OK so I watched the whole game, except the BCATHGE, so I still don’t know who got the extant point for skills competition.
My wife was shocked when I said ” ok you change the the channel” after the 3 on 3. But the game was fun to watch till then, so why bother with the BCATHGE
The game gets progressively less like a hockey game after regulation. First the 3 on 3 which is entertaining but a bit of a farce and finally with the breakaway contest.
What’s wrong with a tie? Teams get one point for the OT ‘loss’.
Thought the D played one of their better games. One of the big challenges is dealing with Henk playing the puck. He is just too slow getting to make play and then usually making a poor one. It continues to be a problem.
Special teams are becoming a big issue. If they can’t at least break even for the game it will cost them in the playoffs against good teams. PP is just bad execution right now. Their 5 on 5 is pretty good right now. The last two games are what the playoffs will be like. on the last one Kreider never got to the front of the net. He has to be there for them to make the PP work.
Sometimes when you watch the Rangers they look very lazy on the PP, its like the 2mins is a chance for a bit of a rest when they should be moving their feet, establishing the zone, battling to create a screen – during this recent struggle its looked more like this and they’re more ponderous with the puck. Throw the damn thing around like its a hot potato then when you’ve finally pulled the defense and goalie out of position or created enough of a screen – smash the damn thing as hard as you can!! Simples!
I did not get to see the game last night so as a result I can’t really comment. But I can’t stand the shootout! I wonder what the standings would look like without it if the games ended in a tie after the 3 on 3?
Zucc is 1st in PP time and is last among forwards in PP Pts/60 and has only 2 primary assists
Step is 2nd in PP time and has 1 PP goal all season, shooting 5.8%
1st on team in PP Pts/60 is VC
Discuss amongst yourselves…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if we go with the assumption that they keep the silly shootout, etc., then make every game worth 3 points. 3 points for ROW win, 2 points for shootout win, 1 point for shootout loss. There is logical reason for some games to be worth 2 and some to be worth 3.
I predicted the rangers would make the playoffs before the season started by getting one of the wildcard spots and that’s looking good but I’ve also been saying on here since the 2nd month of the season the rangers will not make it out of the 1st round with this d-corp. When the rangers dmen get pressured they crumble, turn the puck over and at times give it up for grade A scoring chances for the other team. Unfortunately, I don’t see Gorton fixing this problem at the trade deadline. Gorton might make one or two small moves that won’t have any bearing on helping improve the dmen.
Three teams to watch at the deadline with the Rangers. The Blues. The Ducks. And the Preds. All could use some help up front. The Ducks, and the Preds may have Dmen available to move. The Blues of course have Shatennkirk.
If we get Shatty in the summer then i’m all for that, i’m not for giving up what seems to be the asking price at the moment – 1st, top 6 fwd and top prospect – maybe more. If he so baldy wants to be a Ranger, offer him fair market value on July 1st.
I really don’t see the Rangers doing much at the deadline other than a little tinkering to add depth at the least cost. I think they will bring in a d-man, but it doesn’t have to be a righty shot. Too much is made of lefty-righty d-men at times. Most lefthanded shooting d-men have played the right side at some point in their careers because there are more lefties than righties.
As for forwards, if Gorton dabbles i would expect it to be for a fourth line center who is a big-time faceoff guy who can also kill penalties.
The best trade the Rangers can make is to trade in their PP practice time for time in the video room watching what they were doing correctly earlier on the season and applying it in games. They also might want to make note of any big PP guys on the opposing team and make sure someone gets in their face every now and then.
Fans love the shootout! They sure seemed to love it walking out of MSG of last night.
One thing I noticed last night is the difference between a good puckhandling goaltender and a mediocre one is really amplified in 3 on 3. Montreal almost doesn’t need a D-man to stay back and can have them join the rush, if Price can play the puck cleanly and with enough time to make a good pass. Compare that to Hank who is clearly ineffective in that role, and it’s a huge advantage for Montreal. And Price seemed really good at it.
Crazy that there are more lefty shots than righty. Methinks it’s because when you start out skating as a yute, you balance yourself with your right hand on the stick because it is generally your favored side and you grip it up high right handed.
I think the Rangers are in position to something big. There are three forwards who for different reasons are very trade able. In order of who I would move in the right deal. Zucc, Nash, Stepan. I would not trade any of, Kreider, Miller, Hayes, Vesey, and Buchnevich.
I read somewhere they teach Canadian kids to shoot lefty and they teach American kids to shoot righty. Which I believe, because I’m left handed for everything, including baseball and golf, but have always held a hockey stick right handed.
It’s all about whether it’s sustainable, of course, but the Ranger D has certainly rounded into form of late. AV’s patience with Skjei has paid off very well–Yandle’s numbers overall and 3rd in 5v5 assists? Anyone would have taken that at the start of the season. Girardi is playing well, Klein seems to be getting better, Staal has not fallen off that much from his hot start, same with Holden, and McD is heating up at the right time. I’ll say it again–possibly the best six-man rotation in the league. Now I’ll wait for a certain someone to deliberately misinterpret that to mean best D in the league 🙂
To note, Zika is playing with Sideshow and THE, 2 of the least defensively responsible forwards to say nothing of Zucchini’s turnovers in neutral zone which will keep a center from pressing up. Still thinks he needs to produce more on the score sheet i.e. goals/points.
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This team has too many top 9 forwards and not enough top 4 defensemen. Do the math
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“Staal’s Hot Start” – funny!
LOL… Zuccarello is 2nd on the team in points. Carp is right, our D isn’t as deficient than any other D group in the league. Sure, there are some teams (Chicago) who have two guys they rely on heavy minutes with. There are teams with flat out stud Defensemen, but it’s one a team. No one with the exception of McDonagh on the Rangers (D, or Fwds) plays more than 20 minutes a game on average. I liked the balance on this team. Right now we have teams playing their best D pair against our “perceived” third line. At some point that’s going to play out in the Rangers favor.
Rob -“I read somewhere they teach Canadian kids to shoot lefty and they teach American kids to shoot righty. Which I believe, because I’m left handed for everything, including baseball and golf, but have always held a hockey stick right handed.”
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I read somewhere that the reason that righties shoot lefty in hockey and vice-versa is that your dominant hand needs to be at the top of the stick for when you have to do something one-handed like a poke check. Makes sense.
I’m a righty and play hockey left handed. It just feels more natural that way.
Mile High – I was referring to Zika on the need to produce more on scoresheet, not Zucc but since you brought it up, I will spell this out again; production is relative to ice time. If you get the most ice time, you should produce more.
Offensive Efficiency is a productivity measure for output relative to total ice time (per 60 TOI)
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Zucc’s position compared to other NYR forwards (10) this season:
7th in points/60 (all situations)
10th in points/60 (PP)
6th in points/60 (5v5)
. http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/index.php
Carp, you make a good point about the teams you mentioned and you never know in the playoffs. I just don’t see the rangers doing much in the playoffs with the Dmen they have playing. I hope I’m wrong.
Shortest review ever! 🙂 I didn’t like the goal on the wraparound that Hank gave up. I think that’s on him. Otherwise, he had a great game. And I’m in the camp of liking the way the boys are playing D right now. I also think that the PP is going to come around soon and at the right time!
I am a lefty shot because I throw righthanded. When I was a wee lad and first started playing hockey I was the youngest. Naturally, they put in me goal. Since I throw righthanded I catch with the left – hence I became a lefthanded shot because my catching glove (an old baseball mitt) went on my left hand.
Then again, if I had been a Villemure fan instead of a Giacomin fan who knows ….
The Cup will end up in the Metro. They have to at least break even on the man up to compete with good teams. AV has to go to work on it but he has fixed bigger problems (Hank and the D). I wouldn’t say I’m optimistic but I’m not pessimistic either. LGR
Michael Grabner: Well, hold on to your hats kids. Michael Grabner has no career shootout attempts. Not one. I don’t know what this means exactly, but it seems strange that a guy who has played for 4 NHL teams over 8 seasons has never made a shootout attempt.
Here is the whole thing from Blueshirt Underground Radio.
After last night’s loss to Montreal in the shootout (more on that later), much was made about the shootout lineup the Rangers used last night. The Rangers deployed the following shooters last night against Carey Price:
Mats Zuccarello (goal), Mika Zibanejad (Miss), Derek Stepan (Miss), Jimmy Vesey (Miss), and J.T. Miller (Miss).
Some of you asked “Where was ___________ ? (insert your forward of choice here), with the most obvious name being thrown around by most being Michael Grabner and Rick Nash. Of course, one loss in Rangerdom means its time to fire the coach, so I thought I would give you some stats that will either back up your claims, or not. So let’s take a look.
We’ll start with Zuke, everyone’s favorite Norweigian Leprechaun. It should come as no surprise to you that MZA is 3 for 4 on the shootouts this year, a terrific 75% shooting percentage. That should come as a surprise to no one, Frodo has been a shootout specialist since he arrived on the scene in NY.
Our second shooter, Mika Zibanejad, is 0 for 1 this season on the shootout. For his career, Mika has a 46.4% success rate on the shootout. So we’ll put him in the “logical choice” column.
Next up is Derek Stepan. Steps is 0 for 2 in the shootout this year, and at 33% for his career. He was 2 for 2 last season, so there’s that I guess. For now, we’re going to leave him in the “logical choice” column, subject to change as we move along.
Jimmy Vesey is 1 for 3 on shootouts. Since he is a rookie, we’ll just say he’s an ok choice because he does have the skills that a player needs to succeed in the shootout.
Last is Jonathan Tanner Miller. JT is 0 for 1 in the shootout this season, and has a 25% shootout percentage for his career.
Ok, so looking at the lineup from last night, it is fair to say the lineup sent to the ice was a lineup that could be relied on in the shootout. I guess if there is anyone to scratch your head at, you could argue its Jimmy Vesey, because of his small sample size.
So let’s look at some of the forwards who didn’t make the cut.
Rick Nash: Nash is 36.5% for his career in the shootout. BUT, Nash has just 2 shootout goals since 2012 on 11 attempts.
Michael Grabner: Well, hold on to your hats kids. Michael Grabner has no career shootout attempts. Not one. I don’t know what this means exactly, but it seems strange that a guy who has played for 4 NHL teams over 8 seasons has never made a shootout attempt.
Kevin Hayes: Hayes is 1 for 1 this season, and 1 for 2 in his career.
Chris Kreider: Here’s your head scratcher. Kreider is 55% for his career in the shootout, which includes a whopping 5 for 6 last year. So if you want to get on the coach for a lineup mistake, here it is. At least from a numbers perspective, Kreider should have been the second or third shooter, with Stepan further down the lineup.
A couple of quick sidenotes:
Brandon Pirri is 55.6% for his career in the shootout, but he was a healthy scratch last night. Pirri is also second in the NHL for all time shootout percentage amongst current players. Jakob Silfverberg of the Ducks is first at 55.9%. T.J. Oshie of the Caps is 3rd at 54.3%, Zuccarello is 5th all time at 51.4%.
Matt Puempel, who was also scratched last night, has no shootout goals.
Tanner Glass has no career shootout attempts. (For the Tanner Glass fans)
So chances are this article will do nothing to sway your opinion. If you want the coach fired, nothing in this article will change your mind. If you’re like me, and just have to occasionally scratch your head at some of the things he does, well, there’s fodder for that as well. At the very least, you’re smarter than you were five minutes ago. Well, most of you.
Finally on the shootout, it still sucks. Sure, it’s exciting to watch, and of course you want to see your team do well in it, but it remains an absolutely horrible way to settle a professional hockey game.
Your D needs to play 110+ minutes a game in the playoffs. You can do that with four studs and two drecks or with three and three. Quite a lot of that going around.
The Pens won last year with one stud and six drecks. The Hawks with four plus many, Kings with three plus. The Kings year, the Rangers went with four and Klein/Moore. This year looks like McD/Holden/Skjei with the old guys rotating the bottom three. Pretty good hand to play if you ask me.
some can be skewed by the 3 on 3 ot where the older guys don’t play. Also the amount of pps vs pks as skjei is more likely to play pps and less likely to play pks than the “old guys”
But Norm, functionally, it is. If Staal had missed one extra game, we wouldn’t qualify. We’ve been extremely lucky as far as the health of our defense goes. You think the Islanders wouldn’t have made that list if Hamonic doesn’t have the injury issues he’s had this year? Or the Predators with Subban? Or the Panthers with Petrovic? I’m sure there are many others but those three come quickly to mind.
Bottom line: most teams would be in that boat if their defense can actually stay healthy. We’ve been lucky.
So I’m listening to cerny you podcast today and we all get the fact we need a rhd, I just don’t see how moving a rhd in a deal for a rhd helps this team (he said move Klein for a righty). That just makes zero sense. I get it that Girardi is past the best by date and Klein is having a bad year, but you have to move a fwd or lhd (Holden or skjel) to upgrade the right.
And would he have those assist numbers on a lower scoring team? Not a chance. We can point to stats (all stats lie) and say oh wow, but reality is he’s a product of the scoring of the team. If he’s on the lowest scoring team in the league, he doesn’t have those numbers (obviously).
To learn if “most teams would be in that boat if their defense can actually stay healthy”, all you have to do is go to stats and slice the data by D, games played, anything you like. You will find the Rangers, Caps, Isles, Preds, Panthers having the potential to play 6 when healthy…and the Rangers actually doing it. That they have reached their steady levels is to their credit, not discredit. If it were some anomaly that McD, Staal, Girardi, Klein and Holden were to play 70+ games this season, that would be one thing. They are workhorses, each one. And why Skjei keeps getting it in the neck here, I have no idea.
Skjel, that offencive juggernaut, is 106th in the league in goals by D men..106…behind offencive stalwart D men with the last names of gudas, polar, and gulp…Klein (the worst D man in the NHL).
Karlsson, Hedman, Burns, Keith, Ristolainen, Krug, McDonagh, Shattenkirk, Byfuglien, Schultz, Letang, Niskanen, Werenski, Hamilton, Skjei, Yandle. I like seeing Skjei on that list, and I think it reflects well on him. 5-on-5 shows Burns, Karlsson, Skjei 1-2-3. Even better. I’m not sure why, Wick, you see his accomplishments as a negative.
My point is simply this…it’s great to root for the guy…I like the guy, but let’s not anoint him the next Brian Leetch or give him the Norris just yet. Mcdonut isn’t exactly karlsson with his assists every year and he is having an up year with his numbers. I would take skjel’s numbers (and mcdonut’s) a bit in stride and chalk it up to more overall team scoring and a bit of an individual aberration.
Sorry, Wick, to have misinterpreted your mockery of Skjei as a negative thing. And to have implied that by possibly being the third Ranger D he is the next Brian Leetch.
Norm
It’s not just you, it’s the overall skjel overrating, you just happened to bring him up.
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Everyone loved le duke and raved about him after his trade…how’s he doing this year.
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I’m simply saying, let’s not get too carried away with him just yet.
I’ve never once said I hated skjel. Kids got a lot of learning to do about playing in his own zone and winning wall battles, but he’ll get there, he’s young.
Fwiw, you list him with burns and karlsson (that’s what the stats say…I get that) like he is their equal…1,2,3…you typed that in your post. You implied that he was in that category, which he is not. So please reign in the sensationalist implications is all I’m saying.
i’m not talking about down the road or who has better value vs contract. The way the league salary structure is the younger guys usually give more bang for the buck.
I’m stating, not implying, Wick. He’s precisely in that narrow category, 5v5 assists, no more, no less. And it’s a good thing, not a bad thing. If implying anything, it’s that he’s a legitimate (rather than LMAO) candidate for third D on the Rangers. That his 2nd-place point production may put him ahead of Staal, Girardi, and Klein. Not Orr, Coffey and Lidstrom.
Norm
Quite honestly he’s a 3rd pair d man on most teams (as he should be at this point in his career) and overall all around game is 5th or 6th best on this team (stronger in some aspects than other ranger D and weaker in some aspects).
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Your stats are misleading due to the overall offencive game of this team. As I said, if he’s getting the same 5 v 5 time and is on the avs, he’s not in burns and karlsson company. So you might want to get just a bit of perspective.
Alex, if Skjei skates at #6 and 2nd PP in the playoffs, it wouldn’t surprise me, nor would I disagree with it. Nor would skating him #3. He’s improved immensely over the course of the season, may keep improving, may tail off. Nice problem to have, that’s for sure.
First
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OK so I watched the whole game, except the BCATHGE, so I still don’t know who got the extant point for skills competition.
My wife was shocked when I said ” ok you change the the channel” after the 3 on 3. But the game was fun to watch till then, so why bother with the BCATHGE
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The game gets progressively less like a hockey game after regulation. First the 3 on 3 which is entertaining but a bit of a farce and finally with the breakaway contest.
What’s wrong with a tie? Teams get one point for the OT ‘loss’.
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Thought the D played one of their better games. One of the big challenges is dealing with Henk playing the puck. He is just too slow getting to make play and then usually making a poor one. It continues to be a problem.
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I thought girardi struggled mightily.
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Special teams are becoming a big issue. If they can’t at least break even for the game it will cost them in the playoffs against good teams. PP is just bad execution right now. Their 5 on 5 is pretty good right now. The last two games are what the playoffs will be like. on the last one Kreider never got to the front of the net. He has to be there for them to make the PP work.
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Sometimes when you watch the Rangers they look very lazy on the PP, its like the 2mins is a chance for a bit of a rest when they should be moving their feet, establishing the zone, battling to create a screen – during this recent struggle its looked more like this and they’re more ponderous with the puck. Throw the damn thing around like its a hot potato then when you’ve finally pulled the defense and goalie out of position or created enough of a screen – smash the damn thing as hard as you can!! Simples!
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I did not get to see the game last night so as a result I can’t really comment. But I can’t stand the shootout! I wonder what the standings would look like without it if the games ended in a tie after the 3 on 3?
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Zucc is 1st in PP time and is last among forwards in PP Pts/60 and has only 2 primary assists
Step is 2nd in PP time and has 1 PP goal all season, shooting 5.8%
1st on team in PP Pts/60 is VC
Discuss amongst yourselves…
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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if we go with the assumption that they keep the silly shootout, etc., then make every game worth 3 points. 3 points for ROW win, 2 points for shootout win, 1 point for shootout loss. There is logical reason for some games to be worth 2 and some to be worth 3.
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1C is 2nd in PP assists to McD if we’re going to cherry pick stats.
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I don’t get that upset about the shootout. Henrik was solid almost all night. I am surprised some people still try to deke Hank in the shootout.
The Rangers probably could have won that game.
I did notice a few things, like that power play needs to wake up.
Buchnevich is still a young kid learning the NHL game and it shows.
Zibanejad should be in prime shape as the playoffs come. He is still a bit rough from his long layoff, and fairly young himself.
Our defense will sink us first or second round. I said this before the season started. Of course I also said we would be lucky to make the playoffs.
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I predicted the rangers would make the playoffs before the season started by getting one of the wildcard spots and that’s looking good but I’ve also been saying on here since the 2nd month of the season the rangers will not make it out of the 1st round with this d-corp. When the rangers dmen get pressured they crumble, turn the puck over and at times give it up for grade A scoring chances for the other team. Unfortunately, I don’t see Gorton fixing this problem at the trade deadline. Gorton might make one or two small moves that won’t have any bearing on helping improve the dmen.
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Three teams to watch at the deadline with the Rangers. The Blues. The Ducks. And the Preds. All could use some help up front. The Ducks, and the Preds may have Dmen available to move. The Blues of course have Shatennkirk.
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How about someone alerting the faithful to NEW POST?
signed,
Pissed Off
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Harrison Ford landed on top of my garage. Said he thought it was LaGuardia.
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The more I think about Shatty, the more he reminds me of Boyle and Yandle. Overpriced and one-way. Let’s look elsewhere.
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If we get Shatty in the summer then i’m all for that, i’m not for giving up what seems to be the asking price at the moment – 1st, top 6 fwd and top prospect – maybe more. If he so baldy wants to be a Ranger, offer him fair market value on July 1st.
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I really don’t see the Rangers doing much at the deadline other than a little tinkering to add depth at the least cost. I think they will bring in a d-man, but it doesn’t have to be a righty shot. Too much is made of lefty-righty d-men at times. Most lefthanded shooting d-men have played the right side at some point in their careers because there are more lefties than righties.
As for forwards, if Gorton dabbles i would expect it to be for a fourth line center who is a big-time faceoff guy who can also kill penalties.
The best trade the Rangers can make is to trade in their PP practice time for time in the video room watching what they were doing correctly earlier on the season and applying it in games. They also might want to make note of any big PP guys on the opposing team and make sure someone gets in their face every now and then.
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Fans love the shootout! They sure seemed to love it walking out of MSG of last night.
One thing I noticed last night is the difference between a good puckhandling goaltender and a mediocre one is really amplified in 3 on 3. Montreal almost doesn’t need a D-man to stay back and can have them join the rush, if Price can play the puck cleanly and with enough time to make a good pass. Compare that to Hank who is clearly ineffective in that role, and it’s a huge advantage for Montreal. And Price seemed really good at it.
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Crazy that there are more lefty shots than righty. Methinks it’s because when you start out skating as a yute, you balance yourself with your right hand on the stick because it is generally your favored side and you grip it up high right handed.
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We need fore-checking practice and more grit along the boards. Useless to dump the puck in and to not chase it aggressively, especially on the PP.
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I think the Rangers are in position to something big. There are three forwards who for different reasons are very trade able. In order of who I would move in the right deal. Zucc, Nash, Stepan. I would not trade any of, Kreider, Miller, Hayes, Vesey, and Buchnevich.
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I read somewhere they teach Canadian kids to shoot lefty and they teach American kids to shoot righty. Which I believe, because I’m left handed for everything, including baseball and golf, but have always held a hockey stick right handed.
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It’s all about whether it’s sustainable, of course, but the Ranger D has certainly rounded into form of late. AV’s patience with Skjei has paid off very well–Yandle’s numbers overall and 3rd in 5v5 assists? Anyone would have taken that at the start of the season. Girardi is playing well, Klein seems to be getting better, Staal has not fallen off that much from his hot start, same with Holden, and McD is heating up at the right time. I’ll say it again–possibly the best six-man rotation in the league. Now I’ll wait for a certain someone to deliberately misinterpret that to mean best D in the league 🙂
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JT is up and down. Just when you think he’s on the verge of big things, he slides back a bit.
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Maybe if JT shortens his shifts. He winds himself.
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Norm thinks we have the best D in the league.
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That line is now seeing top pair D against them. That may have something to do with them slowing down.
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Yup, BDL. Webber against Hayes last night. Zibanejad and Stepan lines are now seeing 2nd- 3rd pair, should pay off in a 7 game series.
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Stepan and his line are the checking line. They are going against the top line of each team. The Zibanijad line needs to get going.
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There are more left handed shooters because there are more right handers in the world. Pretty simple
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tommy, I don’t disagree with you, but you just saw, in a row, CBJ’S, NYI’S, WAS’S & MON’S defenses. Same thing. in some cases worse.
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To note, Zika is playing with Sideshow and THE, 2 of the least defensively responsible forwards to say nothing of Zucchini’s turnovers in neutral zone which will keep a center from pressing up. Still thinks he needs to produce more on the score sheet i.e. goals/points.
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This team has too many top 9 forwards and not enough top 4 defensemen. Do the math
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“Staal’s Hot Start” – funny!
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LOL… Zuccarello is 2nd on the team in points. Carp is right, our D isn’t as deficient than any other D group in the league. Sure, there are some teams (Chicago) who have two guys they rely on heavy minutes with. There are teams with flat out stud Defensemen, but it’s one a team. No one with the exception of McDonagh on the Rangers (D, or Fwds) plays more than 20 minutes a game on average. I liked the balance on this team. Right now we have teams playing their best D pair against our “perceived” third line. At some point that’s going to play out in the Rangers favor.
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SN,
Be careful what you say about Carmello Zuccarello. Some fans get very upset.
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Seems like some fans get upset over nothing.
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Thomas Merton died when an electric fan was upset into his bathtub.
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Not to be confused with Norm Merton.
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Rob -“I read somewhere they teach Canadian kids to shoot lefty and they teach American kids to shoot righty. Which I believe, because I’m left handed for everything, including baseball and golf, but have always held a hockey stick right handed.”
———————————————————–
I read somewhere that the reason that righties shoot lefty in hockey and vice-versa is that your dominant hand needs to be at the top of the stick for when you have to do something one-handed like a poke check. Makes sense.
I’m a righty and play hockey left handed. It just feels more natural that way.
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Mile High – I was referring to Zika on the need to produce more on scoresheet, not Zucc but since you brought it up, I will spell this out again; production is relative to ice time. If you get the most ice time, you should produce more.
Offensive Efficiency is a productivity measure for output relative to total ice time (per 60 TOI)
.
Zucc’s position compared to other NYR forwards (10) this season:
7th in points/60 (all situations)
10th in points/60 (PP)
6th in points/60 (5v5)
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http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/index.php
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Carp, you make a good point about the teams you mentioned and you never know in the playoffs. I just don’t see the rangers doing much in the playoffs with the Dmen they have playing. I hope I’m wrong.
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also, you have to take in account that those were one game. In the playoffs you have to win 4 out of 7, big difference than winning one game.
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Cross Check Charlie? More like Fact Check Charlie 🙂
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I don’t think we measure up to either Washington or Pittsburgh in a 7 game series and that’s throughout the lineup not just the defense.
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tommy, you don’t think they can win 4 of 7 against anybody?
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Shortest review ever! 🙂 I didn’t like the goal on the wraparound that Hank gave up. I think that’s on him. Otherwise, he had a great game. And I’m in the camp of liking the way the boys are playing D right now. I also think that the PP is going to come around soon and at the right time!
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I am a lefty shot because I throw righthanded. When I was a wee lad and first started playing hockey I was the youngest. Naturally, they put in me goal. Since I throw righthanded I catch with the left – hence I became a lefthanded shot because my catching glove (an old baseball mitt) went on my left hand.
Then again, if I had been a Villemure fan instead of a Giacomin fan who knows ….
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I write with my left hand, I throw righty, played hockey as a righty and swing a bat lefty. so maybe there’s no rhyme or reason to any of it
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Here’s an very unfair article from the failing New York Times about hockey stick handedness:
Sad!
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Tax free still with the bad hip.
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The Cup will end up in the Metro. They have to at least break even on the man up to compete with good teams. AV has to go to work on it but he has fixed bigger problems (Hank and the D). I wouldn’t say I’m optimistic but I’m not pessimistic either. LGR
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Q: Which NHL teams have 6 D who have played over both 50 games and 900 minutes?
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So you’re asking which teams have been lucky enough to stay healthy?
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No, RR2, you know that’s not what I’m asking, but good of you to pretend otherwise.
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This is kinda weird.
Courtesy of Blueshirt Underground Radio.
Michael Grabner: Well, hold on to your hats kids. Michael Grabner has no career shootout attempts. Not one. I don’t know what this means exactly, but it seems strange that a guy who has played for 4 NHL teams over 8 seasons has never made a shootout attempt.
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It’s kind of weird that Nash never gets shoot out attempts, right? Is he just really bad at it?
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To phrase it a different way; would a team prefer a top 4 or a middle 6 for defense in the playoffs?
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Here is the whole thing from Blueshirt Underground Radio.
After last night’s loss to Montreal in the shootout (more on that later), much was made about the shootout lineup the Rangers used last night. The Rangers deployed the following shooters last night against Carey Price:
Mats Zuccarello (goal), Mika Zibanejad (Miss), Derek Stepan (Miss), Jimmy Vesey (Miss), and J.T. Miller (Miss).
Some of you asked “Where was ___________ ? (insert your forward of choice here), with the most obvious name being thrown around by most being Michael Grabner and Rick Nash. Of course, one loss in Rangerdom means its time to fire the coach, so I thought I would give you some stats that will either back up your claims, or not. So let’s take a look.
We’ll start with Zuke, everyone’s favorite Norweigian Leprechaun. It should come as no surprise to you that MZA is 3 for 4 on the shootouts this year, a terrific 75% shooting percentage. That should come as a surprise to no one, Frodo has been a shootout specialist since he arrived on the scene in NY.
Our second shooter, Mika Zibanejad, is 0 for 1 this season on the shootout. For his career, Mika has a 46.4% success rate on the shootout. So we’ll put him in the “logical choice” column.
Next up is Derek Stepan. Steps is 0 for 2 in the shootout this year, and at 33% for his career. He was 2 for 2 last season, so there’s that I guess. For now, we’re going to leave him in the “logical choice” column, subject to change as we move along.
Jimmy Vesey is 1 for 3 on shootouts. Since he is a rookie, we’ll just say he’s an ok choice because he does have the skills that a player needs to succeed in the shootout.
Last is Jonathan Tanner Miller. JT is 0 for 1 in the shootout this season, and has a 25% shootout percentage for his career.
Ok, so looking at the lineup from last night, it is fair to say the lineup sent to the ice was a lineup that could be relied on in the shootout. I guess if there is anyone to scratch your head at, you could argue its Jimmy Vesey, because of his small sample size.
So let’s look at some of the forwards who didn’t make the cut.
Rick Nash: Nash is 36.5% for his career in the shootout. BUT, Nash has just 2 shootout goals since 2012 on 11 attempts.
Michael Grabner: Well, hold on to your hats kids. Michael Grabner has no career shootout attempts. Not one. I don’t know what this means exactly, but it seems strange that a guy who has played for 4 NHL teams over 8 seasons has never made a shootout attempt.
Kevin Hayes: Hayes is 1 for 1 this season, and 1 for 2 in his career.
Chris Kreider: Here’s your head scratcher. Kreider is 55% for his career in the shootout, which includes a whopping 5 for 6 last year. So if you want to get on the coach for a lineup mistake, here it is. At least from a numbers perspective, Kreider should have been the second or third shooter, with Stepan further down the lineup.
A couple of quick sidenotes:
Brandon Pirri is 55.6% for his career in the shootout, but he was a healthy scratch last night. Pirri is also second in the NHL for all time shootout percentage amongst current players. Jakob Silfverberg of the Ducks is first at 55.9%. T.J. Oshie of the Caps is 3rd at 54.3%, Zuccarello is 5th all time at 51.4%.
Matt Puempel, who was also scratched last night, has no shootout goals.
Tanner Glass has no career shootout attempts. (For the Tanner Glass fans)
So chances are this article will do nothing to sway your opinion. If you want the coach fired, nothing in this article will change your mind. If you’re like me, and just have to occasionally scratch your head at some of the things he does, well, there’s fodder for that as well. At the very least, you’re smarter than you were five minutes ago. Well, most of you.
Finally on the shootout, it still sucks. Sure, it’s exciting to watch, and of course you want to see your team do well in it, but it remains an absolutely horrible way to settle a professional hockey game.
Here’s a great website for looking at NHL stats of all kinds:
https://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/player-shootout-statistics/2016/
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Speaking of bad at the shootout
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Gravy
Re your 9:46…I didn’t think Hayes had that many assists on the power play
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Your D needs to play 110+ minutes a game in the playoffs. You can do that with four studs and two drecks or with three and three. Quite a lot of that going around.
The Pens won last year with one stud and six drecks. The Hawks with four plus many, Kings with three plus. The Kings year, the Rangers went with four and Klein/Moore. This year looks like McD/Holden/Skjei with the old guys rotating the bottom three. Pretty good hand to play if you ask me.
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I don’t think skjei is part of our top 3 dmen.
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Sure is trending that way, Alex. Keep your eye on that TOI down the stretch.
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Norm
some can be skewed by the 3 on 3 ot where the older guys don’t play. Also the amount of pps vs pks as skjei is more likely to play pps and less likely to play pks than the “old guys”
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Wow, skjel top 3 lol
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Top 3 now, Norris end of the season…lmao
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But Norm, functionally, it is. If Staal had missed one extra game, we wouldn’t qualify. We’ve been extremely lucky as far as the health of our defense goes. You think the Islanders wouldn’t have made that list if Hamonic doesn’t have the injury issues he’s had this year? Or the Predators with Subban? Or the Panthers with Petrovic? I’m sure there are many others but those three come quickly to mind.
Bottom line: most teams would be in that boat if their defense can actually stay healthy. We’ve been lucky.
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So I’m listening to cerny you podcast today and we all get the fact we need a rhd, I just don’t see how moving a rhd in a deal for a rhd helps this team (he said move Klein for a righty). That just makes zero sense. I get it that Girardi is past the best by date and Klein is having a bad year, but you have to move a fwd or lhd (Holden or skjel) to upgrade the right.
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“Cerny you” wtf iPhone
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Only way to really “fix” the D is upgrade half of them, but not only is that not happening at the deadline but doubtful in the off-season imo.
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Skjei third in the league in D assists 5-on-5, 15th overall. LOL that.
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Gotta love those secondary assists
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😉
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And would he have those assist numbers on a lower scoring team? Not a chance. We can point to stats (all stats lie) and say oh wow, but reality is he’s a product of the scoring of the team. If he’s on the lowest scoring team in the league, he doesn’t have those numbers (obviously).
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To learn if “most teams would be in that boat if their defense can actually stay healthy”, all you have to do is go to stats and slice the data by D, games played, anything you like. You will find the Rangers, Caps, Isles, Preds, Panthers having the potential to play 6 when healthy…and the Rangers actually doing it. That they have reached their steady levels is to their credit, not discredit. If it were some anomaly that McD, Staal, Girardi, Klein and Holden were to play 70+ games this season, that would be one thing. They are workhorses, each one. And why Skjei keeps getting it in the neck here, I have no idea.
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Skjel, that offencive juggernaut, is 106th in the league in goals by D men..106…behind offencive stalwart D men with the last names of gudas, polar, and gulp…Klein (the worst D man in the NHL).
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Karlsson, Hedman, Burns, Keith, Ristolainen, Krug, McDonagh, Shattenkirk, Byfuglien, Schultz, Letang, Niskanen, Werenski, Hamilton, Skjei, Yandle. I like seeing Skjei on that list, and I think it reflects well on him. 5-on-5 shows Burns, Karlsson, Skjei 1-2-3. Even better. I’m not sure why, Wick, you see his accomplishments as a negative.
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Klein’s game is rounding into form IMHO
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McD with 3 goals, 31 assists. Skjei with 2 and 26.
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Agree on the former DeKlein.
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I’m high on the Rangers D. Just baked one into a brownie.
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Polar=polak
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Wow, where did I say it was negative?
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My point is simply this…it’s great to root for the guy…I like the guy, but let’s not anoint him the next Brian Leetch or give him the Norris just yet. Mcdonut isn’t exactly karlsson with his assists every year and he is having an up year with his numbers. I would take skjel’s numbers (and mcdonut’s) a bit in stride and chalk it up to more overall team scoring and a bit of an individual aberration.
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Alice B. Toklas, right side, second pair.
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The skjel thing reminds me a lot of the stepan talk…it just gets silly when people start talking like he’s the greatest thing ever.
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Sorry, Wick, to have misinterpreted your mockery of Skjei as a negative thing. And to have implied that by possibly being the third Ranger D he is the next Brian Leetch.
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Gudas and Wilson having a big hug as neither of these ‘visor twins’ want to throw.
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… and again, the perp is protected from the enforcer.
IMO, Stepan is the greatest thing ever 🙂
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Writing about Rutherford B. Hayes for MSGNetworks.com tomorrow.
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Norm
It’s not just you, it’s the overall skjel overrating, you just happened to bring him up.
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Everyone loved le duke and raved about him after his trade…how’s he doing this year.
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I’m simply saying, let’s not get too carried away with him just yet.
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I’ve never once said I hated skjel. Kids got a lot of learning to do about playing in his own zone and winning wall battles, but he’ll get there, he’s young.
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Fwiw, you list him with burns and karlsson (that’s what the stats say…I get that) like he is their equal…1,2,3…you typed that in your post. You implied that he was in that category, which he is not. So please reign in the sensationalist implications is all I’m saying.
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Norm I don’t agree with putting Skjei ahead of any defenseman other than girardi and clendening
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i’m not talking about down the road or who has better value vs contract. The way the league salary structure is the younger guys usually give more bang for the buck.
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I’m stating, not implying, Wick. He’s precisely in that narrow category, 5v5 assists, no more, no less. And it’s a good thing, not a bad thing. If implying anything, it’s that he’s a legitimate (rather than LMAO) candidate for third D on the Rangers. That his 2nd-place point production may put him ahead of Staal, Girardi, and Klein. Not Orr, Coffey and Lidstrom.
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Norm
Quite honestly he’s a 3rd pair d man on most teams (as he should be at this point in his career) and overall all around game is 5th or 6th best on this team (stronger in some aspects than other ranger D and weaker in some aspects).
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Your stats are misleading due to the overall offencive game of this team. As I said, if he’s getting the same 5 v 5 time and is on the avs, he’s not in burns and karlsson company. So you might want to get just a bit of perspective.
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Oh, and lmao
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And my apologies, I forget logic isn’t always used here when discussing some players (see skjel, brady).
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I forgive you, Wick, for eschewing logic. I understand you are married to your agenda, and fair enough.
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Alex, if Skjei skates at #6 and 2nd PP in the playoffs, it wouldn’t surprise me, nor would I disagree with it. Nor would skating him #3. He’s improved immensely over the course of the season, may keep improving, may tail off. Nice problem to have, that’s for sure.
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it’s always nice to get together and eschew the fat.
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Norm is great at the simultaneous compliment/shot thing. I’m a fan of that.
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Good observation, Booby. For a Bonehead.
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Case in point.
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NEW POST YOU APES
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