Today marks 45 days until the Rangers play their first preseason game.
If the Rangers go with Jones, have two 5'10 defenseman, Lindgren at 6'0, they are fucking dead meat in the playoffs. Go look up the size of the defenses that make the finals and win the cup over the past 10-15 years. You'll be amazed.
Agreed.
If the Rangers go with Jones, have two 5'10 defenseman, Lindgren at 6'0, they are fucking dead meat in the playoffs. Go look up the size of the defenses that make the finals and win the cup over the past 10-15 years. You'll be amazed.
Throw 5-11 191lb Chad Ruhwedel in there as well. While the Rangers may be able to get away with it for the most part in the regular season, and perhaps a round in the playoffs, they're going to need something more by the end of the year. I'm not a huge fan of trying to fix things at the deadline, and see it more as a way to add depth, so I'm hoping (though doubting) that they'll figure something out earlier rather than later.
While it's possible that Trouba bounces back a bit, I am less optimistic about that happening too, and of the guys that are set to be in Hartford, I don't really see someone who is going to be a reliable guy in the playoffs.
This along with the center spot - which has the oft-injured Chytil and the borderline 4th liner Sam Carrick as your depth guys, along with Brodzinski - are the two areas the Rangers really need help addressing. Hopefully Reilly Smith has enough left in the tank, and perhaps Kakko can do something...or maybe even Othmann makes the jump...but I'm less concerned about the right wing than last season.
Feels like there's a lot of things that need to go right this year just to get back to where they were, let alone be better, and they only have 623k of cap space (albeit with 23 players on the roster - they could increase that to more like $1.4M with 22)
I seem to remember a guy posting before, during, and after the playoffs that the Rangers defense was too small, not physical enough and that Fox is a pussy. That they should have let Lindgren walk and figured out a way to sign UFA Nikita Zadorov. This season will be Groundhog Day mixed with Deja vu all over again.
If they need me to bleed, then I'll bleed for my team
Been saying this for years. Miller is also the biggest, and one of the least physical. Lindgren has the heart but gets run down, and zero help to Fox looking after his back. Rangers D needs some serious changes if they want to compete as playoff rounds go by.
If we are trying to get more size and jam, at this point kinda stuck with Carrick, but no reason for Edstrom and Othmann to take a back seat to Vesey and Brodzynski. Spare me the no ice time, if they are ready they are ready and you can throw Othmann into a work towards mode to replace Kakko or Smith if they don’t have it. Valuable experience being around the team and getting 8 to 10 minutes a game breaking in.
As the playoffs go along every player has to have a impact, even fourth liners. Garrick, Vesey, and Rempe is at this point laughable, and impact less.