Future

I think there is too much a) whining about infractions and b)worrying about the infractions that others get. If you know a post is probably going to get you infract/banned, then it probably isn't worth posting.

Yea, basically how I feel. $7.25 is a number that protects you from having to give him $11 or whatever....but I don't think Hischier has shown much to suggest he's going to get to that point.

I don't think we should ever expect Kakko to be a puck carrier like Hughes. He's a guy who is going to be most effective when he has linemates who can do the heavy lifting in the NZ so that he can get in on the forecheck and possess along the boards or around the net, where his size and strength works for him. These two have always been overstated, I think. This comes back to the 2020 draft convo a while ago - where would these guys go? They could both fall out of the top 3, based on what the 2020 guys are doing right now.

It looks like the PP is asking him specifically to not be in front of the net, but next to it as a passer. Which is a comically terrible application of his skillset, but I'm not sure that's an indictment of Kreider.

In the abstract Hughes is due, but other than the stuff-in attempt that didn't go, I wouldn't say that he's due. It's not like he's snakebit or anything, he's not even generating shots.

I think it is very possible right now that Quinn thinks Staal is the team's best defender. Not best defenseman overall, but best matchup defender. Trouba has been getting worked in his own zone. His numbers mirror Pionk's last year.

I know. Trouba isn't good enough offensively to be in the Leetch role, because that would go to Fox. If Fox didn't exist, the conversation is probably different. Leetch was in that role because he was the Rangers' best offensive defenseman. Trouba isn't that - or won't be long term - so it's not really a parallel. And, to be clear, I also don't think Trouba is good enough to be in that role. He's good enough to be on a good top pair with another good player. He's not good enough offensively to be partnered with a purely defensive player and to expext that they, together, can play 26:00/night successfully. Instead, Trouba and another balanced partner should get the tough deployments, and then Fox and Hajek/Lindgren/whoever are Leetch/Beuk and get the favorable matchups.

You can call him whatever you want - good job ignoring the second half of the post - but he's not good enough to be given the Leetch/Beuk treatment when he's the second-best offensive RHD on the team, long-term. It's stupid to try to find a D partner who compliments his offensive game before doing that for Fox, b/c you'd be diminishing the value of both.

Right, but Trouba isn't a good enough offensive player offensively to be put in that comparison, especially with Fox in the mix. If you're saying Fox is Leetch, then fine. That I'd agree with. But not Trouba.

I was responding to the Leetch comparison...

Trouba doesn't have the skillset to put up 80 points unless he has something ridiculous like 45 on the PP. We should basically be hoping that he turns into Alex Pietrangelo. And if he needs to click with someone...that's kinda my point about being a #1. EK put up 78 points as a 21 yo playing with 35 yo Philip Kuba, 37 yo Sergei Gonchar, and 33 yo Chris Phillips lol. Those elite guys produce regardless of their partner - You need some trust/chemistry, but that shouldn't be particularly hard to find for those top guys.

Trouba isn't Leetch. That's why 8 mil was a pretty bad contract, as of right now.

The dilemma isn't that Skjei or Hajek can't play first-pair minutes, it's that Trouba isn't a true #1 who doesn't need a first-pair capable partner. He's just not in the same class as the Doughtys and EKs who can be good with just about anyone. Long term, assuming Fox progressese, the best usage of Trouba is on a heavy DZ matchup pair. Basically the Sharks model: Trouba/Hajek = Braun/Vlasic Skjei/Fox = Martin/Burns

I still think that's what they should have done from the beginning K-Z-B Pan - Warm Body - Kakko

He's reallllly tied to Moritz Seider and has ~4 years to build a contender. By then, without even including an Yzerman pick you're looking at something like: Mantha - Larkin - Bertuzzi Zadina - Veleno - Rasmussen Athanasiou - Berggren - Cholowski Hronek McIsaac Bowey Tuomitso If they haven't hit on the defensive side before Yzerman, he's largely fucked anyways, but he walked into a really good situation. Bet $5 that he spends big in UFA and trades and then, if they don't get there, he bails.

This is disingenuous, because the 50-point "middle 6" player is essentially nonexistent. At a 50-point pace, you're either a top-6 player, or on a short-term deal b/c you're not a 5v5 play driver. Two players in the league last year scored 50+ points and played less than 16:00 - Jumbo and Labanc. Both scored nearly half their points on the PP, and they were on the same line. Labanc had 56 points and the Sharks gave him 1x$1, b/c he's not really a top-6 player. And no, paying Boyle $2.75 isn't ok. The Devils traded him. But you can make the argument that what a guy like Boyle provides at $3m and 25 poitns is a lot more beneficial to winning than a guy like Strome at $4m and 50 points, because it can give you an advantage at 5v5 when the 4th line is on and a strong PK, whereas you're getting production, but an overall weak spot in the top 6 otherwise.

Lol, I thought the same thing too. That's the only reason I looked.

He didn't really play with Tavares much, to be fair. JT only had a point on 12 of Strome's 50.

Yes. AND do it with Perrault. I initially had two thoughts going on at the same time. If you flip Smith for Perrault, and trade Strome, you have a slightly better lineup, plus whatever return Strome gets now. At the deadline, you flip Perreault also. It's basically just adding another - as much as I hate this term lol - asset, while offloading Smith.

To trade at the deadline too, I mean. He's not a long-term guy but would help you get more of a return for a guy like Smith, potentially.

Lol, yea I hate the term middle 6. Most of the guys who get that title are more likely to be on the 4th line than the 2nd line of any good team.

Perrault is interesting, though I think we'd have to sweeten the pot (and I doubt whether or not they'd have any interest in Smith at all). Perrault would get a good get because he's an upgrade to Strome/Namest while filling the same role. The problem would be that he has a higher cap hit and isn't a UFA, so he's a lot more difficult to trade.

You can't trade Skjei yet. He gets at least a full year with Trouba.

I agree with you about who Strome is, but I think you're exaggerating at $5m. The rest of the league knows all this too. His only long-term value to the Rangers is whatever he can fetch at the deadline. If he's a 50-point player, it'll be a decent return. If not, it's the same as the Namestnikov deal - which I'd do now to protect yourself against him being a 30-point player - and we move on.

It is both lol. It's good in the sense that it prevents teams from being punished much if they have a player with a serious injury (and helps the player too, a bit). But teams definitely use it for cap circumvention, no doubt about it.