Running 2017-18 NHL thread

I'm going Wednesday, first time I've seen them at Veriz, er Capital One in ages. It just isn't a very good team this year. Huge huge mistakes letting Schmidt go and not figuring out the cap or getting more back for Johanssen. That team had depth in recent years. Not this year.

The giveaway on Wednesday is good so at least there's that.

 

Rangers have rebounded nicely from the abortion of an early season they got off to. But there are some structural flaws with this team. Their defense, which had been a weakness, has actually been shored up a bit with Shatenkirk. McDonagh has missed a few games, though, and he gives them so many quality minutes. Brady Skjei has developed into a real good player. Marc Staal has been slightly better than he was last year -- he's not great, but he's not a complete liability. Brendan Smith, off a big contract, came into camp out of shape and was a DNP for something like 7 games in a row. When he plays well, he gives them some physicality and a guy playing with a chip on his shoulder. When he's off, he turns over the puck a lot in his own end, and does in brutally bad ways that lead to goals. Then there is Steve Kampfer, who is not only the 7th defenseman, but with Smith benched, and the McDonagh injury, has played a ton. He is one of those guys who doesn't quite belong in the AHL or the NHL. But Vigneault, as he does, loves him. So he is playing over at least three players who are in Hartford who have way more upside -- Anthony DeAngelo, who was the one semi-developed piece they got in the Stepan / Aanti Raanta trade, started the season on the Rangers and was demoted. He didn't look that bad, and certainly brings more to a game than Steve Kampfer -- even if DeAngelo has a penchant for saying racist and sexist things to other players and the refs when he loses it and has been suspended multiple times. Then there is Neil Pionk, college player, who looked really good and offensive minded in the training camp and has a lot of upside. It's frustrating. ... every year Vigneault attaches himself to one or two marginally talented players who he plays over players who are more talented. In the past, it was Tanner Glass. And with a relatively weak GM in Jeff Gorton, Vigneault is wielding a ton of power over player personnel decisions.

The big weakness (I know none of you care, but I am posting anyhow) is what they did to the center depth. At one point they had Derrick Brassard, Derek Stepan, Oscar Lindberg coming up, and Dom Moore as the ideal fourth line center. Now they have no depth. They got Mika Zibanejad for Brassard last year and it was a great deal. They not only got the younger, more dynamic up and coming player, dumped salary for a year, but they wranged a 2nd round draft pick next year as part of the deal too. Before this season, they paid Zibanejad like a number 1 center and he has been their best player so far this year. He really has embraced the pressure that comes with the contract. Below that, it gets shaky. Kevin Hayes is OK as a center, but he sometimes plays his ass off, sometimes loafs a little. David Desharnais, came relatively cheap, and he might be OK as a fourth line center, but they relied on him as a top 9 player and then he started to look like the player he is and was sitting here and there. They strarted the season with Philip Chytil (first round draft pick) at center, but he looked overmatched -- he had only just turned 18. He is super talented and there may be a bright future, but they quickly cut the experiment short and sent him to the AHL. That means their fourth line options are Boo Nieves and Paul Carey. Carey is a career AHL player, so you get what you get. Nieves will never been a top 9 player, but he hustles and isn't willing to forecheck and play his ass off. I like him. Occasionally, when things aren't going well with the motley crew of centers they have, they move JT Miller to center. He can play it, but he is better on the wing, but because the Rangers are a soft team and he is one of the few players who brings some physicality and isn't afraid to mix it up in the corner. Center takes him away from that. This will be their issue going to forward -- and of course, they are one injury away from it creating a dire situation for them, because of the lack of depth.

Wiht the trade deadline coming up, they will need to decide to be buyers or sellers. Rick Nash is a free agent at the end of the year. He wants to stay in NEw York. But he is aging. Teams will be interested. If they trade him, it means they don't think they can win this year. The flip side is that they are close enough that they can delude themselves into thinking they just need one or two pieces, and Lundqvist's window of oppportunity is closing. ... so I actually expect them to be buyers. We'll see though.

Sorry, about the novel. I have been really following this team like a fan (something I don't do much of anymore) the last few seasons. I saw them beat Vancouver in a shootout Sunday (after watching Cornell beat Boston University in Hockey at the Garden Saturday night -- they put 14,000+ people into Madison Square garden for the game). I really like this sport all over again. I was so into when I was a kid (grew up about a mile from the Nassau Colisseum when the Islanders were putting together their dynasty; went away from it for a while, as work had me concentrating on NBA, a little about MLB, and then NFL and college football. Now with that life a past, I am free to focus on what I enjoy and just be a fan again, the way I was when I was 12 years old. I love it).