It's Time to Talk About Mika Zibanejad

[lefty9]

Plus you dont want to wear him out with first line minutes 

[Br4d]

You might put Cuylle on line 1 with a great center who is a force at even strength.  Cuylle would be protection for the meal ticket and also would do nice things with some of the crumbs the great center left lying around during his routine exaltedness at even strength.

 

So if the Rangers somehow acquired McDavid (not going to happen with Edmonton out of the doldrums), Draisatl (ditto) or somebody of that ilk then moving Cuylle up would be a no-brainer.

 

Zibanejad is not a force at even strength.  There's no reason to believe that Cuylle's current skill set would change that.  If you want to make Zibanejad a force at even strength you give him Panarin.

[The Dude]

41 minutes ago, lefty9 said:

So who you replacing him with ,you take kreider  out and Zib be 

Playing with fourth liners ,that's a joke 

Zibanejad should be able to carry lesser players. Cuylle is an up and coming player that could use an expanded role, instead of being burdened with a defensive (only) minded center and a slow RW. Put both of those players with Zibanejad and see if you get more, or something different out of Zibanejad. 

 

Kreider on the 3rd line, will make him be more aggressive and be the focal point of his own line. He'd have to be the work horse and the play driver. 

 

Sometimes you need to put players out of their comfort zone to get different results. It doesn't always work,  but it needs to be attempted. The Rangers could use a more balanced attack. They're getting nothing from line 3 and are getting Vesey from line 4. 

 

I'd rather see a call up of the hot hands, but management hasn't seen that as their solution just yet.  

[The Dude]

41 minutes ago, lefty9 said:

So who you replacing him with ,you take kreider  out and Zib be 

Playing with fourth liners ,that's a joke 

Zibanejad should be able to carry lesser players. Cuylle is an up and coming player that could use an expanded role, instead of being burdened with a defensive (only) minded center and a slow RW. Put both of those players with Zibanejad and see if you get more, or something different out of Zibanejad. 

 

Kreider on the 3rd line, will make him be more aggressive and be the focal point of his own line. He'd have to be the work horse and the play driver. 

 

Sometimes you need to put players out of their comfort zone to get different results. It doesn't always work,  but it needs to be attempted. The Rangers could use a more balanced attack. They're getting nothing from line 3 and are getting Vesey from line 4. 

 

I'd rather see a call up of the hot hands, but management hasn't seen that as their solution just yet.  

[Sharpshooter]

Well, they did call up Brodz. He was on a hot streak down there. lol

[Albatrosss]

Brodz was tearing that ass up!

[Pete]

44 minutes ago, Br4d said:

You might put Cuylle on line 1 with a great center who is a force at even strength.  Cuylle would be protection for the meal ticket and also would do nice things with some of the crumbs the great center left lying around during his routine exaltedness at even strength.

 

So if the Rangers somehow acquired McDavid (not going to happen with Edmonton out of the doldrums), Draisatl (ditto) or somebody of that ilk then moving Cuylle up would be a no-brainer.

 

Zibanejad is not a force at even strength.  There's no reason to believe that Cuylle's current skill set would change that.  If you want to make Zibanejad a force at even strength you give him Panarin.

I'm not sure what your basis is for saying any of this. He's currently finding success with Nick Bonino... I don't know where you're getting any of this from. 

[Pete]

53 minutes ago, lefty9 said:

Plus you dont want to wear him out with first line minutes 

I doubt two to three more shifts at even strength will wear out a 21-year-old. 

[Br4d]

46 minutes ago, Pete said:

I'm not sure what your basis is for saying any of this. He's currently finding success with Nick Bonino... I don't know where you're getting any of this from. 

 

I'm getting it from there's no reason based on what we've seen so far to think that Cuylle is going to boost Zibanejad's game right now.  There's also no reason to think Zibanejad is going to do much for Cuylle.  Panarin would boost Zibanejad and Zibanejad would likely do the same for Panarin.  Putting two A level playmakers together is likely to boost both of them.

 

I like Cuylle however I think he's currently playing on the line that his performance warrants.  We're looking for a solution to unlock Zibanejad's scoring prowess and the Rangers have one sitting on the next line over.

 

Trocheck and Kreider seemed to have some chemistry last year and it would be interesting to see if Laffy adds to that or not.

 

Both line 1 and line 2 have been quiet of late.  It makes sense to shift a couple of LW's and see if we can shake that up.

[lefty9]

3 hours ago, Pete said:

I doubt two to three more shifts at even strength will wear out a 21-year-old. 

See all the time rookies betting tired three quarters into the season has nothing to do with being 21, they just not use to Playing such a physical game like in the NHL and the season being g so long 

I am ok with Cuyllie p!aging with Zip as long there is a proven tip six winger with them

[Pete]

2 hours ago, lefty9 said:

See all the time rookies betting tired three quarters into the season has nothing to do with being 21, they just not use to Playing such a physical game like in the NHL and the season being g so long 

I am ok with Cuyllie p!aging with Zip as long there is a proven tip six winger with them

I'm not sure what you're worried about. The Z line can't be much worse.

[Pete]

5 hours ago, Br4d said:

 

I'm getting it from there's no reason based on what we've seen so far to think that Cuylle is going to boost Zibanejad's game right now.  There's also no reason to think Zibanejad is going to do much for Cuylle.  Panarin would boost Zibanejad and Zibanejad would likely do the same for Panarin.  Putting two A level playmakers together is likely to boost both of them.

 

I like Cuylle however I think he's currently playing on the line that his performance warrants.  We're looking for a solution to unlock Zibanejad's scoring prowess and the Rangers have one sitting on the next line over.

 

Trocheck and Kreider seemed to have some chemistry last year and it would be interesting to see if Laffy adds to that or not.

 

Both line 1 and line 2 have been quiet of late.  It makes sense to shift a couple of LW's and see if we can shake that up.

I ask again what reason could there be to not try something different. You're not giving me anything except "there's no reason to think"... There's no reason to think you're right. 

[Long live the King]

Zib says shut the fuck up haters.

 

[Sharpshooter]

Red hot and it's not even close to being Mike March yet.

[Valriera]

Guy has definitely turned it up but that line is still not performing well against fast teams. They get pinned far too easily.

 

that said. Zib specifically been much better for the past month. I would still split the line 

[Ozzy]

"Phil has changed the name of this thread to "It's Time to STOP Talking About Mika Zibanejad"

[Pete]

1 hour ago, Valriera said:

Guy has definitely turned it up but that line is still not performing well against fast teams. They get pinned far too easily.

 

that said. Zib specifically been much better for the past month. I would still split the line 

You would think a line with Kreider on it would have no trouble handling speed.

 

Here's what CK did differently last night, especially on the Miller goal... Normally he would cut across at the blue line and drop pass the puck to nobody in particular then take a leisurely glide to the front of the net waiting for something to happen.

 

Last night he actually made a play and controlled the puck entering the zone, making a great pass to Miller. Over the course of a game, plays like that make a big difference versus just giving the puck away with a bad drop pass. 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Pete

[BrooksBurner]

1 hour ago, Ozzy said:

"Phil has changed the name of this thread to "It's Time to STOP Talking About Mika Zibanejad"

 

Nope. It's still time to talk about Mika Zibanejad, but with praise instead of critique. He's been great the last couple of weeks. It turns out they didn't have to change a thing for him to get his act together, and taking Kreider away from him (and putting Kreider with Bonino no less LOL) was in fact not the answer. Just needed some patience. Zibby must be getting some sleep and rest now around the holidays. Extra hands to help with the  

[Sharpshooter]

The new Dad stuff was definitely a thing. It happened with Igor too.

[BrooksBurner]

13 minutes ago, Sharpshooter said:

The new Dad stuff was definitely a thing. It happened with Igor too.

 

You know what's wild, is if you look at Igor's splits last year, he was average out of the gate last year, had a phenomenal December, then back to average after the New Year until the last month as the playoffs got closer.

[Sharpshooter]

Just now, BrooksBurner said:

 

You know what's wild, is if you look at Igor's splits last year, he was average out of the gate last year, had a phenomenal December, then back to average after the New Year until the last month as the playoffs got closer.

Yes. I'm really hoping last night was a sign that he's ready to go on a tear. The third period and overtime against Buffalo and last night, he was locked in.

[siddious]

Slow start to the season. Gets red hot. It’s a trend at this point. 

[Ozzy]

1 hour ago, BrooksBurner said:

 

Nope. It's still time to talk about Mika Zibanejad, but with praise instead of critique. He's been great the last couple of weeks. It turns out they didn't have to change a thing for him to get his act together, and taking Kreider away from him (and putting Kreider with Bonino no less LOL) was in fact not the answer. Just needed some patience. Zibby must be getting some sleep and rest now around the holidays. Extra hands to help with the  

 

We're Rangers fans....what's that word again??  Hang on...gotta Google it!!   

[Ozzy]

Maybe we should change it to "It's Time to start Talking About Mika Zibanejad winning the Selke"

Edited December 28, 2023 by Ozzy

[Valriera]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

You would think a line with Kreider on it would have no trouble handling speed.

 

Here's what CK did differently last night, especially on the Miller goal... Normally he would cut across at the blue line and drop pass the puck to nobody in particular then take a leisurely glide to the front of the net waiting for something to happen.

 

Last night he actually made a play and controlled the puck entering the zone, making a great pass to Miller. Over the course of a game, plays like that make a big difference versus just giving the puck away with a bad drop pass. 

 

 

I think he’s been a little more assertive for the line in the offensive zone last couple games with plays like that but it’s still inexplicable to me how he’s non competitive in defensive zone. Always light years away from his point man and never a chance in winning a board battle