Big Blue Huddle

Every time I see the Laffy goal I shake my head. THAT'S the guy they drafted #1 overall! He took a leap this year and hopefully this is a sign of good things to come next season too. What a freaking goal!

Rangers definitely stole this one. But they all count the same. That second Laffy goal though... Sheesh was that a beauty.

Florida is almost certainly going to win game 4. Knowing it's a must win for them and being extra pissed off about blowing this one. The rangers are excellent and with shesty there's always a chance but I see this thing turning into a 3 game series with 2 are MSG. I'll take those odds.

Kakko came damn close to scoring in Game 1 where the puck rattled between bob's pad and arm but somehow didn't go through. I think he brings at least the threat of a goal along with good size and puck possession. I do think Rempe needed to play game 2 and kakko was the odd man out but I'd like to see him back in for game 3. And while roslovic is fast...I haven't noticed him doing much of anything else. Depending on how the road games go when they get back to MSG I think it'll come down to him and kakko again as to who sits for rempe and I wouldn't be stunned if it was jack.


Also...Blake wheeler is available. Is there any consideration to getting him some time? I understand he hasn't played in months but he's not exactly a rookie.

Quote from: Ed Vette on May 24, 2024, 08:02:03 AMIt's the right decision. He doesn't have the skill set or the body to play Guard. Slow off the Snap, top heavy and tall. All his issues are correctable.

So why haven't any of them been corrected after two years of disgusting play?  You'd think by now we'd have seen some signs of life but he's as bad as he's ever been.  I agree he's not the prototype guard but neither was Flowers and that guy was at the very least serviceable once Washington moved him to guard.  He was as bad as Neal is now at tackle.  I don't know if Neal will be any good at guard.  He could be just as bad or worse.  But I would like to see it before I dismiss it.

If they make him work at RT the entire spring/summer only for him to inevitably lose the job and then try to force him to play guard at the last minute with little to no practice reps...then maybe the Giants just hate this guy.

He's not the best RT on the roster. It's pretty obvious. We don't know if he's any good at guard. He might not be. But he also might be. Only they refuse to find out for reasons that remain unclear.

What's the harm in letting him get some work in at guard? He plays poorly at RT? Ummmm that's exactly where we are right now.

Quote from: jgrangers2 on May 23, 2024, 11:54:44 AMI'm talking about why he went out to play a puck that Gustafsson was very clearly going to get to pretty easily. That set up the whole play. Laf was taking away the cross ice pass and it slid off his stick. The actual goal was kind of just bad luck. Igor's play setting up the opportunity was an absolute brain fart.

Ahhh gotcha.  Misunderstood.  Yes that was clearly a poor decision on his part and did start the sequence of events that led to that goal. 

Quote from: jgrangers2 on May 23, 2024, 10:28:25 AMWeird, bland, low event game last night. The Rangers didn't play poorly but I also wouldn't say they were good. Kind of held their own at 5v5, but two ugly goals (not really sure what Igor was thinking on that second one) cost them.

He was thinking there was no way his teammate would take a shot at him.  He was clearly mistaken.  He's moving right to left to get into position to stop the shot that might come from the forward on his left where the pass was intended to go...it never got there because Laffy short circuited.

I'm with King. He's throwing with accuracy and velocity. Cool. Better than the alternative but doesn't move the needle much for me. Let's see him do those things in a real game against a real defense before we start thinking year 6 is the year he finally figures it all out.

How many posts did they hit? I think at least 3. They had a couple other glorious chances that were botched in that 3rd period too. Kakkos shot that bounced between the arm and pad but somehow doesn't go in? My goodness.

And that 2nd goal I cant really fault Igor on either because how is he supposed to anticipate Laffy being so frustrated trying and failing to score on one end that he decides to try and score on the other instead?

It sucks this game happened in game 1 at home because while Florida is a juggernaut of a team the Rangers withstood everything and had a number of terrific chances to tie/win it in the 3rd.

Game 2 just became a must win and I expect them to play with that type of intensity. I wasn't confident they'd take both MSG games but they gotta get one. Then steal one in Florida.

We're about to find out!

Quote from: MightyGiants on May 17, 2024, 09:36:41 AMThe Giants were apparently high on Maye.  However, he was a polarizing prospect with some NFL caliber evaluators predicting Maye will crash and burn.

I don't know how Maye will turn out.  I am mindful that fixing mechanical and consistency issues are more difficult to fix than Josh Allen made it look.

Maye scared the hell out of me and was the only QB of the top picks I actively hoped the Giants would avoid.  Was surprised to see they seemed to like him the most and were willing to trade up to get him so I'm very happy that deal fell through. 

Quote from: jgrangers2 on May 17, 2024, 09:39:32 AMSo do you we hang 20 in the rafters now or wait until his career is over?

It'll be there shortly upon his retirement and perhaps if he has a farewell season down the road they do it while he's still active.

I don't care what he does the rest of these playoffs, that 3rd period from Kreider is the stuff of legends.  No more slandering that man's name.  Trouba may be the captain in title, but Kreider has been the heart and soul of this team for going on a decade now. 

Pulling a hat trick in the 3rd period of THIS game where if not for that they're going into Game 7 having lost 3 in a row and on the brink of one of the great collapses in sports history.  Nobody needs that kind of pressure.  So he simply decided to end it right there instead. Looking out for his teammates blood pressure.  What a guy!

Either Boston or Florida will be tough.  Florida perhaps being a worse matchup.  But right now I feel like they can hang with anybody and they will certainly be fired up for Game 1 at the Garden after this emotional roller coaster.

One last thing.  PK Subban said this week it was almost a good thing the Rangers lost at least one or two games this series because had they swept the Caps and then dispatched of the Hurricanes in short order they'd have faced no adversity whatsoever going into what is sure to be a bloodbath of an ECF.  Now they've taken a few punches and know they can eat those shots and come back firing. 

8 more wins!

Quote from: kingm56 on May 15, 2024, 01:34:21 PMI hear you, Tim, but the data simply doesn't support your sentiments; 6 of the top 10 most valuable franchise have stunk for 3 or more years...5 of the 6 have stunk for more than a decade; The Bill, Lions and Bengals are #30, 31 and 32. It's fairly clear winning has absolutely nothing to do with profitability. Concerning the PSL, the Giants could care less who buys thier tickets.  The NFL ticket exchange ensures they get a cut of ticket sales from all third party vendors. So, while some fans elected to forgo thier PSL(s), other fans have stepped in to purchase them, if solely for the purpose of reselling thier tickets via said exchange to make a profit.   

More to the point, the Giants marketing department does not care about throwing players a bone or winning games; their job is to sell tickets.  It really is that simple, my friend. I believe some fans conflate the entertainment side of the business with football operations; they're two separate things...

#2 Pats
#4 Giants
#5 Bears
#6 Raiders
#7 Jets
#8 Commanders

As somebody who has to sell most of his tickets every season because he just can't get to many games anymore...making a profit isn't generally in the cards.  At least not recently.  Now if the Giants pull themselves out of the dumpster and start becoming relevant that might be a different story.

In a related story...if you want tickets to a game this year let me know!   

It's a real chicken or the egg conundrum.  I think it's the QB.  For all the buffoonery of Gettleman...and lord knows there was a lot of THAT out of him during his despicable tenure... if he stumbles accidentally into Jones being any good he probably still has his job right now.  And we all know that guy is horrible at this job.

So to me you can have a bad GM and think he's good provided the QB he gets masks the stench.  You can't really mask a bad QB with a good GM.  No matter the pieces you surround him with, if he's bad he's gonna be bad.  And he's going to take the team with him.

Quote from: H-Town G-Fan on May 15, 2024, 10:24:45 AMWas Daboll's approach to training camp an issue in 2022 when the Giants started 6-1? I don't recall criticism at that time. I'm not a fan of the way the Giants started 2023, but I also don't know its the result of the training camp approach... and I don't think teams in 2023 were taking the Giants for granted like they were in 2022.

As with most things the results are all that matters. Go take a look at McVey's training camp routine.  And some others as well.  Daboll looks like Parcells by comparison to that.  The #1 priority at camp these days for most of the roster is to not get anybody hurt before week 1.  Rookies and new additions will need some time to learn their teammates and playbook and things like that but the guys coming back just don't get hurt please.  They'll be plenty of time for injuries later.