Brooks Reilly Smith is 'a Matter of Cost,'

[Phil]

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4. It is going to be difficult for Drury to get a jump on the trade market, still more than two months away from the March 21 deadline, without overpaying. And though the deadhead performances in Las Vegas and Los Angeles were both alarming, the Rangers are not at a stage of their evolution that demands overpayment. They are not one or two pieces away from the Stanley Cup, even if those pieces were to come in the shape of a 26-year-old Mario Lemieux and a 30-year-old Scott Stevens. (On second thought, they’d probably take their chances with those two in the lineup).

 

But Drury surely should be zoned in on the Golden Knights, who are going to be in need of a cap fix when Jack Eichel is activated. There is a chance that Vegas management will be able to find a solution tied to long-term injury-related maneuvers but if not, there is a good reason that impending free-agent right winger Reilly Smith has been at the top of everyone’s list of Rangers’ trade targets since the summer. That’s because it makes sense.

 

Smith, Brendan Smith’s younger brother, would enhance either top-six unit. The Rangers are generally decent when they have the puck. The problem is, they don’t possess the puck nearly enough in the offensive zone, and one of the reasons for that is because they are not hard enough without the puck in the neutral zone. They do not track back forcefully or intelligently enough. Smith brings that mentality to the rink. It is a matter of cost.

 

https://nypost.com/2022/01/11/rangers-concerning-offensive-flaws-are-being-exposed/

[josh]

Smith will be cheap [enough] to acquire, unless they fuck it up. 

[Scott]

Some really eye opening numbers when it comes to just how bad they are 5x5 offensively:

 

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The Blueshirts, a collective minus-two, rank 25th in five-on-five goals per 60 minutes, their 2.14 measure even worse than the expansion Kraken’s 2.2 per 60. The team’s expected goals for (xGF) percentage is 30th in the 32-team league, so the puny output cannot be ascribed to bad luck. They have scored 64 goals in 1,791:30 at full strength, per Natural Stat Trick. By contrast, the Blueshirts have scored 25 power-play goals in 174:48, or almost 40 percent of that production in about 10 percent of the time.

  

And not to point the finger at one guy but thank god for his 200 foot game. 

 

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With all of Kakko’s fine work in corners and on the boards, do you realize he is the midst of another one of those stretches in which he has scored in one of the Rangers’ last 20 games?

[Phil]

Just now, josh said:

Smith will be cheap [enough] to acquire, unless they fuck it up. 

 

Agreed. Impending UFA, won't be re-signed, and they're really tight against the cap. Trading him just plain helps. A mid-round pick and a prospect should do it.

[Phil]

1 minute ago, jsrangers said:

Some really eye opening numbers when it comes to just how bad they are 5x5 offensively:

 

Good thing Smith is a 5v5 producer. Over the last three seasons he's got 107 points, 81 of which are at even strength. Good for fourth among all VGK skaters.

[Pete]

4 minutes ago, jsrangers said:

Some really eye opening numbers when it comes to just how bad they are 5x5 offensively:

I mean this has been pointed out. They live on the power play and feast on bad / COVID teams. 

 

They need a lot of work. 

[Scott]

12 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

Good thing Smith is a 5v5 producer. Over the last three seasons he's got 107 points, 81 of which are at even strength. Good for fourth among all VGK skaters.

Basically the numbers are so incredibly bad Smith and almost anybody else can only help. I didn't realize how truly weak they were.  I can't imagine Drury sells out meaning deals more than a  small handful of pieces they like on rentals at the dead line.  We'll see how rough the next few weeks play out as Covid has it's way with the roster.  Way too many passengers still from say guys that were drafted 1st and 2nd.  Guys who had expectations to make a difference inthe top 6 every night.  

 

Praying Igor gets back soon to hide a lot of the warts.  Maybe he can stay healthy for a while this next time back. Fingers crossed.

 

**yeah Pete it has I never realized the extent as in being 30th out of 32 etc.

Edited January 12, 2022 by jsrangers

[Phil]

16 minutes ago, Pete said:

I mean this has been pointed out. They live on the power play and feast on bad / COVID teams. 

 

They need a lot of work. 

 

They need work, for sure. I don't know about a lot, unless we wanna start seriously talking about trading Kakko, too.

[ThirtyONE]

Was it 4 days ago that they were at the top of the entire league? I know some of that is smoke and mirrors but there's probably only one team in the league that hasn't had some luck in their rise to the top. 

 

They're miles ahead of the rebuild curve. We were hoping for 8th to start the year and now we're hoping for 1st. Stay the friggin' course. Bring in a body or two that could help them this April, but the team's foundation has been built.

 

Smith is a decent option because he's (presumably) cheap and skilled. I'm fine with slightly more expensive players like Pavelski too. But, to me, this is the beginning. The main pieces of the roster are here. Every following season should be like this one: rentals come in and out, revolving around the main group of guys who are here right now. While that happens, Kakko and Lafreniere will either become stars or not, and if not, they'll remain cost effective until they're not. 

 

I think with a C and RW, this team could surprise some people. If they can't get either, they can still get some valuable experience this April

[Keirik]

If this is our path then fine. He’s a hell of a player. Do it now though rather than wait so we can still obtain another deadline rental or guy like Gourde  for mores than tomorrow. 
 

just don’t wait for too long. Rentals work out better if the period of rent is longer rather than shorter.

[RichieNextel305]

6 hours ago, Keirik said:

If this is our path then fine. He’s a hell of a player. Do it now though rather than wait so we can still obtain another deadline rental or guy like Gourde  for mores than tomorrow. 
 

just don’t wait for too long. Rentals work out better if the period of rent is longer rather than shorter.

I agree. If Smith is the target, make your play now. Eichel just began skating with Vegas. Not that his return is imminent, but they have to start the process of at least discussing what the moves will be when he returns to the lineup and they’re $250 Million over the cap.

[Pete]

10 hours ago, Phil said:

 

They need work, for sure. I don't know about a lot, unless we wanna start seriously talking about trading Kakko, too.

No, they need a lot of work.

 

Think about what you need to win in the playoffs. The #1 thing? DEPTH. 

 

Nobody on the right side score. The 3rd line is useless and easier to play against than the top 2. They have no 3rd pair. They can't play 5v5, what happens when the whistles get put away in the post season?

 

I know everyone is drunk with being at the top of the league but reality is gonna hit hard.

[Phil]

27 minutes ago, Pete said:

No, they need a lot of work.

 

Think about what you need to win in the playoffs. The #1 thing? DEPTH. 

 

Nobody on the right side score. The 3rd line is useless and easier to play against than the top 2. They have no 3rd pair. They can't play 5v5, what happens when the whistles get put away in the post season?

 

I know everyone is drunk with being at the top of the league but reality is gonna hit hard.

 

Then this rebuild is on shaky fucking ground. A lot of what you're describing falls on the shoulders of young players who aren't pulling their weight. Kakko, Chytil, Lafrenière, Gauthier, etc.

[Pete]

2 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

Then this rebuild is on shaky fucking ground. A lot of what you're describing falls on the shoulders of young players who aren't pulling their weight. Kakko, Chytil, Lafrenière, Gauthier, etc.

I mean...yes. Hence the reason some of us are so hard on Lafreniere in his second year out of shape and not much better than year 1, Kakko doing all the right things but not producing in year 3...where's the progress? Just wasting peak Zib/Panarin/Kreider. 

 

Kind of over "looking at the bright side" of Kakko's 200ft game and Lafreniere play away from the puck. The rebuild depended on them, and they're flopping. 

Edited January 12, 2022 by Pete

[Dunny]

The rebuild was a bust. Our best players had virtually nothing to do with it. All the rebuild pieces, astonishingly outside of Lindgren, either fucking blow, or are yet to even get their feet wet.

 

[Phil]

Just now, Pete said:

I mean...yes. Hence the reason some of us are so hard on Lafreniere in his second year out of shape and not much better than year 1, Kakko doing all the right things but not producing in year 3...where's the progress? Just wasting peak Zib/Panarin/Kreider. 

 

I mean, that's whitewashing it a bit. You sell hope our wins. At some point, hope runs out. Kakko has played 150 games. Chytil, 220. If you're not figuring it out by this point, I've waning hope you ever will. Especially within a window of contending with viable Kreider, Zibanejad, and Panarin.

[Phil]

Just now, Dunny said:

The rebuild was a bust. Our best players had virtually nothing to do with it. All the rebuild pieces, astonishingly outside of Lindgren, either fucking blow, or are yet to even get their feet wet.

 

 

Meanwhile, Detroit and Anaheim are about to lap them. Fuck, this is so depressing.

[Dunny]

Just now, Phil said:

 

Meanwhile, Detroit and Anaheim are about to lap them. Fuck, this is so depressing.

 

And LA!

[Pete]

1 minute ago, Dunny said:

The rebuild was a bust. Our best players had virtually nothing to do with it. All the rebuild pieces, astonishingly outside of Lindgren, either fucking blow, or are yet to even get their feet wet.

 

Fox. That's where it starts and ends. Even with a 2 and a 1 in consecutive years. You can't make it up. 

[Dunny]

Just now, Pete said:

Fox. That's where it starts and ends. Even with a 2 and a 1 in consecutive years. You can't make it up. 

 

Not even. He was forcing his way here, regardless.

[Pete]

Just now, Dunny said:

 

Not even. He was forcing his way here, regardless.

Right, but we still got him young enough rather than waiting. 

[LindG1000]

I'm going to ask what I think is the critical question with Reilly Smith: Why the fuck is Vegas trading any of that Karlsson line out of desperation? Sure, Eichel's imminent, but Pacioretty is out for a while here too. They missed Stone for a month+. They already had Pacioretty out earlier this year. FAM's cap hit is on LTIR too.

 

Based on the accruals and timelines and what-not, they probably need 5M in space to "activate" Eichel.  Why aren't they just calling up the Coyotes and offering a pick to take, say, Dadonov? He stinks, he makes as much as Reilly Smith, and the Coyotes don't have enough contracts in the org next season to ice a team. 

 

 

[Dunny]

1 minute ago, G1000 said:

I'm going to ask what I think is the critical question with Reilly Smith: Why the fuck is Vegas trading any of that Karlsson line out of desperation? Sure, Eichel's imminent, but Pacioretty is out for a while here too. They missed Stone for a month+. They already had Pacioretty out earlier this year. FAM's cap hit is on LTIR too.

 

Based on the accruals and timelines and what-not, they probably need 5M in space to "activate" Eichel.  Why aren't they just calling up the Coyotes and offering a pick to take, say, Dadonov? He stinks, he makes as much as Reilly Smith, and the Coyotes don't have enough contracts in the org next season to ice a team. 

 

 

 

I'd take Dadonov lol

[LindG1000]

Just now, Dunny said:

 

I'd take Dadonov lol

He's signed for next season at 5M and is scoring at under half a point a game on that injury-devastated Vegas team. I'd pass on that one pretty easily.

[Dunny]

Yeah, but.. Dryden Hunt