Big Blue Huddle

Watching the preseason games it is painfully clear that we are a slow team. I wasn't a big fans of gallants drop the pucks and go get 'em boys coaching philosophy.Also, he let the veterans especially panerin run all over him. I think kakko takes a big step this season, same with Chytil if he can stay on the ice. Laf, unfortunately I don't see the speed or shot necessary for him to be a major plus and eventually be traded elsewhere. Glad cuyyle made the team and feel shortly Othmann will be joining him. Igor's numbers should be much better as lav will actually have the team playing defense. Miller is another key to take nother big step forward. Would like to see him a bit more physical with his big body and not so much stickchecking but it is what it is. I think we make the playoffs and once in with a goalie like Igor anything can happen. After watching my awful yanks and giants really looking forward to our rangers giving us a good season. We play 7 of the first 9 on the road including a long west coast trip. I think that will be good for team bonding and give a pretty good indication of what kind of season we're going to get!

Since the NHL season started on Tuesday, is tonight's game called a "Day 3" match up?

Good stuff Steve, especially on the up and comers.
We have young talent in the pipeline. Thinkin' at some point Lav will tap into it.
The need for new blood is apparent.

What a night! It's just one game, but man did they look good. Buffalo isn't some pushover either. The Rangers looked great right from the jump. I loved all four lines and our D pairings. Laffy looks like a new player out there. Kreider, Bread, Zibs, and the D-men were all good. Shesty had a good night overall. The Buffalo goal was lucky but he did give up a couple of posts. Overall a solid night for him.

BTW I really like Cuylle. He makes his presence known every second he's on the ice. Very impressed with him.

I couldn't be more impressed with our season opener. The Scheme, the Lines, the execution and the effort, WOW

Quote from: Jaime on October 12, 2023, 11:50:31 PMI couldn't be more impressed with our season opener. The Scheme, the Lines, the execution and the effort, WOW

Agreed.

Obviously I'm reminding myself this AM that we're talking about literally one game in October, which in the grand scheme means very little, however for them to look this good in the first game points to how the offseason went and reflects very well on the new coach.

I understand that for many, Laviolette was not an "exciting" pick, but maybe he is the right guy at the right time for this group. It's not like he has not had success behind the bench. He has had plenty. The Rangers looked feisty, crisp, and hungry last night. I love that he has split up the "kid line" and has them shouldering real responsibility now.

Special teams looked fantastic too, another sign of coaching.

I can't wait for the next game. Especially given the football situation.

Nice start to the season and good to put the young Buffalo goalie in his place after what he did to the Rangers last season.

Next goalie Rangers need to settle a score with: Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck. October 30th, Mark it on your calendar.

Peace!

Obviously just one game but you couldn't ask for a better start to the season. You can see that there seems to be more actual coaching going on with the shorter shifts and the defensive scheme, which is a nice change of pace from Gallant. The depth on this team is really good too.

So far so good!  Nice to get Laf on the board early.  Hopefully a sign of things to come.  Everything looked great if only for a day.  Looking forward to the season, particularly since the Giants season is already over.

Quote from: Gmo11 on October 13, 2023, 10:03:26 AMSo far so good!  Nice to get Laf on the board early.  Hopefully a sign of things to come.  Everything looked great if only for a day.  Looking forward to the season, particularly since the Giants season is already over.

I have been hard on Laf but he looked objectively excellent last night. The goal was nice but he was making plays throughout the game. Great tone-setting night. If he and the other "kids" take big steps forward this year that's an absolute game changer for this team. Takes us from being good to potentially a lot better than just "good."

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on October 13, 2023, 10:10:06 AMI have been hard on Laf but he looked objectively excellent last night. The goal was nice but he was making plays throughout the game. Great tone-setting night. If he and the other "kids" take big steps forward this year that's an absolute game changer for this team. Takes us from being good to potentially a lot better than just "good."

I really hope Laviolette lets this top 6 play out for a while. The only way this team is taking that next step is if Laf and Kakko take leaps forward so may as well lean on them.

Quote from: jgrangers2 on October 13, 2023, 10:50:59 AMI really hope Laviolette lets this top 6 play out for a while. The only way this team is taking that next step is if Laf and Kakko take leaps forward so may as well lean on them.

I agree, and I think it's a great point. Turk never really sufficiently empowered all three of them for an extended period of time. In his defense, they weren't performing well enough (Laf and Kakko in particular) to justify a promotion at someone else's expense, but Lavvy seems to realize that this team can't win in the postseason with the formula of relying on just 3 or 4 guys to provide 80% of the offense (obv an exaggeration but you get the point). So he might as well give these young guys real roles. I suspect he'll stick with it even if they go cold for a while, because getting it right is really the only potential path to a Cup for this team. The core group of vets just isn't enough on its own. That has proven to be the case for years now.

Yeah, Laviolette will stick with them for awhile. Thinkin' Chytil will flourish with his well deserved promotion to 2nd Line3 C. But I have little faith in Kakko as a 1st Line RW, or Laffy as a 2nd Line RW. Thinkin' Drury will wait until he's seen enough of our RW struggles, then realizing we're a flawed Roster, he'll pull the trigger for a couple of high powered RW's to give us a shot at a deep run.

Weird game tonite. We had two goals called back in the 1st. We got sloppy on D allowing too many rushes on Shesty. We were happy to shoot from the perimeter. Shesty gave up a Nickel, but no bad ones. Just the opposite effort of our W in Buffalo. Losing games like this last season, put us in a hole early. Hopefully we take a different tack this season.

Quote from: Jaime on October 15, 2023, 12:17:09 AMYeah, Laviolette will stick with them for awhile. Thinkin' Chytil will flourish with his well deserved promotion to 2nd Line3 C. But I have little faith in Kakko as a 1st Line RW, or Laffy as a 2nd Line RW. Thinkin' Drury will wait until he's seen enough of our RW struggles, then realizing we're a flawed Roster, he'll pull the trigger for a couple of high powered RW's to give us a shot at a deep run.

Weird game tonite. We had two goals called back in the 1st. We got sloppy on D allowing too many rushes on Shesty. We were happy to shoot from the perimeter. Shesty gave up a Nickel, but no bad ones. Just the opposite effort of our W in Buffalo. Losing games like this last season, put us in a hole early. Hopefully we take a different tack this season.

Frustrating game as in many respects we didn't play badly. No excuses, as it obviously wasn't good enough, but I thought we got some tough puck luck last night. With that said we can't be depending on puck luck against teams like Columbus, so it simply wasn't good enough.

I agree that we can't make a habit of having those kinds of losses. The Bruins, Leafs, and Canes are already 2-0 and a handful of East teams are 1-0-1. This conference is just too competitive to be getting sloppy and pissing away games we should win. Getting ourselves in a deep hole early in the season would be unwise.

I suspect we'll see a much better performance in the home opener tomorrow night.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on October 15, 2023, 07:23:39 AMFrustrating game as in many respects we didn't play badly. No excuses, as it obviously wasn't good enough, but I thought we got some tough puck luck last night. With that said we can't be depending on puck luck against teams like Columbus, so it simply wasn't good enough.

I agree that we can't make a habit of having those kinds of losses. The Bruins, Leafs, and Canes are already 2-0 and a handful of East teams are 1-0-1. This conference is just too competitive to be getting sloppy and pissing away games we should win. Getting ourselves in a deep hole early in the season would be unwise.

I suspect we'll see a much better performance in the home opener tomorrow night.

With all due respect, Columbus, Philly and Buffalo are no longer a breakin the schedule.  All 3 are very improved.

Are we ??  I have serious doubts we coast into the playoffs.