fletch

It's worse to keep young defenders in the minors, and a business decision. Shattenkirk doesn't fit with roster construction of the team, keeping him around is worse than the cap hit.

tried to move shattenkirk, couldn’t, had to free up the logjam in defense. rangers have full-time number crunchers to think about permutations and different scenarios depending on how much the salary cap goes up in subsequent years. it’s all good

so all we have to do is fire the coach and bench lundqvist and the cup is ours because the nhl is a copycat league:pbjtime: metro is tough this year so even a third place finish or a wild card spot would be encouraging. would be nice to get back to the playoffs and get the kids some experience

i hate long term deals, especially for goalies because of dipietro. lose confidence, lose your game, and you’re suddenly an expensive backup or worse. not sold on vasilevskiy yet

just brutal to lose granlund, niederreider, coyle, resign staal. wild hamstrung by no move clauses and a desire to shake up the locker room but just bad moves. this team now needs to bottom out and rebuild through the draft

Right... my point stands in that hockey has imperfect metrics to assess a player's contribution with secondary assists being an example. Forwards and defensemen tend to play on the same lines, so the best we can do is stats like Corsi and Fenwick, but really it's easier to say that a particular line is producing rather than an individual player's contribution. Same with a hot power play versus one not producing, etc. Sure, if you spring a 2-1 the secondary assist may be the most important play. If a forward weaves through a couple defenders before dishing for a tap-in goal, the primary assist may be the most important play. And a lot of times a wicked shot is the most important play. Playing a lot of time on the power play sure helps your goal and assist totals, but you've got to be an offensive threat and produce to get the power play time. And if you're a defenseman, time in the offensive zone with the top two forward lines are going to give you more opportunities for points. So you just can't look at the top ten point totals for NHL defenseman and say that they are the top ten offensive threats in the league. http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20182019&seasonTo=20182019&gameType=2&position=D&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=points,goals,gamesPlayed 5 Yandle 62 points 6 Gustafsson 60 points 7 Barrie 59 points 8 Letang 56 points 9 Josi 56 points 10 Chabot 55 points 11 Hedman 54 points 12 Krug 53 points 13 Trouba 50 points 14 Suter 47 points So after the top four defensemen, not much difference between 5 and 14. Yes, I know there are differences in games played. But you would have to do a deep dive to rationalize how to rank this group from 5 to 14. You want to put Letang or Hedman at 5 because they played less games and have historically produced? Fine. You want to penalize Letang and Hedman because they play on explosive teams and give credit to Chabot or Suter? You could argue that as well.

Assists are an imperfect stat. Big difference between a defenseman getting a secondary assist on a short pass in the defensive zone leading to a goal versus a forward getting a primary assist dishing the puck across the front of the net for a tap-in. https://www.icydata.hockey/player_stats/primary-and-secondary/27/stats breaks down primary, secondary assists, other stats

Paul Kariya Johnny Gaudreau Phil Esposito

you can’t kill any of these unless they choke on your body. if i get scuba gear i’ll take on the croc, try and hold his jaws shut until he suffocates under water. no scuba gear i am taking on the shark. croc would rip me to shreds and drag me under water, brutal way to die. killer whales are in packs so beat one, get killed by another. great white shark get lucky or die quick

floor: ahl level player with barely nhl level talent. upside: agitator who will create havoc in front of the net. not enough info for me to have much of an opinion

yeah, i probably am overthinking this. but in a zoo they’re not as daunting. they’ll still probably kill you but you’re getting a different version of the beast

a male lion, generally pretty lazy especially compared to a female, most worried about teeth, my choice. gorilla silver back super strong, teeth, notoriously bad tempered. no way i want the polar bear with those claws teeth size, plus fighting on ice snow cold. want no part of bleeding wounds and shredded clothing when it’s minus twenty

It’s July, not September. We paid open market price to acquire A/A-/B+ players with possible consequences on retaining B+/B-/C players. It’s still a net upgrade and we still have time to maneuver. You don’t judge a home renovation when the scaffolding is still up and the external walls are ripped open.

Enjoyed the HR derby from Alonso, he's been one of the few good stories of the season for the Mets. Hate that Wheeler is trade bait to Yanks or Red Sox. https://www.mlb.com/news/zack-wheeler-trade-rumors

Winnipeg's defensemen were stacked so they could choose from Trouba-Byfuglien-Morrissey-Myers for the power play but Trouba was the main choice to QB the powerplay. http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20182019&seasonTo=20182019&gameType=2&position=D&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=points,goals,assists I guess you can say that Trouba's productivity could be due to being on the ice with talent like Scheifele-Wheeler, but I'd say it was a combination of talent and Winnipeg's team philosophy of encouraging defensemen to pinch and join the play in the offensive zone. Trouba 50 pts, Myers 31 points, Morrisey 31 points, Byfuglien 31 points. http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20182019&seasonTo=20182019&gameType=2&position=D&playerPlayedFor=team.52&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=points,goals,assists

There's no point in investing in Yandle-Shattenkirk-Trouba if you're not going to give them the freedom to operate in the offensive zone. You'd be better off investing in lock-down defensemen to improve your defensive zone coverage.

Keith Yandle https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/y/yandlke01.html Coyotes and Panthers have given Yandle ice time and opportunities in the offensive zone - freedom he didn't have with the Rangers. Rangers haven't really encouraged defensemen to activate and join the offensive push since Brian Leetch - it just isn't part of the Rangers system.

people miss the point of shattenkirk when they focus on his play in the defensive zone - his whole career that has been a liability. at his peak he was a force on the power play and creating scoring plays in the offensive zone. as his productivity in the offensive zone has dropped off, his deficiencies in the d zone become more glaring. put him with a free wheeling attacking team and he can still create. but don’t expect him to lock down an opposing team’s forward, he has never been about that.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/27096159/2019-nhl-free-agency-grades-analysis-every-big-signing "...This should be the model for all teams who need to retool, and how to do it in the shortest window possible. It was only February 2018 when the Rangers sent out the now-infamous letter to fans... Seventeen months later, they're poised to win yet again. They signed the most coveted free-agent forward on the market in Panarin, and signed him through his prime years. They acquired a new No. 1 defenseman in Jacob Trouba. They acquired a potential top-four defenseman in Adam Fox. They drafted a generational scoring talent in Kakko. The future is no longer bleak....Overall grade: A" Always nice to get some positive reinforcement

i go no captain this year. hopefully someone earns the c for the following year. there’s some good young candidates that don’t need the extra scrutiny of the c until they earn it

WOW. now let’s see who we can keep with the salary cap. opening day roster is going to look a lot different than the close of last season.

what a way to break the losing streak, against Atlanta no less

bullpen is a dumpster fire right now. nothing more frustrating then losing late leads. callaway may be gone soon

love luongo, hope he gets a tv gig somewhere. he is a great interview, some great quotes

looking sharp, right in time for fourth of july