Br4d

The point of a coaching change would be to get fresh eyes on underperforming talent.  You're not going to get a new system installed smoothly in the middle of the season.  Some of the players won't be fits and others won't fully buy in until they see it working and it's likely just to be a grindy two months for everybody after the change.

The problems the Rangers have right now are pretty simple and they had most of them last season as well.

1.  They don't defend well in front of the net.  There's always somebody hanging in front of the net and when a loose puck happens there we get a nasty surprise.  Why are the Rangers big defensemen paired?  I get that K'Andre Miller doesn't play to his size in terms of bodywork but the answer there is to pair him with Fox and coach him into playing more physically in front of the net.

2. They don't take quick shots when they penetrate.  They're always looking to make the next pass in a never-ending sequence.  It's been a shocker lately when Panarin actually took a few shots on the rush because he's the guy everybody else is looking to emulate when they do the pass-pass-pass thing.

3. They don't take enough shots from the point.  These are low percentage shots but every even strength shot is a low percentage shot for the Rangers the last couple of years.

4. They don't establish a presence at the edge of the crease often enough.  This is because guys are running around looking to make or take another third pass too often in even strength.  This is probably also why the point shots aren't coming - hard to justify making the shot when there are no screens and nobody there to manage a rebound if it happens.

5.  For some reason despite being one of the better 5v5 goal scorers on the team Lafreniere is still having to fight for ice time.  I mean what is up with that?  Yeah he is slumping this season but it's the second season in a row that he's been mostly in a secondary role.  How the fuck can you justify putting Jimmy Vesey on line 1 even temporarily while Lafreniere is on line 3?

If GG is looking for the players to sort all of this out he's certainly making some head-scratching decisions along the way.

8 minutes ago, Jdog99 said:

I think we can be fairly confident that zib-kreid doesnt work well enough, or consistently enough without a real player on the rw ala zucc, buch...and vesey is definitely not that guy. Panarin maybe, if he can suck it up and play on the off wing...and elevate his game. Otherwise, would love to see laf in a top 6 role IN HIS NATURAL F'N POSITION.

To make this happen either Panarin or Kreider needs to move to RW.  I think we saw this some the last couple of games.

GG may have a mental stop going at this point.  He's formed really strong opinions about a few of the players that prevents him from really shaking things up.

If he's decided that Kreider and Zibanejad have to play together then that decision informs any shakeup he makes in the top 6.

Similarly if he has decided that Fox and Lindgren complement each other very well that causes him to maybe overlook necessary shakeups on the blueline.

15 minutes ago, Lord Al said:

Was at the game and heard people talking about Mess 

Nah, he's too old and wouldn't move the needle on the ice.

Well, now that I think about it he definitely would have a pulse on every shift and that's more than you can say for half the top 6 these days.

Rangers now multiple games out of playoff position.  I'm worried.

WTF...

It's like the Rangers went into sleep mode there.

Can't lose this game after being up 3-0.

3 hours ago, RangersIn7 said:

 

By compensated, do you mean he’d get top-line minutes with their 2 best forwards?

Yes.  Laffy would get to play with 2 of the Rangers 3 best skaters in compensation for playing off-position at RW.

30 minutes ago, Zuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuc said:

Vesey - Trocheck - Goodrow as the 2nd line. LOL

 

Just trade Kravtsov now if he’s not gonna get a look after that last game. Just tanking his value even further by healthy scratching him for so long. 

I might wonder why the kid line is not moved up to 2nd line in that lineup.

Vesey - Trocheck - Goodrow lines up pretty well as the third line.

Break up Kreider and Zibanejad.  You almost have to do this at this point because it sets a lot of wheels in motion elsewhere in the lineup.

Why are Panarin and Zibanejad not playing together given their evident synergy on the PP?

Shouldn't the most valuable young prospect on the team get a shot with the two best players on the roster?  That would be Panarin - Zibanejad - Lafreniere with Laffy getting compensated in a big way for having to move to RW.

39 minutes ago, Keirik said:

Incredibly misleading way of trying to prove a point in a skewed way. After those first 5 games last year for Georgiev, the Rangers scored 18 goals. Halal’s first 5 games this year the Rangers have scored 5. 7 if you include last nights and make it 6 games. Halak hasn’t been that great but they aren’t losing because of Halak. They are losing because they aren’t scoring. 

100%.

7 goals in 6 games will get you to 0-6 pretty easily.

4 hours ago, The Dude said:

Unpopular opinion.  I deal Miller as the centerpiece for Kane. What happened with this kid?

 

Ended last season on a roll. Had a preseason that had us all bonerized  Now and the last 15 or so games? Just lackadaisical and not skating or doing anything good with the puck.  

Miller's not the problem.  His partner is the problem right now.

There's too much talent to be doing this every other night.

GG needs to shake things up some.

Panarin - Zibanejad - Lafreniere.

Kreider - Trocheck - Kakko

Blais - Chytil - Kravtsov/Gauthier

Vesey -Carpenter - Goodrow

Bleah.

Panarin - Zibanejad should be a thing moving forward.  Maybe put Lafreniere on the RW there and count on him getting chances with the other two.

The Ducks have 111 pts.  Just saying...

Oh and just to add the way things have been going this season this is a 3-1 loss with the Ducks getting a late empty-netter after the Rangers score 1 goal on 48 shots in the first 59:51.

Something is wrong with the chemistry on this team.  There's a passivity when the top 6 are out there that is hard to fathom.

I really would prefer the kid line was mostly in the top 6 on other lines but man they look like the only line with a pulse at times.

Rangers woke up.  1st period looked like another dragging through the mud.

10 minutes ago, NYRangers93 said:

we all love rangers hockey but these late starts are killing me. better off getting my 8 hours of sleep and watching the condensed version in the morning

I'd be on this also but I love to watch the Rangers play and if I look at the score in the morning and it's a loss I won't watch.  I'll look at the highlights but the game is dead to me as soon as the horn sounds on a loss.

On 11/21/2022 at 10:15 AM, Pete said:

The issue is that the only thing they produce is chances, they don't produce goals. 

I would kill for a guy who is regularly in the slot 15-20 feet from the goal and taking the damn shot when it comes his way.  Nobody does that.

When Panarin gets in there he passes the puck out, often getting somebody a shot but it is a much worse chance then the one he had if he had just unloaded when he penetrated.

Zibanejad hangs by his spot and sometimes he gets the one-timer, which is great, but often he can't get it off and he winds up passing it down low to nobody who will shoot the damn puck or kicking it behind him to the point where we freaking rinse and repeat.

Kreider?  I don't even know what Kreider is doing this year but hanging in front of the net waiting for a deflection or setting a screen isn't happening as much as it did last year.

The whole damn team is playing keep away in the offensive zone and then screwing up the shot at the end.  I don't think I've ever seen a Rangers team that is as good at moving the puck in the offensive zone and I'm pretty sure I've never seen one as bad at finishing.

The on-ice play has been pretty dominant at times except for putting the puck in the net.

The game we just saw should have been 5-1 Rangers.  The Islanders game should have been 5-1 Rangers.  There've been a number of other games this season where the Rangers had the lion's share of the puck and the shots and either just squeaked by or lost inexplicably.

The backup goalie is like 0-5 largely due to this phenomenon.  Halak should have a couple of wins at this point in the season but he keeps getting these dominant Rangers games where they can't put the puck in the net.  The Rangers have scored 5 goals in his 5 starts while outshooting the opponent 175-139.

That's insane.  The opposing goalie has a 97.1 save percentage in his games.

The point GG made about the Rangers essentially getting lucky last year was a good one.  That kind of luck does tend to revert towards the mean over time.

However each game is an independent result and if the Rangers really are playing better than last year they should snap out of the funk as a product of all those individual play better events.

I think I'm not going to get worried until the Rangers are multiple games out of playoff position and so far that has not been the case.

The Rangers stickhandle and pass the puck extremely well.  Like Eurozone well.

Nobody shoots the puck!  5v5 winds up looking like a powerplay in the offensive zone most of the time except nobody shoots the puck!

Somehow this is all Panarin's fault.  Haven't quite figured it out yet but I think everybody in the top 9 is trying to emulate Panarin's style and the bottom 3 would be also but their stickhandling and passing skills aren't quite up to the burden.

That was the most dominant almost loss that we've seen in at least a week.

There's something deeply wrong with the chemistry on this team.  Either that or they got lucky as hell last year and we're paying for it this year.

The empty net made a couple of good saves there but eventually the Rangers scored!

1 minute ago, Keirik said:

Panarin is just regressing in so many ways 

Panarin normally tries to do a little too much.  These days he's trying to do a little too much^2.