tphilly5

I would name Staal honorary Rangers Captain for life if somebody (anybody) would take him in a trade. How a guy that big can be that soft is baffling. All JMHO of course.

Not really. Us fans always want the shiny new toy. Exact same discussions were happening last year with Kakko. You would hope a GM is more adept at determining real value. Have a feeling these deals of Tkachuk, #3, #5, plus more would never happen from Ottawa’s perspective. As a fan I want LAF in the hopes he is a superstar.

Goalies can no longer be captains. Since we are speculating, there are only issues with naming a Captain when people are unsure if there is a real one in the room. Seniority and stepping on toes has nothing to do with it. Maybe a contract situation gets in the way. If you got a good Captain in the room it makes a big difference, if you don’t you might as well just stick with all A’s and hope the quantity makes up for the quality.

Sorry, but that is not really a Right or Wrong question. A legacy is formed by all aspects of a career and all opinions of the fans. In 10 years if somebody asks me about Hank I will say probably the best goalie ability in NYR history, he will hopefully be a HOFer, got a Vezina, just missed on a Cup, and hung around too long.

Fantastic point and a good thing I checked this site before going on Fan Duel. ;)

Those players have relevance to my point not to get caught up in sentiment. Was not comparing career accomplishments. In the minds of many fans Hank is ‘shitting’ on his own legacy. Father Time is still undefeated.

If your life depended on winning one hockey game in 2020 which of our three goalies would you not dress? For me it is a no brainer that it would be Hank. Statistically or just the eye test. Why do so many people go out of their way to carve out a role for Hank going forward. Let him be the back up, let him got to Sweden for a year and then back to the Rangers, etc.. Hank has not been good for a while. If Shesty got hurt or had a bad stretch I would much rather have Georgie around as a Plan B. If people are just worried about sentiment we should have kept McD, Stepan, Hayes, Miller, Gerardi, and Zuc around and not even done a rebuild. Most of those guys had a lot more tread still on the tire than Hank has.

For next year it will either be Georgie getting dealt or Hank getting bought out. If things work out as expected with Shesty we can go with one of our young guys as a back up for 21-22. Thankfully Hank hanging around doesn’t seem to have hurt Shesty and his contract will be off the books when the team is ready to compete.

Call it grit, grinding, sandpaper, muscle, etc.. Bottom line is the 2019-20 Rangers were too soft. Sounds like LAF is capable of playing a physical game for a highly skilled forward. Hopefully some of our young D guys have a needed nasty streak. You could see Trouba and Smith turned it up a notch with playoff intensity. Good thing is the veteran guys with those qualities are usually available. Bad thing is you need cap space and ice time for them to be effective.

No, you remembered that one just fine. It was the three before and three right after that you are forgetting. You eventually landed on Thornton, but as was explained to you that was another bad example since he was playing under a 1 year deal for $2m. Year before was 1 year for $5m. Hardly a similar situation to Hank. Don?t worry about it, everybody makes mistakes. Its the weekend and we got the #1 pick!

Only took you 7 posts to clear up that ‘one adjustment’. My second paragraph was the meat of my point anyway. Mgt has already addressed that it won’t be a problem again next year.

Thought we were talking about Hank?

You are not ‘speculating’ and ‘fabricating a storyline’? Your clumsy comparisons took so many twists and turns when you got called on them. You are speculating about Sid and he is still in his prime. At season ending presser Mgt usually has a bunch of vanilla ‘no comments’. They forcefully came out an said 3 goalies will not be back. We can call it a distraction, a detraction, but it obviously was not good for the team and Hank was the guy overstaying his welcome. If we get a nice package for Georgie, then Hank can be a back up. If not Hank goes one way or the other.

So how was that a farewell tour? Red Wings brought him in and he finished 5th in Vezina. At 42.

Hasek can’t really be called a farewell tour since he was with the Red Wings and finished 5th in the Vezina and 22nd in the Hart. He was brought in there because he was still very good. Brodeur was still the #1 goalie at 39 for a cup contender so that really can’t be called a farewell tour either.

Thornton was on a 1 year deal for $2m. The Sharks signed him specifically for that role knowing his ability at age 40. Terrible comparison. ?Zero attention?. Wrong again. Of course there would be no indication in the press. The players and management have walked on egg shells. They said no three goalies next year for a reason. Because it is a distraction. Obviously. Not all Hank?s fault as we knew there would be some dead years at the end.

Hank is a distraction and the farewell tour has gone on long enough. He takes up way more attention than a third string overpaid goalie that plays poorly is deserved. He was a great Rangers goalie, but many better Rangers in the past moved on when the fit was no longer a good one. Comparing a position player to a goalie is obviously a faulty comparison whether it is Sid or Thornton. There is playing time for only one goalie each game. A position player can have his minutes and role reduced without creating a similar distraction.

Just goes to show that if you ever get a shot to get one of those special players (Laf?) you have to be overwhelmed not to take it.

Nobody knows what the cap will be in a few years. Nobody knows what the flat cap will do to long term huge money deals going forward. If we can avoid NMC on contracts that is a way to keep our options open. If we want to take a shot and extend Zib now maybe we get a discount? Too much uncertainty, but I am being real careful before signing any marginal guys long term. Managing contracts is as important as adding talent.

Rangers need to be very careful with how cap space gets spent. I don’t see long term good money deals with any of our current UFA/RFA. Maybe the market will be so dried up that they are back at a big bargain. It might mean a step back, but if we eventually get 3 or 4 steps ahead I am all for it.

If on ice talent was the deciding factor when naming a Captain there is no doubt it would be Panarin. Laf has been Captain of of his QMJHL teams and Team Canada Junior Team. So there is a lot more there than just Scouts commenting on what a great leader he is. I personally still think it will be Zib or CK, but there is something to be said about why it has not happened already. Neither one has worn the C on their way up from what I see. If it somehow turned out to be Laf that would be a very good thing as it would mean he hit the ground running and had a big year.

Only took McDavid a year and he was under 20 so it is possible.

From all accounts Laf is C material, but what would he need to do to get the C as a 20 year old after 1 season?

Zib is always engaged. I said I thought he and Panarin were free spirited in their own world types. Not the best Captain material.

Kreider did have the expiring contract and it seemed unlikely he would get resigned. IMO Kreider would be more consistently engaged as Captain. Zib and Panarin seem like free spirited types that would take the responsibility as a burden. Fun to speculate about, obviously those in the locker room know what is best.