Big Blue Huddle

I didn't hate it at the time. The Giants took a shot on a guy who was one of the best tight ends in the league only a couple years earlier. But a third round pick, even one toward the end of the round, isn't nothing and Waller had the very obvious injury history and hadn't played more than 11 games in 3 years. Just another example of how the Giants got caught off guard by the success of the 2022 season.

The O-line is the key and easily the biggest question mark for me. The offense will go as far as the O-line takes it.

Pressures aren't better than sacks, but I think the point is that constant pressure is better than the occasional coverage sack

Team is what it is. They're built to look great against the majority of the league but run into a brick wall in the playoffs every year.

At a certain point, you've gotta be able to do more than tread water at 5 on 5. Panarin looks terrible when he goes up against a team that can skate, be physical with him and cut off space. 20-93 as a first line will forever hold us back. Both are middle 6ers with power play ability rather than truly premier players. Ironically, the best available candidate to make them look functional might be the guy we've been trying to replace in that role for 3 years now (see Buchnevich, Pavel).

Defensively, Trouba has to go. That's the most obvious move. Maybe some GM out there will be crazy enough to take him at 50% cap hit due to his size and leadership. Otherwise, buy him out. I'd also either let Lindgren walk or bring him back on a 1 year RFA deal. I feel like any long-term deal with him would end up looking similar to Girardi (defensive defenseman with no offensive game who takes a beating and just gets slower with age).

I'd also love to see if they can sell high on Goodrow. You need to be able to find guys who can play his role at much closer to the league minimum. They've essentially done that with Vesey and maybe Brodzinski as well.

Quote from: spiderblue43 on May 31, 2024, 11:18:23 AMFlorida is a bad match up for the Rangers, that simple. Too much grit and  stamina every game it seems. Still, their power play is overdue to get going. Let's hope so. Go Rangeerz.

This is what it feels like. The Rangers are not a team designed to win board battles and races to the puck. Most of the game is 5v5 and they are mediocre at that. If the power play isn't humming, they're going to struggle. That said, they have, arguably, the best goalie in the world who has managed to keep them in every one of these games so far. The Rangers have a very weird formula for success and it's a formula that makes them really good against the bottom half of the league but will create problems when you're consistently going up against better opponents.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on May 25, 2024, 11:07:00 AMI suspect if you polled the players anonymously, they'd say they want him in the lineup. I can't prove that obviously, but it is a hunch. The fact that Messier endorsed playing him carries a lot of weight with me too. He knows way more about the intangibles of winning in the postseason than almost anyone (and certainly than any fan who has never played professional hockey).

Playing Rempe on the road is perhaps a trickier discussion given the matchups and the last change rule. Not to mention you don't have the entire building chanting his name on the road (albeit you get a lot of Rangers fans in some of these venues).

Playing him at home seems like close to a no-brainer to me. At least until he significantly messes up and hurts the team, which he clearly hasn't to this point. I just think the positives outweigh the negatives with this guy, and I think the positives go beyond when he is on the ice.

Does anyone here think Kakko was sorely missed last night?

It's hard to argue the Rangers record with Rempe in the lineup. How much of it is him vs. coincidence is up for debate. Yesterday's game played out very similar to Wednesday's with the exception that the Rangers got the benefit of a slightly fluky early goal. Not sure how much of an impact it can be said he had.

Also, I think people need to stop getting on Kakko. He hasn't become the player we wanted to but he's a highly useful bottom 6 forward that is very good defensively and with regards to puck possession.

All that said, I think Vesey likely being out makes the decision much easier for Lav.

Quote from: EDjohnst1981 on May 24, 2024, 02:43:54 PMRos been demoted? I thought he was skating with CK and Zibs?

Looking like it might be:

20-93-72
10-16-13
50-91-96
73-21-26

Really not a fan of sitting Kakko but whatever

Quote from: ViewFromSection129 on May 23, 2024, 11:59:18 AMI'm surprised with some of the takes on here.  I thought the Rangers last night were atrocious.  No pressure, no physicality.  Florida hit every Ranger, every time they could.  Other than Cuylle a few times, I remember very few Ranger hits.  You can't dump it in the offensive zone and expect to retrieve the puck without playing the body hard.  And their passing to get out of the defensive zone was poor.

This team has been league average at 5v5, and unless they get a decent amount of PPs or Igor steals a game, they look very pedestrian against top teams.  They have now been outshot in 8 straight games.

I said all along I wanted Boston instead of Florida.  And unless the Rangers change and up their game quickly, this one is going six at best.

It was an ugly, kind of boring game. The Rangers are not going to keep up with Florida at 5v5, but the goal should be to limit their high danger chances as much as possible. The Rangers pretty much did that, but the Rangers couldn't convert on their chances and the power play couldn't score. The raw number of shots on goal is hardly meaningful here.

Didn't realize Banks was rated so low last year by PFF. Thought he played better than that. Interested to see how the entire defense comes along. Think we could probably use another DL body similar to bringing in Robinson on the cheap last year.

Quote from: Gmo11 on May 23, 2024, 11:00:15 AMHe 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 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.

Weird, 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.

So do you we hang 20 in the rafters now or wait until his career is over?

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on May 14, 2024, 06:16:08 PMAfter I watched that goal and the replay I felt ill. I actually like Schneider and think he's a developing, pretty decent young player. But his complete lack of effort on that play was utterly inexcusable. That's the sort of thing I'd consider benching him for a game over and giving Zac Jones or Chad Ruhwedel a shot in his place.

The problem with that, of course, is that he isn't the only one who should be hanging his head after that game. There are plenty of others, including some who make much, much, much more money than he does.

If they're gonna bench anyone, it should be Trouba or Gustafson for Jones. They've been terrible (Trouba's shorty notwithstanding). I think Schneider got caught flat footed and stuck between giving Staal space and attacking him and just did neither. It was ugly and then only got worse from there.

Ultimately, while game 5 was ugly, it's just one game. Hopefully the Rangers come out better tomorrow night and look a lot more like the team from game 4. Carolina needed three bar and in goals to win on Saturday. If the Rangers play like that, they end it tomorrow and we don't have to go through the heart attack of a game 7.

Quote from: kartanoman on May 14, 2024, 12:47:50 PMYou need not have watched the third period last night; you described it perfectly without seeing it. The entire space in front of Igor was completely undefended. Inexplicable! Cut to a Daffy Duck cartoon where he says "In---des--picable!" and substitute the word and that sums it up.

That first goal by Staal was a complete disaster. Guys going off for changes inexplicable, wide open passing lanes in the neutral zone and then Schneider both gives Staal space AND let's him beat him to the net. Just awful all around.

That third period was probably the worst period of hockey they've played all year. Just completely outplayed top to bottom. Carolina was everywhere and it's clear the Rangers got very panicky at times just kind of flinging pucks all over the place. Fox looks like he's very clearly not at 100% which is hugely problematic.

Hopefully they come out tomorrow looking more like the team from game 4 and can finally put this series away.