Current Ranger Status Not So Bad "Maybe?"

[Paparanger]

Recently I discovered that this forum is comprised mostly of Flyer & Pen's fans. (Who Knew?) Anyway, the reason I came to this forum is because the forum I used to post on was inundated with Ranger & Devils fans and  all I ever encountered was posters insulting each other and their family's alone with the threats and the call out to meat and fight. Couldn't put up with that idiotic behavior any longer so I said bye to that forum and I found this one. I was hoping that there would be no name calling like calling the Rangers the "Rags" but....

 

To be fair, I am not a Flyers fan nor am I a Pens fan. However I am fan of hockey and I enjoy good old fashioned honest hockey. I was very impressed by the Flyers by the way they gave the Caps a hard time in the playoff's. That was refreshing. And as far as the Pens go, Any team that has Carl Hagelin, Mike Sullivan and Matt Cullen on it, deserves to win the cup. Oh BTW, I was very impressed by the way Sidney Crosby was able to Handel himself during the playoff's. Most notably when jumbo Joe tried to take his head off, TWICE. 

 

Anyway, about the Rangers situation; Perhaps it's not as bad as I or, anyone else imagined. I have Serious XM radio and I listen to the NHL network on channel 91 a lot. So one day one of the talk show hosts had a guest reporter on who brought out a great point about the Blackhawks, Kings and Rangers. He said that with all the hockey these teams played in the playoff's (Chicago Three cups) (LA two cups) and (New York  Stanley Cup Finals and Conference Finals) that they have practically played an extra season each. He said that's where the fatigue factor comes in and when that happens players tend to get hurt more often than not. Especially Defense-men

 

During the 2015 eastern conference finals, the Rangers had four Defense-men injured and one that just came back from a broken arm. So when they were eliminated by the Bolts , it was late in the season and they really didn't have time to mend during the summer. If anyone paid attention this past season. McDonough and Staal didn't even start training camp because they were not medically cleared.  So perhaps when the season started they were still a little under where they should have been and consequentially they started making mistakes that let to the domino effect that brought them form one of the best defenses the year before to one of the worst. BTW, NHL Network says Hank faced more shots in the regular season than any other goalie in the league last year.  So, who knows with the proper rest and off season strength training maybe Stall & Girardi will have a better season this year. One never knows.

 

One more thing; I am looking forward to what Gorton does with this team. I think he is going to stock the farm and build from within. Quite the opposite of the way Sather did things. Time will tell... 

 

Thoughts?

 

 

[mojo1917]

first off welcome !

we won't start calling you names until you've been around a while 

Second, My initial feeling is the Rangers didn't have such a great off season, but i am also not up on all the moves that were made outside of letting Yandle walk.

I thought your guys looked spent in the playoffs, like " I can't wait to get out of here, spent"... I don't know if like you say it was fatigue from playing so much hockey the last 3 years or whether there was something else going on with that group of players.

For much of his career I have coveted Kris Krieder that all changed when I was watching him in the tournament last year.  I don't know if the brain-dead, effort deficient play was a result of being tired, tuning out Vigneault or what but he was atrocious. It seemed to me a lot of the forwards with the exception of Matts Zuccerello were following Krieder's lead.

 

As a fan of a rival team I was not-so-secretly delighting in the Rangers misfortunes, Based on what little I have seen and read the Rangers have some things to work out/on if they want to continue to be a playoff team in one of the more competitive divisions in our sport. 

[sarsippius]

2 hours ago, Paparanger said:

Recently I discovered that this forum is comprised mostly of Flyer & Pen's fans. (Who Knew?) Anyway, the reason I came to this forum is because the forum I used to post on was inundated with Ranger & Devils fans and  all I ever encountered was posters insulting each other and their family's alone with the threats and the call out to meat and fight. Couldn't put up with that idiotic behavior any longer so I said bye to that forum and I found this one. I was hoping that there would be no name calling like calling the Rangers the "Rags" but....

 

@Paparanger

 

First off,  welcome to the board. Second, as the biggest Ranger-hater in Northern Hemisphere, nay the entire planet, I will plead guilty to the bolded part of your quote. The reasons for my neurosis and varied and complex, and don't bear getting into here. That said it's good to have fan of That Team That Shall Remain Nameless (TTTSRN ^TM) on the board, as you note this place is lousy with Flyer fans but we're hockey fans - the more variety of fans the more varied the conversation.

 

I think you'll find the personal attacks and assorted idiot behavior that caused you to leave the other site are not an issue here. In fact our fearless leaders @Digityman and @hf101 created this board because a large contingent of us had had it with the same BS on another board we all frequented, and the moderators do a good job of letting 'em play but keeping things in check. 

 

[flyercanuck]

Paparanger - welcome to the board...great group of people here. There's even some Pens fans that aren't absolute jerks....who'd a thunk it? As much as I hate the Rags...err, I mean Rangers, i was forced to not hate them for a short period due to family. Enjoy your stay.

[mojo1917]

@sarsippius

 

thanks for making it okay to hate again...i was trying to be nice and all since it's a new guy and i didn't want to scare him off or anything.  my stomach was starting to hurt from trying to keep the Ranger hate down...i guess i must just embrace it. 

 

[AJgoal]

@Paparanger First off, welcome. We are currently primarily Flyers fans, but that's the result of where we came from. The goal here is to have a place for fans of all teams - even the Rangers (I kid. I mean, we let Penguins fans on the site, after all). We're growing slowly, but we welcome all points of view.

 

It is possible that the Rangers are a little beat due to the number of games they've played over the past few seasons. I do think they'll rebound a little, at least individually. I'd be a bit concerned about their defense overall, though.

[J0e Th0rnton]

23 hours ago, Paparanger said:

Recently I discovered that this forum is comprised mostly of Flyer & Pen's fans. (Who Knew?) Anyway, the reason I came to this forum is because the forum I used to post on was inundated with Ranger & Devils fans and  all I ever encountered was posters insulting each other and their family's alone with the threats and the call out to meat and fight. Couldn't put up with that idiotic behavior any longer so I said bye to that forum and I found this one. I was hoping that there would be no name calling like calling the Rangers the "Rags" but....

 

To be fair, I am not a Flyers fan nor am I a Pens fan. However I am fan of hockey and I enjoy good old fashioned honest hockey. I was very impressed by the Flyers by the way they gave the Caps a hard time in the playoff's. That was refreshing. And as far as the Pens go, Any team that has Carl Hagelin, Mike Sullivan and Matt Cullen on it, deserves to win the cup. Oh BTW, I was very impressed by the way Sidney Crosby was able to Handel himself during the playoff's. Most notably when jumbo Joe tried to take his head off, TWICE. 

 

Anyway, about the Rangers situation; Perhaps it's not as bad as I or, anyone else imagined. I have Serious XM radio and I listen to the NHL network on channel 91 a lot. So one day one of the talk show hosts had a guest reporter on who brought out a great point about the Blackhawks, Kings and Rangers. He said that with all the hockey these teams played in the playoff's (Chicago Three cups) (LA two cups) and (New York  Stanley Cup Finals and Conference Finals) that they have practically played an extra season each. He said that's where the fatigue factor comes in and when that happens players tend to get hurt more often than not. Especially Defense-men

 

During the 2015 eastern conference finals, the Rangers had four Defense-men injured and one that just came back from a broken arm. So when they were eliminated by the Bolts , it was late in the season and they really didn't have time to mend during the summer. If anyone paid attention this past season. McDonough and Staal didn't even start training camp because they were not medically cleared.  So perhaps when the season started they were still a little under where they should have been and consequentially they started making mistakes that let to the domino effect that brought them form one of the best defenses the year before to one of the worst. BTW, NHL Network says Hank faced more shots in the regular season than any other goalie in the league last year.  So, who knows with the proper rest and off season strength training maybe Stall & Girardi will have a better season this year. One never knows.

 

One more thing; I am looking forward to what Gorton does with this team. I think he is going to stock the farm and build from within. Quite the opposite of the way Sather did things. Time will tell... 

 

Thoughts?

 

 

Gotta hope so. It does not take as long as most think to stock the farm, and it does not always require mass selling.

 

The Sharks farm was a ghosttown 3 years ago.

Our top prospect was Hertl, then Mueller, then......Almost nothing that we knew of. Absolutely nothing in goal or on RW. Nieto was our top LW prospect and he is looking more like a bottom line speed guy. Tierney was 4th on our empty C depth chart and he is looking like 3rd line C with 2nd line upside. Demelo was 4th on our D depth chart and looks like 6th/7th Dman material.

 

Now? Goaltending is still pretty bare. Armalis is a good prospect. But it is not a position of need for us since Jones is 25 years old and was definitely worth our 1st since he made sure it ended up being the 29th pick.

 

RW is our deepest prospect position, Meier, Goldobin both looks like top 6 minimum RW's, Labanc also looks awesome and I don't know who Sorenson is because he was low on our depth chart, but I could not take my eyes off him in the prospect Scrimmage. Such speed. The Sneaky signing of Donskoi is looking like a real coup.

 

LW a bit weak.

C is set for a few years. Couture is 26, Thornton is ageless, Hertl is a budding Star who can play any F position, Tierney looking strong. Chartier in the system looks great. Pavelski can play any forward position. Karlsson was another sneaky euro signing that helped middle 6 depth. I am a bit disappointed we gave Sadowy to Detroit for a 3rd as I think he is a strong prospect.

 

D, Mueller still our top prospect on paper, but I like Jeremy Roy better. Joakim Ryan looks solid.

 

DW also got over his fear of adding UFA's, so we acquired assets for free like Martin, Ward, Boedker and a good bottom pairing guy in Schlemko, who Devils fans keep praising.

 

 

A year ago I wanted to Lynch Doug Wilson. Now I am heaping praises on him. If he can resign Burns to a cap friendly hometown discount, I would lead a charge to build a statue in his honor outside of the sap center.

 

[mojo1917]

1 hour ago, AJgoal said:

It is possible that the Rangers are a little beat due to the number of games they've played over the past few seasons. I do think they'll rebound a little, at least individually. I'd be a bit concerned about their defense overall, though.

Based on what i saw at the end of their series with the Pens, I think the Rangers are a team in decline. 

Slats really "Homered" them as far as the farm system goes , so there isn't any immediate cheap help from within.  Like @J0e Th0rnton says though it doesn't take long to restock the farm, Hextall has done a terrific job in Phila in 2 years while icing a competitive team, He did have more assets than the Rangers do currently though.

I don't feel like the addition of Grabner nor Gerbe makes them a better team.

When I look at the roster there's players I thought were good that really underperformed in that Pens series.  To me it looked like a lot of guys quit, and that would have me worried about the character of the guys on the roster.

I also,like you, think the defense once the strength of the team is now a big question. I  think Mark Staal is overrated, Dan Girardi has reached his apex and is looking more and more like a depth guy than the big minute eating player of 2 years ago.  Ryan MacDonagh hasn't been awesome for a couple of years now because of injury. Will he be awesome again ?   Kevin Kline is meh, Yandle was their best player at the end of the season and they let him walk.  I don't think the draft pick they gained makes a difference at any level.

I don't think the next couple of years are going to be fun for the Ranger fan base.

 

[sarsippius]

18 hours ago, mojo1917 said:

@sarsippius

 

thanks for making it okay to hate again...i was trying to be nice and all since it's a new guy and i didn't want to scare him off or anything.  my stomach was starting to hurt from trying to keep the Ranger hate down...i guess i must just embrace it. 

 

My pleasure! And yeah I try to separate hatred of the institution from the actual people themselves, I've known some fans of (TTTSRN ^TM)  who were decent folks and our new friend here seems the same. But don't keep the hate down, it will give you ulcers!