Br4d

Odds on Chytil being the priority sign this off-season?

I'm just really happy that they've got Mika looking out after the kid wings and Panarin with the kid C. Long time coming but they all seem to be profiting.

Putting Kravtsov on RW on 2L doesn't solve the problem because then you need Goodrow at C on that line to keep Panarin and Kravtsov from being pushed all over the ice. Panarin has great skills but physical play are not among them and pairing him with Kravtsov is likely to be a nightmare.

Goodrow is with Panarin as a security blanket. Anybody ragdolls Panarin and Goodrow is supposed to rip their face off and make them eat it.

Maybe some chemistry settling in here. Rangers will be pretty good if Laffy-Zib-Kakko is a good line.

Othman is going to see off either Panarin or Kreider. It's a matter of economics because the Rangers really need to break the current cap framework into something more manageable.

GG gets fired when the Caps overtake the Rangers and they're 6+ points out of a playoff spot. Could be in a couple of weeks or could be never. If the Rangers stay right on the bubble all season and miss out I think GG gets another year. I think the Rangers will make fairly big changes in that off-season.

Vesey is getting top 6 play over any of the kids. I mean WTF is up with that. That's a firing offense.

So one way to fix this is to leverage your vets into assets for the young guys instead of putting the vets out front and having the young guys muddle through. One example would be using one of the better two-way 200 ft Centers in the NHL to build up your two most valuable prospects. Lafreniere - Zibanejad - Kakko. Line two in that scenario would probably be Kreider - Chytil - Panarin. I guess you could shift Panarin and Kakko and still have it work but the point would be that your 3 most productive vets would be supporting the growth of your 3 best prospects. Having the kid line skate together on line 3 was a total player's coach vet-friendly head coach move. *flash* It's not working.

Well the other alternatives are probably a conditioning stint in Hartford or another injury. Kravtsov was the Ranger's hope at RW on line 1 or 2 this year and he's been a rolling disaster all season long.

This team is now losing reliably to bad teams. There's no way GG survives this.

The Blais position on line 3 might be a placeholder if the kid called up plays well enough to get promoted to line 3. I guess the real answer is the Rangers really need to get the kids jumpstarted and having Lafreniere and Chytil get line 2 minutes is a step in that direction. I just like Gauthier's energy and I think he probably is the best fit for them.

If Vesey's contribution is what it seems to be he needs to be in the bottom 6. I get that it's not his fault but he makes Frank Vatrano look like Mike Gartner by comparison.

So this is an attempt to fix the Rangers based on things that we know to a high probability. I'll use the following symbols to represent things we know: >< = Not a good pairing, <> = Good pairing, !- = Too much ice, !+ = Not enough ice Things we know Panarin >< Trocheck, really bad at 5v5. Miller >< Trouba, on ice for a significant number of bad events. Lindgren <> Fox Vesey !-, not in the top 6 please. Trouba !-, needs to give some ice time based on play so far. Gauthier !+, works hard and plays RW Chytil !+ Lafreniere !+ Schneider !+ Solutions Kreider - Zibanejad - Panarin, best players on line 1 any pass Panarin makes goes to somebody who can put it in the net reliably. Lafreniere - Chytil - Gauthier, big line plays at similar speeds and all work hard at that speed. All 3 young players that need more minutes. Blais - Trocheck - Kakko, not giving up on Kakko, quite the contrary, Trocheck is a good two-way player and Blais has some real scoring potential. Kakko might find himself as the playmaker on this line. Call up a kid - Goodrow - Kravtsov/Vesey, the best way to send a message to the vets and the kids is to bring up somebody who might take a job. Put him on the line with Goodrow who is an excellent babysitter and probably Vesey who is sound. Kravtsov would be great but he'll undoubtedly nut himself on his own stick and miss two weeks (nad miss two weeks?) Lindgren - Fox, don't fix what's not broke Miller - Schneider, Schneider needs more minutes and Trouba really needs less ice time until whatever is bothering him heals Hajek - Trouba, gives the Rangers a big 3rd pair which can be useful at times. Not sure how you fix this group of under-performing players but I think a shake-up of the level above is a logical step given what we know.

Hockey teams win games because they're better than the opponent. At the start of the season the Rangers looked better than the opponent and lucky. Then the luck went away. Now they don't look better than the opponent and often look worse. Panarin is in what amounts to a major slump for him with 5 points in his last 10 games and no PP pts during that span. When Panarin is not getting points he's a pretty bad player because he's not strong defensively at this point and he adds nothing to the physical side of the game. I think to get things righted again the Rangers need to look at why Panarin is having such a tough time right now. They need to fix that first.

GG's big weakness is that as a player's coach he puts too much trust in the players. Specifically he puts too much trust in the vested vets - the guys who have proven they can play at a high level at some point. This weakness comes back to haunt in the form of players not in that group who are not given the best opportunity to develop. It's almost as if being a high pick and not a trusted vet is the worst possible place to be as a Ranger right now. The expectations are unreasonable and the opportunities are mundane. It's worth noting that GG was not a high pick and had to claw his way to the top. Took him 4 years to make the NHL and then his career was likely briefer than he thought it should be. He has to see guys like Laffy and Kakko as silver spoon kids who were handed the keys to the vault.

Moving on would be a mistake. Having Lafreniere at the heart of a great trade would not. I don't think either is in the offing but I could see a Lafreniere departure going either way depending on how he was valued by the other side in the trade.

You gotta be pretty good to have 7 teams want you at some point.

GG gets another few games for the players to sort it out.

So easy. Get the puck and shoot it.

The marriage of Kreider and Zibanejad probably has to be broken up. It's time. Marry Panarin and Zibanejad instead and give them the best possible RW (probably Kakko). Line 2 is Kreider-Chytil-Lafreniere. Line 3 is (call up a kid) - Trocheck - Gauthier. Line 4 is Blais - Goodrow - Vesey Top 3 lines all have some energy at the same time for the first time all season. The Rangers aren't going to fix what's wrong by recycling the same ideas they have been using for the last two seasons. Time to find some new ideas.

It's looking a lot like the Rangers as currently constructed are a bubble playoff team. They might make it or they might not but they're clearly not one of the top 10 teams that you expect to make it. Last year we got very lucky and looked dominant at times. This year we're getting very unlucky and look slapstick at times. That's just how luck goes from year to year, extremes in one direction are matched with extremes in the other. The answer probably does not come at the trade deadline. The answer likely comes when young talent from below displaces the talent that is on the roster. Again, that's just how the NHL works. Hopefully Othman or Cuylle are the real deal and the Rangers are flying high when they get promoted - likely in the next administration.

For the team or for psychologists?

The young guys. The kids. Which of them looks like they're living up to the billing? Chytil is as close as you get and he's the guy who is always on the third line. The vets. The stars. Which of them looks like they are fully living up to the billing? Fox. Maybe Mika, although he hasn't done much at 5v5. The rest of them are just gliding through the season looking like pale copies of themselves. Panarin? He's the problem on the team. He's soft and he skates around with the puck and he makes too many passes that should be shots instead. Kind of like a mirror of the team as a whole. Kreider? He's fine but nothing he does stands out. Fastest man on the ice with a linemate who looks to feed him. How many breakaways? Best guy on the team at the edge of the crease. How many deflections this year? How many rebounds turned into a hard chance? It's like watching this whole team sleep-skating through the season. Yeah, I didn't mention Trouba because he's obviously injured and has been for the entire season. Always had a questionable set of legs but he made up for it with outstanding upper body work on the opponent. Not this year.

Love the thread title. Not going to love the game is my guess.