Br4d

We just saw the helmet throw because it was on the ice as he exited at the end. We have no idea what followed in the locker room but past experience suggests that Trouba was vocal there as well because that's what he does. One of the reasons he was made Captain is that he is more likely to take players aside and assist and welcome and also talk to the room in general when he thinks it's needed.

The only people you can put in a Ranger MVP poll right now are Zibanejad, Fox, Shesterkin, Panarin and Trouba. I think those are the only credible choices. If you dig really deep you might get Lindgren and Trocheck on the list.

Trouba's helmet throw was a defining moment in the season but MVP goes to the guy who is there game after game at a high level and this year that is Mika or Adam Fox.

Definitely Mika. One of the best 2-way centers and he jumpstarts the team about once a week which is insane.

50 goals dude. Line 3 has 50 goals this year with minimal PP time. Find me that on another NHL team right now.

The kids aren't what we expected them to be at this point. However they're a solid third line for the playoff push coming up. Sunk costs are sunk costs. Letting them ruin your enjoyment in the present day is just making yourself miserable. And as I pointed out above nothing is written in stone at 23, 22, 21...

GG's gotta love this group right about now. He has 4 solid lines and he doesn't have to think about the bottom 6 at all. Those lines are like glue.

Not to deflect the topic but at the age of 21 Mika Zibanejad scored 20 goals in 80 games. At the age of 22 he scored 21 goals in 81 games. At the age of 23 he scored 14 goals in 56 games. Chytil's season this year at 23 is likely to surpass all 3 of those seasons. And yes, Zibanejad was more consistent early on but he clearly didn't have a ceiling much above what Chytil's is now and Zib was a #6OA in his 5th season in the NHL at 23. Chris Kreider scored 37 points in 66 games at the age of 22. He scored 46 points in 80 games at the age of 23. He scored 43 points in 79 games at the age of 24. He had 18 goals on the powerplay over those 3 seasons. I would posit that Laffy is ahead of him at the same age. He was of course #19OA which is a difference in quality but if we look at where Kreider was at 24 with the opportunities he was given we have to accept that by 24 Laffy is likely to be the better player at the same age and quite possibly in actual performance between the two of them in his 24 season. It's hard to find a comp for Kakko because the Rangers haven't had particularly good RW's for awhile but it's not hard to see that he might develop into something very good still at this point. He basically has one real weakness at this point which is that he doesn't finish well. That's the kind of weakness that can go away in one season when he gets some confidence and puts things together. But really look at Zibanejad and Kreider at the ages that Chytil and Laffy are at and you realize that sometimes stars develop through hard work and just a bit of luck in the process.

With the exception of 2D on Tuesday night the Rangers have had Carolina's number going back to the playoffs last season. This is a matchup I'd like to face at some point because it is likely to be less random than some of our other potential matchups.

They played themselves onto the third line because the Rangers had established stars ahead of them on line 1 and 2, with the exception of Kakko. GG made the decision last season that they were deferring to often to those established stars and he put them on their own line, line 3, after which they certainly played a more coherent game and did well in the playoffs.

Centers do the most skating of any player on the ice. Defensemen tend to do the least outside of goalies. If you see a high school Center moved to Defense the first you think about is probably overall motor. The second is whether he has the speed to cover 200 feet of ice consistently.

How many teams in the NHL have more goals out of line 3 than the Rangers? Just a question. You can argue that the kids should be playing in the top 6 and getting PP time but the reality is that for most of their time with the Rangers they have not gotten that kind of exposure. People tend to rise to the challenges you put in front of them and line 3 isn't a particularly big challenge. Also the coach is a vet's coach. He's always going to go to the vets over the kids if given a choice and now he has a roster full of vets to do that with.

I believe it was C and he was asked to move to D late in his HS career. Usually when somebody is asked to move to D in HS it is because their skating is a bit below the other players competing for spots. That said I have no idea why Miller was moved to D. Given what we've seen out of him they must have had some very good Centers ahead of him or some piss poor defensemen on that team.

The Rangers have 47 goals out of line 3 right now. Lots of teams would be good with that. Yeah the kids should be scoring a bit more but given the time and opportunities they receive they are definitely doing the job they are being asked to do.

Fox may be getting tired late in the season. He's currently 3rd in TOI this year and 11th in TOI/G. The Rangers schedule probably didn't help much with all the back-to-backs and several games they skated with just 5D dressed.

"It's full of stars..."

Not the kids but just about everybody else looked like they were lagging a bit by the end. It's possible that the Canes are just a more fit team.

GG has two things to work with: his personality and the boyz. So when he's losing what he goes to is the boyz, making switches to shake things up and hopefully get the train back on the tracks. The thing that lets him do that consistently without offending the boyz is his personality. The boyz love playing for him because he lets them go out on the ice and do their thing. If he had a system there would be a lot less of the switcheroo going on because he'd be spending time, particularly with the younger players, making sure they had the system down. I don't really know whether his emphasis on the boyz is helpful or harmful over the course of the season. They definitely like him more than they would if he was drilling them all the time on the same system. However late in the season it is easy to see where he could switch things up once too often and have people dragging around as a result. It's actually work to acclimate to new linemates and get everything down and when you do that and then a switch happens it can probably be demoralizing. The Rangers did go on a nice long run last year into June of all places. If they do that again I think we might have to give GG some credit for not putting a system out there that other teams can dissect and try to take down.

Next 7 goals wins. Rangers should have them by mid 2nd period...

2 seconds. He took the shot with less than 2 seconds to go. Just a totally dumb move that luckily did not score. Anisimov's move was directed at the goalie. That's taunting and it is an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that will get called everytime.

2011 feels like a lifetime ago. I think Anisimov had a clear lack of judgement on the taunt. First of all it's a penalty and no way it's not going to get called. Secondly he wasn't much of a fighter and he was just really lucky that somebody who was a fighter didn't pound the snot out of him for taunting the goalie after a goal. Ken Linseman was a little shit who got himself in trouble all the time but he was a bantam weight fighter who could throw a sucker punch out of nowhere. He also had a bunch of much bigger teammates who liked a good fight now and then. From somebody like Linseman the move Anisimov pulled would have been a piece of art. For Anisimov it was just a brain fart out of nowhere. Miller's shot last night was a brain fart out of nowhere.

MIller has some real judgement lapses. That last second shot could have triggered a brawl if he scored and he doesn't like to fight.

@ the game? @the game?? He was sitting behind the Pens bench stroking his little, uh, voodoo doll, all game!

Probably lots of penalties going to get called in the 3rd as the officials try to keep a lid on the game. The fewer players on the ice the less chance that festivities break out.

Really hope this doesn't turn ugly now. Lots of pent-up anger right now for the Pens.