BrooksBurner

Kreider - Zib - Lafreniere Panarin - Stastny/Chytil - Kravtsov Goodrow - Stastny/Chytil - Kakko Blais - Rydahl/Brodz - Reaves Hunt Lindgren - Fox Miller - Trouba Jones - Schneider Nemeth Stastny is a decent stop-gap option. Relieves pressure of having to pay to dump or buy out Nemeth. Should leave cap room to make in-season/trade deadline moves similar to this past season.

That’s why they need another center. In the event either Chytil or <insert name here> gets hurt, Goodrow slides back to center to cover. That doesn’t mean they need to sign or trade for a high quality 2C though. The idea of Stastny for a year has been growing on me. Can still put up 40 points. Great on faceoffs. Even with his age, he has enough skill to play 17-18 a night if Chytil isn’t cutting it enough, or can slide up if (when? Lol) Chytil gets hurt.

Do they have the cap to do it?

Agree on Rydahl. A Rydahl/Brodzinski is your 4C competition. It’s very cheap. Both players are under $800k. And like you said, Rydahl isn’t coming here unless there is some understanding he has a great chance to be that guy. Looking at the overall C picture right now, the Rangers have Zib/Chytil/Goodrow/Rydahl down the middle. Instead of getting a bonafide 2C, if they sign a mid-6 C or trade for one (cough Suter cough), Goodrow gets pushed to wing and either Chytil is 2C and the new addition takes Goodrow’s spot, or the new addition is 2C and Chytil takes Goodrow’s spot. They should bring in another C for depth purposes anyway, but the quality of the center they bring in changes the equation and whether Chytil or <new guy> slots in at 2C. A Victor Rask slots below Chytil. A Paul Stastny might initially slot above him.

Teams coached by Torts generally know how to tighten up defensively and protect the net in exchange for less offense, to keep games close whether the team is overmatched or not. I remember his stint here thinking we just needed a good PP to put us over the top. Never got it. DeAngelo is one of the best in the business running a PP. Tortorella hockey + a good PP can be a winning combination.

They don't need to solidify center long term right now, but if a PLD were available, I'd hope they go that route. Otherwise, they can wait until next summer to make a long term center decision. They don't need to rush that. They have one star center, a defensive center, and a young hopeful one. Its a fine mix. At RW, it sounds like we agree that it is a mess on the depth chart filled with a bunch of hope-ium. More hope-ium than currently exists at center. You're just ok taking a chance on it. I'd rather not. Again...last year. Lessons learned. I don't see a proven RW as a luxury. It's a need. From a one year rental standpoint, I'll take the best available player. That's Kane.

No I don’t. Not anymore than you having to go to Ryan Reaves and Dryden Hunt when you go down 4 or 5 guys on the right. The fact is Zibanejad and Goodrow are more dependable players than the names you can give me on the right wing. And Chytil, for all his shortcomings to this point, has shown more than Kakko and Kravtsov.

That’s not true. They have Zib,Chytil, Goodrow, Brodzinski, Rydahl a vet they just signed from the SHL. They are also capable of signing another depth center or two. It’s not an issue. So the discussion comes down to quality, not quantity. That’s why everyone is focused on 2C. But when you look at the top 9, I’m decidedly less worried about Zib/Chytil/Goodrow than I am Lafreniere/Kakko/Kravtsov. I learned my lesson thinking the Rangers would be OK on the right side this past season. It was an abomination, and well worse than what I would expect down the middle from the 3 guys we have now.

That’s what everyone said last summer when they dealt Buchnevich. They need a proven RW. It was the achilles heel of the forward group all year long. Going Lafreniere/Kravtsov/Kakko isn’t very realistic if the team has any aspirations next year. I know around here we expect a step back, but I don’t think Drury is necessarily going to manage that way.

There goes my Saturday entertainment Mr Buzzkill

Yeah. He’d probably get $8-8.5M too.

Lindgren is 24 years old. He has plenty of mileage left on his body. In 2 years he'll only be 26. Lindgren ($5M) - Fox ($9.5M) Miller ($5-6M) - Schneider ($3M?) is probably the ticket. I'll take Lindgren at $5M and Schneider at $3M over Trouba at $8M. It's not really close, to be honest.

Lindgren will be 25 for his next contract and he’s Fox’s steady LD partner. The Rangers will choose between Trouba and Schneider.

Not anytime soon he isn’t.

Amazing how much guys can bank off of one great year. He was a 65 point player for years before exploding last year.

You’re probably right re: not being one player away. At least without a few things going the Rangers’ way. But without making a move, they have no chance. If they got Kane, they would have a reasonable chance. Not favorites, but in the contender list. All you need is a chance. If they do make a rental move, Kane is a better get than Miller to me. I’m not sold Miller works with Panarin. I also think he costs more than Kane in a trade. Kane can force his way here. Look at what Debrincat just went for. I don’t see why Kane half-retained would cost more than Lundkvist and a 1st if he pushes for a trade here. I make that deal 10x out of 10.

https://nypost.com/2022/07/08/patrick-kane-must-be-rangers-target-if-theyre-ready-for-next-step You tell em LB! Get me Kaner

I agree. Torts will love ADA’s passion and love for the game. Sure, they are bound to butt heads a bit when you have two big personalities, but I don’t think it’s going to be the problem most are thinking. This makes the Flyers better.

I feel like Kravtsov has some center qualities.

Zibanejad and Kreider both took discounts from what they could get on the open market.

Yeah, if not Miller, they'd probably want Schneider at least. It's tough to pin the Leafs struggles on any one player, but yeah he's not making the Rangers "tougher" that's for sure. He'd probably work well with Panarin, however. I don't think he's played C recently, though I don't think that's by choice. Matthews and Tavares block him. For the record, he's got good faceoff numbers, and if I were him I'd relish the opportunity to move back to center for the final 2 years of contract.

William Nylander for 2C. Yay or nay, and what's the cost?

I wish the Rangers were capable of hiding poor defensive defensemen. Couldn’t even get through one year of Nemeth.

Unless a team is dumb enough to take a 5th rounder or later to dump Nemeth’s contract, it would require picks from next year’s draft instead. Was really hoping to see a trade to avoid that buyout news from Larry

Good deal for all involved IMO, especially DeAngelo who had to be concerned about earnings potential after everything. The losers here are obviously the Rangers. Just to recap: Georgiev fights DeAngelo. Rangers annex DeAngelo after ultimatum broken, and get nothing for him except dead cap space. Hurricanes sign DeAngelo for close to a min contract. Hurricanes trade DeAngelo for more than the Rangers got for Georgiev. Canes running circles around the Rangers on asset management.