Halak is 0-4. Now you can argue that last night's loss was not his fault, but he has been an absolute mess. There is no excuse for any competent goaltended to not be .500 with this team in front of him.
Honestly, the only loss I’m fully putting on Halak is the CBJ game. The Rangers got fucked last night in OT. Teams shouldn’t get rewarded with a PP for having their stick accidentally get stuck under a players arm. Miller shouldn’t have been called for a hold, it was utter bullshit. The team defense could use a bit of improvement, especially from Trouba. The biggest issue right now is that pucks just aren’t hitting the back of the net for us. I’d like to see the Rangers work into the slot more.
I can't figure out how Lafreniere is not having a huge breakout season. The eye test says he's blowing the league away but the numbers go "meh..." That's what a 5.9 shooting percentage will do to you. It's gotta be horrific bad luck at this point.
The eye test and the analytics tell you he is. Points don’t tell you if a player is good or not and I hate that points is the metric the general fan base uses. Laf and Kakko will always have lower point totals on this Rangers team because they don’t get PP1 minutes, nor should they. According to MoneyPuck, Alexis Lafreniere has an expected goals of 3.6 at 5v5 hockey. That puts him at a tie for 10th best in the league with the likes of Alex DeBrincat, Jack Hughes, David Pastrnak, and above the likes of Crosby. He’s having a very strong start to the year. Kakko has also been really good at 5v5, arguably their best forward at 5v5. His expected goals at 5v5 is 3.1.
I detest the rangers alternate uniforms. To me they’re like the Yankees. You don’t fuck with a classic.
If they fall out of playoff positioning by Thanksgiving, I’ll be concerned. Teams that are in playoff positioning by Thanksgiving make the playoffs 75% of the time. They can’t have Vesey and Goodrow in the top 6, and can’t have those same two playing OT minutes. I think Gallant SUCKS.
Yeah. Those are nice. The new version has the wrong shade of blue though. Plus, they wear it at home. I mean, hockey fans aren’t the brightest but you should at least know what city your team plays in without the help.
Something has to change. I think there is the need for a physical player to fill the third spot on the first line with Zibanejad and Kreider. They should try Lafreniere on that line. When he filled in that role last year, he had some real success.
The Rangers are too soft up front. The only guy who is top 6 capable who throws his weight around is Lafreniere. This is not a no-defense issue as Zibanejad and Kreider and Trocheck all forecheck and backcheck pretty well.
I’d really like to see Panarin — Mika — Kakko Lafreniere — Trocheck — Kravtsov Kreider — Chytil — Goodrow Vesey — Carp — Gauthier I will say, Kreider — Mika — Kakko has been the Rangers best line and it isn’t even close. They still have one of the highest expected goal % in the NHL with over 75 minutes to qualify. I expect the kids to actually play in the top 6 once Kravtsov is back.
Kid line saved the day. They were the line with a pulse through the first two periods. I've been against having them together on the third line but games like last night are a good counter argument. Not sure what the Rangers should do in the off-season but the first two lines are just too passive. They have to find somebody who really mixes it up in the corners on both of those lines.
Any goaltender who has 7 goals scored for him in 6 games is going to wind up losing most of those games. Not specifically defending Halak here but the Rangers are a total shitshow in his starts.
