yave1964

Pageau and Beaullivier continued to dominate. I really thought Florida would show up but apparently they want to hurry up and get back to quarantine in the States or something.

And i am hijacking my own thread about the Rangers, lol, talking Wings and Kracken and Rinne. But it all started with Lundqvist. He IMHO still has some value but is being forced out of the Apple by two kids who are cheaper, younger and both very talented. Your argument for Vegas with MAF and Lehner is very valid but i think Lehner at this point wants to be a starter and will be a starter somewhere.

Yeah i kind of figured that with the expansion draft if Rinne is there for the final year of his deal Washington could let him go and protect Samsonov/Copley. If Lundqvist is in Detroit, they could let him go and say, Calgary decides to move on from Rittich or Colorado decides they cannot resign Grubauer the Wings with a lot of cap space (next offseason) could make an offer which the other team might take to keep from losing their goalie to the Kracken.

@pilldoc The Wings net is a gaping hole organizational wise. Nothing. zip. Nada. Lundqvist would be a one year fill in. He would allow the kids at other positions to mature with a veteran goalie in net. Here is why i see him signing for one year, the following year the Wings are in great cap position, and after NEXT SEASON look at this insane list of UFA goalies Rask Binnington Frederik Andersen Raanta Grubauer Rittich Mrazek A wealth of goalies, i think a lot of teams will position themselves to make a run at Andersen, Rask and Binnington. Look at that top seven, just insane depth of that free agent class.

@OccamsRazor and @pilldoc Here are the relevant free agent goalies at seasons end Lehner Holtby Markstrom All three will demand serious attention others include Craig Anderson Jimmy Howard Cory Crawford Greiss Mike Smith All are aging, all are flawed. Teams in need of a goalie include Detroit Ottawa Vancouver (if they lose Markstrom) Washington (if they need Holtby) Chicago Calgary (arguably) Minnesota Carolina (arguably) I didnt list San jose as in need of a goalie although they desperatly need help but Jones has a poison pill contract and they wont be able to do much there. So Rinne and Lundqvist. IMHO they fall right below Lehner, Holtby and Markstrom and above the others. I think the free agents go like this, Markstrom back to Vancouver, Lehner to Chicago and Holtby to, dont laugh, Ottawa who is a solid goalie away from being somewhat competitive. So yeah, Lundqvist to Detroit because, why not, and Rinne to Washington.

Holtby is an UFA likely the Capitals due to cap issues allow him to go, I would not be surprised if Rinne winds up with the Capitals if the Predators eat salary. Truthfully that is where i think he winds up at 3 million for the year with the Preds eating the rest. It makes sense on a lot of levels with Rinne teaming with young Samsonov. As for Lundqvist, i have said it a lot that i think he is Detroit bound, the Swedish connection and all that, the Wings have the cap space and a desperate need for a short term goalie, if the Wings can add an asset for taking Lundqvist off their hands, it might be a decent short term fit.

Jumping back in as teams get eliminated..... PRESEASON EXPECTATIONS Very high. Trouba came aboard to aid the back end, the big name of the offseason the Bread man signed to provide offense Shesterkin was laying in the weeds to step in if Lundqvist dropped his crown. Alll signs pointed toward the rangers turning it around. FINAL RECORD 37-33-5 79 points made the qualifying round, swept in three straight by the Canes. HIGH POINT OF THE SEASON the Rangers stumbled along at or near .500 and shortly after the first of the year they recalled Shesterkin and put him in net, at least partially. They alternated between Lundqvist, Georgiev and Shesterkin for over a month until finally more or less handing the reins to the kid. I submit the high point was February, 19,21, and 22nd three games in four days, all started by Shesterkin and all won by him beating the Hawks, Canes and Sharks establishing the net was his. When they won a game started by Georgiev a few days later they sat at 35-24-4 and looked like a solid playoff contender. LOW POINT OF THE YEAR take your pick, either the limping down the stretch going 2-9-1 from that point on to finish 7th in the division. The other option would be the playoffs which they stumbled into, they looked disoriented and lost as they dropped three straight without a fight. WHAT WENT RIGHT Shesterkin came along a couple of months into the season which ended early but still had his name in Calder trophy consideration. Panarin wasnt as good as hoped for, he was better putting up 32 goals and an insane 95 points in 69 games. Zibanejad is a true number one center, he hits, hge scores he wins faceoffs, he playss all situations and has turned into a star. Tony DeAngelo was a force on the back end rookie Adam fox looks like a future star, Trouba was solid and the defense was very solid. Kreider netted 24 goals, Lemieux was a super pest like his dad and contributed 12 goals from the bottom six. Lindgren very quietly contributed 13 goals from the back end. Fast and Chytil showed signs of upside. Ryan Strome finally looks like he is living up to his early billing. WHAT WENT WRONG Kakko looked lost as many teenagers do, he scored 10 goals but was a team worst (by far) minus 26 and late in the year was down to bottom minutes. Lundqvist is done, stick a fork in him and move on. the king is dead. I like Georgiev, i really do but he was bad more than he was good. Veteran Marc Staal simply cannot keep up on defense anymore. Brendan smith signed to a four year deal continues to steal his paycheck. Namestikov missed almost the entire year. Lias anderson looks like a first round bust. He only played 11 games with zero goals and one assist and a minus 6 before being banished to Hartford. FREE AGENTS Jesper Fast and valuable 4C McKegg are both UFAs and both would be welcome back with open arms but lets be honest, they are both spare parts. OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS Can you find a taker for Lundqvist? With one more year at 8.5 million he has zero trade value, the Rangers have accumulated picks and prospects and will have to give up something along with the King and retain salary to move him. The Rangers seem to always have extra picks lately, this year they have two in the first and two in the third. Zibenajad has two years remaining on a very reasonable deal based off of his production talks are ongoing to extend him. Kakko was pretty bad last year but his teammates raved about his work ethic saying he is a superstar in the making. Will he make the jump next year? A lot to build on here.

Leafs played a perfect game, simply mauled the Jackets, it truly could have been much worse than the final score indicated. Muzzin going out, we will see what if any impact it has going forward but truthfully if the Leafs skill players come to play every night with this intensity the CBJ will have zero answer. I think early third, possibly late second shots were 25-8 in favor of the Leafs and frankly it wasnt even that close.

A couple of quick thoughts on this one...... Hoffman is one dimensional but that one dimension, scoring has really translated well to the postseason.... Varlamov, i think he travels out of his net more than any goalie i have seen in many years. But he is quick enough to come back in if the other team gets the puck...Eberle looks like he is trying to erase all ghosts and demons from playoffs past, he drives the net with authority and confidence. The big one, IMHO is the line of Beauvillier, Pageau and Brassard is hands down the best line outside of Carolina that i have seen in the postseason and that counts everyone. I have never been a fan of Brassard since he whined his way out of Columbus but playing wing and telling him to crash the net seems to have been an inspiration by Trotz, frankly i never thought he could do it. Beaullivier and Pageau as his linemates have an insane chemistry for two guys who havent played more than half a dozen games together, it looks like the puck is on a string between the two of them and the Cats defense is in panic mode whenever the trio is out there together. Just an amazing line.

Good to see Florida show up.

Canes look damn good both ends of the ice. Rangers quit. Pure and simple. Never saw a team with less desire in a postseason series.

I LOVE AHL Hockey, i subscribe so i can watch the Griffins play, the wife and i get to Cleveland to watch the Monsters three or four times a year because they are so close to us and because she is a Jackets fan (and therefor when they arent playing my Wings so am i). The AHL from a fan experience going to a game is so much better than the NHL, they are fan friendly, almost grateful that you are there. Anyway, we keep track of which teams we have seen, still havent seen your Bears but if there is a next season they are one of only a handful of organizations that we havent seen their AHL club. Not sure how they slipped through the cracks but looking forward to seeing hockey live again someday.

Talk about a gut check game from the Jets, down two impossible to replace players, Harkins and Lowry scored huge goals and Ehlers stepped up with the GWG after the Flames clawed their way back into the game and Hellboy was fnatastic. Gotta give the Jets credit for finding something within themselves to overcome adversity in game 2.

And anyone who is watching this series has to know now that Svechnikov and Aho are true superstars. I truly thought that Zibby and Bread man would be the best two players but Carolina has more depth. but the two stars in Carolina are just dominating right now.

I would argue that Lundqvist is not the problem in the series, it is lack of intensity from the Rangers. They had some push in the first then they let Carolina carry the play from then on. Tony DeAngelo fought with Martinook late after the game was out of reach, actually Martinook took a roughing penalty and instead of the Rangers having a last gap power play DeAngelo chose to fight for some stupid reason negating any final chance. Then Kreider took a dumb penalty late as well for roughing. Carolina simply owns the series, they are skilled and tough and the rangers have no answer, Shesterkin would not have made a difference, but agreed Lundqvist is about done on broadway. I think he will be in net at Little Caesars next year, for better or worse.....