Breakup Day

It’s not you, it’s me.

Break up day is today, starting at 10 AM with player interviews and then AV and maybe even Gorton will speak.

I’ll be stuck in meetings all day, so I look forward to reading the madness when I’m done.

You’re giving me the “It’s not you, it’s me” routine? I invented “It’s not you, it’s me.” Nobody tells me it’s them, not me. If it’s anybody, it’s me.

171 thoughts on “Breakup Day”

  4. Morning all! Break up day….for a few they’ll be leaving the building for the last time as a Ranger. Klein, Holden, Staal, Girardi, Stepan, Fast, Lindberg, Auntie – you can bet a couple off that list won’t be back

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  5. Morning you all! it’s going to be an interesting off season. Who will stay and who will go. Gorton must revamp the Defense some somebody from our core will be out the door! Hoping it’s Opie and his speed game going the other way. I would also try and ship The Hobbit to the Sens to be with his buddy BGB, what would the return be? A forward, a Dman?

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  7. Thanks and congratulations to those who put this HAV together after Carp got ambushed. It made a maddening season much more bearable. And best of luck to Carp who has served us brilliantly over the years and hopefully can find a full time gig if that’s what he wants. Is he at breakup day?

    The Rangers started their run of good (but not great) seasons by getting lucky and drafting Hank and then building a very solid defensive core in front of him. That foundation is nearing its shelf life and has to be replaced. The league has also changed over that time. There is not much room for Hal Gill, Brooks Orpik or Darian Hatcher in today speed game. To management’s credit they have remolded the team up front and stayed very competitive at the same time. By playing Glass in the playoffs they tacitly admitted they need more girt in the lineup. Let’s see what Gorton comes up with. He has had some missteps but has also been able to make lemons into lemonade on occasion. I’d much rather be getting ready for game 1 against the Pens, but, it will be interesting to see what he does. The cliché last the only constant is change certainly applies to the cap constrained NHL where most teams turnover a big chunk of their roster every year.

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  9. I wonder if Henrik will go off on Brooks ala Boyle after his column today? I kid, but all of those takes in the media must be kind of galling to a guy who finished 2 rounds of the playoffs with a .927/2.25 and arguably stole Round 1. And where would Henrik agree to move to? The Islanders? Devils? Can’t really see him uprooting himself, although if Quick goes down again he might like the bright lights of LA. I for one think Hank can still get the job done if he has a more competent D corps in front of him – he can’t consistently clean up the disasters like he did in years past, but he is still top tier if the team plays with some semblance of structure. There will be some big changes this summer and I’m hoping we don’t lose Antti, Grabs, or Oscar to Vegas. I wouldn’t mind a trade involving a top 6 forward for a puck moving D who can make a difference on the power play but honestly they seem to be few and far between. As for Shatty, he didn’t prove that he is worth the money playing with arguably the best team in the NHL. So buckle up and prepare to say goodbye to some familiar faces (hopefully not the handsomest one) this summer and LGR!

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  10. Oh and I definitely echo Old Ranger Fan’s comments and add my thanks to you guys (and Carp) for keeping this going! Really hope it continues next season….

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  11. Eric – Step has been forthright with his poor performance and ‘inability to find his game’. While his honesty is welcome, $6.5M Cap Hit and $8M salary says you are OUT OF HERE!
    .
    Cody Franson (Buff) or Michael Stone (Ariz/Cal) RD could help on PP and play 2nd/3rd pair (and not break the bank). Sign them both and get rid of the anchor twins and Holden.
    .
    Anybody from overseas to help here?

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  14. Hank is the elephant in the room. Two seasons in a row where he has been an average goaltender. He was very good in the Habs series, but I can’t help but think if Raanta had played against the Sens, the Rangers win in 5. A lot of criticism goes to the D, and some of it justified, but Hank being an awful puck handler hurts the D. Raanta plays the puck so much better than Hank.

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  17. I must agree that Hank played great in the Habs series, but let’s not forget they don’t have a lot of guys that can put the puck in the net. Yeah Pacioretty, Weber, and Radulov but not much else. The Sens on the other hand have a number of sharp shooters big difference. Hank is good just not great anymore, and I don’t believe he can get the Rangers to the next level. Just my opinion!

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  18. For the “trade Hank” folks, there is a thoughtful analysis on Blueshirt Banter today regarding Hank. Doubt it changes your minds, but it’s an interesting read.

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  19. Bdl I don’t get your emphasis on “puck handling” goalies being so important. Carey Price is supposed to be the best and Craig Anderson the worst, but where are they now? Holtby is good, Talbot too. Out and out. I just don’t think it is that big a deal, especially in the playoffs. Can it be helpful in a few games? Sure as Rinne showed against Chicago. But using that to say start Raanta over a generational HOF goalie who all but stole the series against the Habs is going overboard.

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  20. The rangers problem is mostly on there defencemen, they can’t skate or handle the puck and in AV’s system that is a bigger problem than in other systems. When teams forecheck hard the rangers defencemen fold and to try and help the defence the ranger forwards must come deep to help out, not to mention Lundqvist has shown signs the past 2 years he is on the backside of his career which doesn’t help. Gorton has his work cut out for him because those contracts for Staal, Girardi and Lundqvist are killer contracts for players on the downside of there careers, thanks sather, you moron.

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  21. I think pretending everything is ok with Hank is naive. He is clearly on the down in his career. A younger more athletic goaltender is needed here next season. Someone who you can turn to when Hank starts coughing up games in the playoffs ( see games 2 and 5 of the Sens series).

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  27. Another large blind spot by AV, in addition to his anemic PP was his inability to realize, develop, and enforce a powerful fore-checking machine. Going back to B. Boyle, our most exciting and dynamic line has been the 4th. Everybody else is trying to look pretty.

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  32. Re: Marc Staal. Seems that, though a more expensive buy-out than Danny G., Rangers are considering Staal more toss-worthy than Girardi. Also, all the very real speculation about trading some valuable assets either/or Kreider, Miller, Zucc, Nash, Stepan, etc. is based upon needing some competent DMen. Tells you all you need to know about Staal, despite his many champions on this blog.

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  33. I think Girardi is by far the guy they’d rather rid themselves of in both the short and long term. He’s also the only one they have a feasible chance of moving, as Staal has full NMC, while Girardi’s NMC also includes a partial NTC.

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  34. But Staal’s NMC also includes STP, an expensive oil additive, in addition to ESP and a Clairvoyance Clause. Girardi, on the other hand, has an FBI dossier and a used BMW. Girardi’s wife has a local job with IBM and is an officer of her son’s PTA and bowls locally at the AMF.

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  37. I’ll make the same prediction i thought last year but was wrong then. The Rangers take a step or two back next ear and don’t make the playoffs. Unfortunately they’ll be a bubble team so the draft choice won’t be a great one. The window is closed and the ledge full.

    There is not one guy making over $ 5 million that i would sign right now to their remaining years. But those signings were done a few years ago before injuries or other factors kicked in, Things like concussions for Staal and all the physical wear and tear on Girardi have made a big difference.

    The least onerous of the lot is Nash only because he only has 1 year left.

    We can not make things worse by bringing in Shattenkirk. 20 foot pole.

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  38. Re: HL (and applies especially to places like BSB) – I’m kinda over the “we won because Hank was great” and “we lost because the D/Coach/anything other than HL/ sucks” It has been like that quite a few years now. That does not mean that every loss is on HL, in whole or in part, but lets stop sugar coating things and realize that some of it, lately more so, is on him.

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  39. re: Staal. I think if they could get him to waive his NMC, and eat some salary, they could find a taker and maybe even get something back. Probably won’t cost much more than the buyout cap hit, and for not as long, FWIW.

    Great points about Lundqvist, but bottom line is he’s not going anywhere because of his clause and because no contender is going to take on his cap hit … and anybody who was paying attention knows this was his worst season and certainly one of his worst playoffs, relatively speaking. In other words, is he a great upgrade over what the contenders already have at this point?

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  41. Carp, agree entirely on Staal. His reputation among old-school GMs is still pretty high, I imagine. I don’t even think they would have to eat much salary to move him. If they ate a lot then it would probably get us a pretty good return.

    Problem is the waiver.

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  49. I only wish i could see cooscoos on the Rangers. Be very interesting to see how he would do after a few concussions and eaten a bunch of pucks. one eyed too.

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  53. Alex – I understand what you’re saying re: Staal and his injuries. Its not his fault that he was concussed x many times and is a cyclops on skates, No doubt, but he’s not a good hockey player now.

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  56. For the record, I do understand that Carp, whose entire career is and was devoted to this stuff, forgot more about the ins and outs and realities of sports than I ever knew or hope to know, but I like to dance. 🙂

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  57. i’m guessing miller or nash

    Steve Zipay‏Verified account @stevezipay

    AV says one player likely will need surgery, will know more tomorrow

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  68. Maybe the most eye-opening thing about Matt Harvey’s fine is that he makes almost $30,000.00 a night to sit in the dugout between starts. And he’s not highly paid. In a couple of years, he will likely pocket almost $100,000.00 to sit and watch for 3 hours, though it won’t be in NY.

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  77. Here’s the thing- if you rid yourself of a dman you’re trying to improve the situation. If you rid yourself of Hank it’s a rebuild. That’s just the reality of it.

    Here’s the actual problem- aside from Shattenkirk who just isn’t a realistic option or solution here, the only guys you can bring in are “second and third pair” guys like some mentioned earlier. How does that help? It doesn’t. Not When you need a top pairing guy. Which Girardi clearly isn’t. But he’s here and so the coach will play him like he is one. So when you guys ask “what do we do with Staal and G?” I guess if they’re stuck here the correct answer would be “hope the coach plays them within their capabilities”. The contracts are a real problem. They’re preventing legit upgrades and meanwhile even though they’re limited you have a coach that plays them in critical situations because his other options are guys like Smith or a Mike Stone or a Kevin Klein or a Cody Franson etc…worn out players and a franchise adored head coach. Something has to give.

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  79. That Washington team is such a disaster they might as well be owned by the White Star Line.
    Going to the scrap heap. Here comes Future former Ranger Justin Williams (not to be confused with Justin Wilsoooon)

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  84. So glad I didn’t have to be at that dog-and-pony show, James. There is a lot of information, and if I had the blog I would eventually use most of the quotes … but it’s a brutal day. And Dan Boyle didn’t make it any better last year, the jackwagon.

    Anyway, I had an appointment, but my MSGN colleagues were there, so I am writing something for tomorrow. Spoiler alert: It won’t be too negative. Maybe, depending on where this MSGN thing is going, I can do something a little more, ahem, honest for this HAV at some point.

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  90. This feels a lot like the Emile Francis era. The team is good enough to contend, but not good enough to win it all. I just hope they don’t panic and start thinking they are one player away by picking up an over-the-hill vet. That’s what Sather would do. I hope the only thing Sather is good for is being a bad example.

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  95. I hate to say this but unless Gorton can work some magic we are stuck with this pathetic blueline and Hank for years to come. Thank very much cigar face! Window is shut and may be shut for a lifetime!

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  107. BREAKUP DAY
    THE AIRING OF GRIEVANCES, hosted by Jeff Gorton
    Stepan – ‘It was on the defense, starting with #30.’
    LQ: ‘Jees, gimme some freaken help in front, won’tcha?’
    JT: ‘All on the Coach.’
    Haze: ‘Not enough off days or Colorado trips.’
    THE: ‘Whirlpool is too shallow for jumping practice.’
    AV: ‘All in all, we had our looks. I did the best I could with a roomfull of uncoachable jerks. The other teams get paid, too.’

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  111. Does ovi have an Olympic gold medal?
    –
    D man to pursue is trouba
    –
    Teams biggest issue is at centre, then D
    –
    Staal should be D man to go, not Girardi
    –
    AV needs to go

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  121. UK – The Eulogy was amusing, but let’s not mistake that for valuable analysis. If you read that you’d think the Rangers were the worst team in the league. Yes, they break our hearts every freakin’ year. Yes, they are inconsistent. Yes, their defense needs some improvement. Tell us something we didn’t already know. It’s a humor piece more than it is an actual critique of the team.

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  123. I think the only thing the eulogy article got wrong is our home ice advantage… we didnt have that. Other than that I thought it was, unfortunately, kind of spot on.

    Another funny thing is that Ranger fans cant stop making fun of Ovechkin calling him a choker (yes, I did call him that, too)…. but what about Hank? Is he not a choker?

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  125. Wonder how AV is feeling about being out-coached by Scarface. That guy is nearly as pretentious as Squirrely Bowman in Tampa. I suspect that the Senators will be road pizza in this next series. The only good line in the Puck Daddy eulogy was the one about AV being Michel Therrien lite. Otherwise, it was one of the weaker eulogies so far this season.

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  126. If you are Girardi or Staal, how can you possibly enjoy playing this game? What enjoyment can you take from constant suckiness in your own end, inability to move the puck with alacrity out of that end, and the eventual impotent arrival in the offensive end? Danny will throw a hit now and then if he can catch up to someone immobile; Marc will push back a small bit once he has been thoroughly beaten up , but will be scored upon anyway. What fun is there in any of this other than slapping towels in the locker room?

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  127. are you outcoached because pucks go in off asses and skates and your players can’t tie up a stick or sustain a forecheck …some will versus skill missing in some of these guys

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  129. Good write up by Uncle Larry over at the Post. Brought up how this team is a bunch of type B personalities playing for a type B personality coach and none seem to ever have enough emotion. Maybe it’s nitpicking but you gotta admit it’s pretty tiring to hear the same old crap year after year. “we did some good things…I’m proud of what this group accomplished. I don’t know why we didn’t get further. We have to learn from this. You only get so many cracks at it.” How about “we sucked when we needed to pull together as a team and get the job done so yeah changes need to get made, complacence isn’t an option. jobs are going to get lost but hopefully this organization will improve when the smoke settles”

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  130. I don’t think AV was out coached. I think he personally made some poor decisions that caused the team two games. Losing Smith and Skjei on the bench in game two, and Tanner Glass being on the ice in the last minute of game five.
    Read the Brooks piece. He went easy on AV with regards to his reliance on players who were not getting it done in big spots.

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  134. Yesterday I made a comment that I could not help think if Raanta played, the Rangers win the series. The response was you don’t bench a generational HOF goalie. Two things on that. I did say I would have benched him. Just wondered if the results may have been different. Also, one does not need to look any further than last years Pens to see that benching your star goalie is not as dumb as one would think. You see it’s not about the individual player, it’s about winning.

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  135. Coos,
    Glass played well. No argument from me. But that is not the point. He should have been glued to the bench for the last 5 minutes of the game. He had no business being on the ice st the end of the game. And that is squarely on the coach.

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  138. In addition to mediocre (at best) partners,) too much of a psychological burden being placed on #27. He deserved the captaincy, but it impeded our best player at his position iMHO.

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  139. If some aliens, not knowing any results of Rangers’ games would try to figure it out based on analyzes of everything which was said on this blog, they would thing, that this team are loosing every game by score about 86:0. Incompetent, borderline retarded administration, unable to run even a newsstand, medically impaired, idiotic couches, old, incapable starting goalie, defensemen, whose play consist ONLY of mistakes, stonehand, brainless forwards, inoffensive players, unable to score. On a top of that all this bunch is soft, gutless, flaccid and mentally unstable. LOOSERS. Is it so? Please, get real, people and keep your hope alive…

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  141. I give AV some credit, his comments about young defensemen deserving more minutes eating into others minutes means he’s at least acknowledged his deployment was wrong – or its been pointed out to him by Gorton/Drury/Arniel & co.

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  144. Re: Staal and Girardi. What player thinks that he is the problem – that he can’t play the game at this level any more? How many times have you heard a player say that he thinks he can help a team when nobody wants to sign him because he’s done? It’s usually the team that tells these players that they aren’t good players any more by releasing them. Self evaluation is fine, but I’ve rarely heard a player say, “You know, I’m a lousy player now so I think I’ll give up my $5 million salary and find something else to do.”

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  145. Anonymous,
    …”Why do so many people not know the difference between the words “lose” and “loose?”…
    First of all, perhaps, because I’m illiterate – English is not my native language. Secondly, and it is main reason, I did it deliberately, mimicking and trying to emphasize real life sniffy pronunciation of it. (Should probably, add another, or 2 more “O”s for clarity of intentions). Sorry. So, please, don’t blame innocent “many” – it is just me, who should do better in consideration of language’s purists and literate police on our hockey blog.
    My apologies, sir.

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  146. …oh, and since it bothers you so much (over hockey’s topics), – yes, I DO know the difference and promise to try my best, not to butcher this wonderful language of our land, in future.

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  147. The problem with guys like Girardi and Staal and others before him (D. Boyle, Richards, etc) is that the coach leans on them because of their experience rather than the level of their play.

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  148. Man, I hate the off season. I don’t care about the draft. It not like whoever they draft is going to play and contribute right away. If he makes it at all, he’s usually years away from playing in the NHL. I’m not all that excited about the expansion draft. So, the Rangers are going to lose a player. They could probably afford to lose a few. It’s a long time until October.

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  149. Everyone who follows hockey knows the NYR D sucks but people who root for this team think they are the best 6 in the NHL? Left hand side please…

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  151. BDL, Brooks definitely went easy on the coach. it’s been said by Brooks and Cyrgalis that perhaps certain veterans need to be removed from the roster to save the coach from himself and his repeated over use of those players. To me there’s something wrong there. If a coach doesn’t see what he has in players because of their age and doesn’t see the decline in the reliability of an aging core why should he get a pass? That’s a serious problem.

    When Torts was dismissed it was right after a season and a post season where Torts refused to use Chris Kreider and he basically said in his break up day interview that he wasn’t going to change his style or his mentality. He was fired within a week. There was a lot more to the firing and that part gets overlooked but some of this has to be on the coach. Not calling for his head but he’s not flawless.

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  152. The bigger problem with the D is although they can’t skate or contribute on offense, they don’t hit as well. the inability to tie a man up in front or, god forbid, push him away from the net is the most disturbing facet of this D. Mr Smith looked like a man from another planet because he played the right way, played hard, took the body, protected his goalie.

    This team needs an Emotional Rescue, agree with Uncle Larry about the psyche of this squad and it starts with those wearing the A. Step, Nash, Staalled and Done G. I’ll excuse McD because he is too young and unvocal ;-0

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  154. SN, I hear you. I was saying yesterday how this team should be looking for a top pair defenseman. Bringing in a Mike Stone or a Cody Franson is going to just add to the merry go round of 3 through 6 guys. We have a legit number 1 guy here who hasn’t had a steady reliable partner in over 2 years now. That’s the real issue.

    As for your comment about the best top 6-I won’t argue the point that sometimes is made Staal would be top four on some teams. Hell, Nick Holden was on the number 1 pairing with Tyson Barrie in Colorado. That says more about those teams not Staal himself. But we don’t have the best 6. We don’t have the worst but we definitely don’t have the best. No matter what, the biggest problem with some of these guys is how big of roles they have on this team. These aren’t 18-20 minutes a night players anymore.

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  157. You can be innovative and brilliant, but in the US Navy, if you didn’t graduate from Annapolis, you have a hard time making Rear Admiral. As with Cam Talbot, when you come from the University of Alabama Huntsville, you most often find yourself overlooked.

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  159. James,
    Interesting thought about having to remove guys from the roster because AV can’t help himself. The Giants GM, George Young, had to do that with Jim Fassel who was the head coach at the time. Fassel insisted on playing a receiver by the name of Chris Calloway over Amani Toomer. Young had to cut Calloway to force Fassel to play Toomer.

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  160. Coos,
    They screwed the Talbot situation up in so many different ways. They did end up with Ryan Gropp, and he did have a big season in junior. So maybe its works out in the end.

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  161. BDL, I remember the Calloway/Toomer drama. As for the D needing an overhaul, it’s certainly not going to happen overnight. Gorton is going to need to get creative in order to remove one or two guys from this blueline. too much term left in the deals that are really killing them.

    Not to mention, you have Ryan Graves along with John Gilmour down in Hartford. Young players, neither of which got so much as a sniff this season even with all the injuries sustained. What happens with them next season?

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  162. No matter how you want to see it in hindsight, the Talbot situation was a gamble. You have a generational talent HOF goalie signed long term and a guy who isn’t exactly a kid coming out of nowhere in the midst of an injury and playing out of his head. Andrew Hammond did the same thing that year with Anderson out. Look at how that situation unfolded. If we’re wrong we’re wrong. If GMs are wrong people lose their jobs and a lot of money.

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  165. Alex – you like the vets….like Vino.
    .
    In the Torts era those guys weren’t as good as most thought but were put in a system Torts’ implemented to get that best out of his personnel unlike Elaine who likes going to go-go in November and then throws his players under the bus after the season.

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  168. SN

    i root for the front too without silly nicknames.

    Like some players more and some less regardless of vets vs rookie.

    I have also stated that there is not 1 Ranger making over $ 5 million that i would sign to their remaining contract but keep in mind those contracts were signed under different circumstances such as a couple of concussions. i also realize how terribly costly a buyout is. Would much rather trade one after the guy in question waived his no move. I think it can be done too with the right sweetener to the other team.

    Like I said I wish you were playing defense on the Rangers.

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