I don’t have internet for the next couple of days, hence why no post game wrap. I did manage to see the game, but I dont have time to talk about it. I’ll be back up and running shortly!
I don’t have internet for the next couple of days, hence why no post game wrap. I did manage to see the game, but I dont have time to talk about it. I’ll be back up and running shortly!
When looking through the post game thread over on the HFBoards site, I noticed this gem from Chimp, and had to share.
Too young, too untalented, too injured. This isn’t our year.
Really, can you sum it up more succinctly than that? The Rangers are an extremely young team, especially in the areas that matter most, in their own zone. The Rangers most gifted offensive players are all 2nd line teams on any playoff caliber squad. They have no true first line players whatsoever in the lineup on most given nights, and Gabby wasn’t really playing like a first liner for the vast majority of this season. The Rangers have also lost a mind boggling amount of man games to injury, which I am sure is close to 300 by now. Finally, yes, this is not our year, but really, who didn’t know that even going into the season? This team was always in the middle of a transition year, however I still feel they need to get some kind of a reward for all their hard work by making the playoffs.
Again, tonight, the Rangers played an outstanding game, limited the shots against, but gave up too many deflections, that is inexperience coming into play. They had a ton of shots on goal, but couldn’t finish the deal, that is a lack of talent, the Rangers just don’t have high scoring players to lead them to the promise land. That’s all this season comes down to folks, the Rangers just do not have a top line. None. They need a legitimate first line center, and frankly they need a legitimate first line left winger. Maybe if the Rangers can figure out a way to pry Alexander Semin from the Capitals and sign Brad Richards to a contract next season, they may have a legit stanley cup contender. Think about the lineup you saw tonight, and now imagine this lineup:
Semin – Richards – Gaborik
Dubinsky – Anisimov – Callahan
Wolski – Stepan – MZA
Grachev/Kreider – Boyle – Prust
Avery/Christensen
Notice something there? They have a legitimate first line that we haven’t had since the days of Straka – Nylander – Jagr, and they have the depth up and down the lineup that we haven’t had since…well…ever.
Sadly, that is cap-improbable.
Edit:
Just played with Capgeek.com, and here is what I was able to come up with. How do you trade for Semin there? Well that’s a good question. But it’s just me being hopeful:
CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR
FORWARDS
Alexander Semin ($6.700m) / Brad Richards ($6.500m) / Marian Gaborik ($7.500m)
Brandon Dubinsky ($3.250m) / Artem Anisimov ($1.500m) / Ryan Callahan ($3.000m)
Wojtek Wolski ($3.800m) / Derek Stepan ($0.875m) / Mats Zuccarello-Aasen ($1.750m)
Evgeny Grachev ($0.816m) / Brian Boyle ($1.525m) / Brandon Prust ($0.800m)
Erik Christensen ($0.925m)
DEFENSEMEN
Marc Staal ($3.975m) / Daniel Girardi ($3.325m)
Ryan McDonagh ($1.300m) / Mike Sauer ($0.500m)
Michael Del Zotto ($1.087m) / Pavel Valentenko ($0.850m)
GOALTENDERS
Henrik Lundqvist ($6.875m) / Martin Biron ($0.875m)
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $62,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $57,729,166; BONUSES: $1,650,000
CAP SPACE (21-man roster): $4,670,834
The cap space there, 4.6mil, is really 1 mil because 3.6 would be eaten by a Drury buyout. Of course the 1 mil could be gone to Richards if he takes 7.5 mil to sign too…
The Rangers played a great game, they got shitty refs, and played against a goalie who played unconscious. Seriously, how many times has that happened over the past few years? I swear I have seen this exact game played by the Rangers more times than I can count. Hell, over the past month they have played a handful just like this. They played outstanding hockey, but couldn’t bury their glorious chances due to a combination of heroic goaltending, and unbelievably bad luck. You have to wonder what the hell us Ranger fans have done to the hockey gods to deserve what we’ve gotten for the bulk of this franchises existence? While the Wings are winning championship after championship, we struggle to put a halfway decent team on the ice. And finally when we have a nice hard working team who play a great game, they get riddled by injuries and have zero luck on their side. I think we should like sacrifice Wade Redden to appease them or something because right now the Gods must be pissed off at us.
Outstanding game by the young defenseman tonight, including (I hate to say it) Matt Gilroy (who hit a post on a laserbeam of a shot I have never seen him display before). McDonagh, Sauer, and Gilroy were all marvelous, as was the Pack line of Dubinsky, Anisimov and Callahan. Stepan, Wolski and Zuccarello looked very mediocre out there for much of the game, and Vinny Prospal was the goat of the game with a ridiculous diving play to try to clear a puck that took him completely out of the play on the game winning goal.
Some questionable reffing down the stretch really gives you that extra sour taste in your mouth in this one because you have to think the Rangers deserved a few calls they didn’t get, and a few of the calls they did get against them looked like dives, particularly there at the end when Zuccarello had his stick chopped in half, was high sticked, and Dubinsky was hauled down, with no hands up in the air at all.
Blah, I don’t know why I keep doing this to myself, being a Ranger fan will ultimately cut off many years of my life right out from under me.
Who finishes the season with more points. Drury or Lundqvist.
EPIC WIN!
Regarding todays trade deadline? Well, it was anticlimactic for sure, however if the supposed rumor of Anisimov, a first and Michael Del Zotto was what it took to get Brad Richards…taking into account Richards probably won’t play for another 8-10 more games. I’d say the Rangers were pretty smart to not do that deal. Other than that, there were no players moved that had me thinking “man the Rangers should have matched or beaten that!”. There were some truly awful trades made including the mind numbingly bad Dustin Penner deal where the Kings gave up the farm for an overrated player.
Rangers made their moves when they got Wolski and McCabe. And those were both good deals. I’d say we are a better team now than we were back then.