helps him. But I think it’s a long shot they’d take him. Would they do it for Skjei?