Br4d

Sunk costs. The Rangers would be a worse team right now without the two of them assuming players of similar AAV were added. At some point management is either going to have to pull off a helluva deal for one of them or accept the fact that the best value lies in playing them and hoping they have Mika-ish progressions in the next few years. I get that it is disappointing that they're not stars already but there's no point in making a bad situation worse by locking in the non-star situation in a trade.

Messier played in a different NHL. If you didn't have your elbows up back in those days you ran into other people's elbows. I always saw Messier as the enforcer with skills who kept people honest around Gretzky. The Oilers had real goons if they needed them but Messier was one of the guys who was taking notes on the bench and dealing out punishment when he was on his normal shifts. He was a great player and a rare commodity because he was also willing to get down and dirty when he had too.

Context is important but it's not the end of the road. We get down on Kakko and Laffy because they were #2 and #1 respectively. However if they had not been 1st round picks we would be fucking thrilled with how they are developing. Both are still very young and getting better year over year. Both of them play on a line that ups the energy level of the team when they are on the ice. You can easily trace a progression with them where they are good 1st/2nd liners by the time they reach their prime in 3 and 2 years respectively. Obviously they are not the stars we expected but there are no teams in the NHL, including the Rangers, who would casually discard them in a no-value gained scenario. They're better players than that. I think the biggest problem that GG has is that they're not developing fast enough under his tutelage and a sane management team would likely try to find a head coach that gets them firing on all cylinders. GG has his strengths. Veteran players play well for him and he can get them amped up to over-produce based on their typical norms. Chris Kreider has had his best two seasons under GG. Mika Zibanejad has had topout seasons also. Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba have played extremely well also. The problem is the Rangers are half established vet and half younger developing player and the half that is younger leaves the feeling that the coach is not getting the best out of the team as a whole.

Schmid's not a backup goalie he's the young stud for the Devils. Ruff almost blew the series by starting with Vanacek with Schmid in the minors.

He'd be an early rental that did not require picks or cap shenanigans to acquire. Just imagine getting back a healthy 35 year old Pat Kane at the trading deadline instead of trying to find next year's rent-a-wing.

The only problem with GG's approach here is that it may just make the passing on the perimeter more frenetic. It may make the long-lead pass attempts a bit more precise. The problem with the Ranger's even strength offense the last *two* seasons is that the players endlessly pass looking for a perfect shot, often giving up good shots to make another perfect pass.

I think if you trade the kids and leave the entitled vets in place you cannot change up the roster. The problem the Rangers have right now is that there are too many locked-in vets who are disappearing at key times. In order to change that you have to find a way to trade at least one of the vets to break the entitlement that has set in. One solution is to bring in a HC with a heavy work ethic requirement in his system. Obviously Rod Brind'Amour is not going to be available but that type of coach will create a my way or the highway mentality in the team that will break some of those NMC's as players decide that their role is 'scoring' or 'playmaking' in a system that only equally values those things alongside some real work away from the puck.

Ok, so assuming that Kane and Tarasenko are gone. Who does that leave to send a message with if you exclude Kreider, Panarin, Zibanejad and Fox? I'm looking at the kid line, which is a lousy message to send to a veteran entitled team. Trocheck works as hard as anybody on the team. Who is left? Miller? Good luck with that because Miller is not the reason the Rangers are in trouble right now even if he's softer than you'd like.

Remember what GG did in the elimination game last year, benching Kakko. He's definitely sent some messages with his elimination games if he put Panarin on the 3rd line.

The problem is the Rangers apparently have *nobody* playing the role of the big bruising forward until the 4th line hits the ice. The top 9 can't do that and survive in the playoffs particularly when they're facing real speed and younger players with better legs. This is one of those "those who can, do because those who can't, can't" things. If the Rangers don't get very physical with the Devils and slow things down we're going to lose the series and that's inevitably going to bring about big changes.

Game 3 I'm watching Kreider play, specifically, because he's been so hot in the first two games and he's already scored a goal that game early on. Laser-focused on him because he's been where the action is all series. So there's a play coming up ice along the near boards and Kreider is in position to lineup the guy with the puck and he just stops, pulls up before hitting him. A few shifts later the same thing happens. No harm no foul no goal against as a result of the two plays but the Devils are flying at this point and Kreider is one of the big guys who might slow them down a bit. Tarasenko is in the category. Lafreniere is in the category. These guys have to be forcing and physical or the team is going to get run over. And that's exactly what happens for the next two games. I don't know why Chris Kreider isn't a big forceful presence on the ice but I have a pretty good feeling that he doesn't see that as his role. This BTW is not an optional thing. When you are 6'2" 230 and can skate like Chris Kreider you need to make your presence felt on the ice every shift. Most of your teammates do not have the physical wherewithal to do that.

As has been pointed out elsewhere Kane is probably going to have surgery on the hip at the end of the season. It's possible he's willing to take a much lower AAV than we'd think for a short term 2/3 yr deal with the understanding that he might not be playing much next season before the playoffs. That's about the only scenario that I think Kane and the Rangers get something done. Maybe 3 yrs/4 AAV with the understanding that it is really 2 yrs + playoffs next year for the $12M. Beats the hell out of retirement unless Kane is just ready.

That's just the Last Stand at the Alamo scenario where Igor is brilliant but can't stop them all. The problem with the Rangers right now is that they are not scoring. They need to fix that in a hurry or this team goes home and when they reassemble next year they look very different.

Kreider.

Right now the Rangers have a bunch of vets standing around waiting for somebody else to take the lead. Panarin is no better or worse at this than anybody else. I'm going to go for a sacred cow here and say that for 3 games we've gotten nothing out of Zibanejad. We've gotten very little out of Kreider. Fox has been invisible except when he's been bad. The team is being let down by it's established veteran players of whom Panarin is just one of several. BTW, this is exactly why veteran player's coaches get fired. Too a T.

Tom Wilson would make us tougher, chippier and he'd be Panarin-repellent likely to get a trade request to handle the NMC.

If you want to trade Panarin you need to bring in a hard-nosed coach who he absolutely hates. That's the only way to get him to waive the NMC.

The question GG has to answer in the end is: what will be different next season? It's not like the Rangers will be more stacked barring a miracle out of the kid line.

Miller is really frustrating. He's just a step off being the best defenseman in hockey. Probably will never find it though.

Ruff nearly lost the series by not having Schmid starting from game one.

Panarin was excellent in game 1. He just didn't show on the scoresheet. I don't know what the answer is but if the Rangers can't collectively get this thing under control Drury is going to have no choice but to make moves designed to change the personality of the team and and GG and Panarin are the most likely victims of that movement.

If the Rangers lose the series I think he's better than 50/50 to get the heave-ho. If you're going to rely on your players to set the tone you need a superstar or two to help with that and that's something the Rangers do not have handy at the moment.

This team has no killer instinct. It's a collection of highly skilled guys who go with the flow. Talent abounds but the only guy on the roster who has any killer in him is Trouba and his is a double-edged sword.

Schmid was the Devil's best goalie this season. The real question is why they didn't have him on the opening roster and in goal game 1? Calling him back up to start game 3 looks like a panic move when in fact he should have been in goal before the Devils were down 2-0.

So who is going to be the star tonight? Line 1 has been quiet except on the powerplay. Line 2 is working it and making some things happen. Line 3 is grinding hard. Line 4 is smarter than the entire Devils roster. Who is going to break out tonight? My money is on Chytil and Laffy getting on the board early.