From: @NYDNRangers Sent: Feb 25, 2013 10:48a Dan Girardi, Darroll Powe (concussion) is on the ice at practice today. So is Michael Del Zotto (lower-body) #NYR
Again.....and again, & again. Hack, love to know what your brilliant solutions to the myriad of problems this team is facing outside of 1) firing Sullivan and 2) benching richards and....I want clarification on what you mean by the repetivie salvo "when is torts going to be held accountable for the pp" answer me this..do you want Torts fired? if so, who are you replacing him with? if you don't want him fired, what do you mean by demanding he be held accountable? You want him to change line ups, change lines (hasn't he done that already?), you want him to beg season ticket holders for forgiveness during pressers? do you want him not to say "grind it out" anymore? Do you disagree with the Nash trade and want Dubi and Artie back,? should we have signed Prust for that contract?, Mitchell? I've said it before and I'll say it again, a lot of fans don't seem to either realize or remember that a) this team overachieved last year. b) a lot of "a" had to do with Hank playing lights out, and c) a lot of guys played great last year and aren't duplicating that effort this year. This year, again on top of mediocre play, and mediocre goaltending, now they have been getting slammed by injuries as well. There aren't excuses, these are facts. This team coming into the season was a middle of the pack team that, if they had stretches of poor play & didn't get another Vezina season from Hank, might find themselves on the outside looking in. I never bought that they were Stanley Cup contenders. If they start playing better, they can do damage still, especially considering the only team I feel they truly can't beat in the East are the Pens because all teams are showing chinks in the armour. I hate when fans simply rail on coaches when there are so many more issues that are more important, espcially in a sport like hockey.
You make it seem like the Rangers have already taken these steps. When were they done? No, I do not want him fired. What I want is for management at MSG (Sather) to clearly state that the power play in it's current state is unacceptable, and that part of Tortorella' responsibility is to have a competant (Not necessarily elite) power play. This is no different that having one defficient area in my job performance highlighted by my manager, yet still keeping my job because overall, I am doing well. Loved the Nash trade. Dubinsky is overrated. I do miss Prust very much, but that was an insane ammount of money. Mitchell is useless. This is a team who had a horrible power play last year, and all last year I had to hear how there weren't enough skilled players on this team to have an effective power play. Since then, we added Nash & Kreider (Who did not play one regular season game last year), and somehow the powerplay is even worse. This isn't a management issue? Agreed Like who? Gaborik? Haeglin? Staal? All three of them are way better than last year. Well I guess we are just screwed then. After all, no other team has any injuries, right? YOu make it seem that this is a carbon copy roster from a year ago. Do you really believe that? Did you buy 10th place? So you agree with Tortorella? Just "Grind it out"? Let me state once again - How is it possible that the power play is worse with the additions of Nash, Kreider, plus the fact that Gaborik and Haeglin are playing better this year than last? You really think this team has less talent on the ice than other teams on this power play?
New York Rangers @NYRangers Torts says Dan Girardi and Darroll Powe "are good to go" and that he is "not sure" about @RMcDonagh27 & Nash
With the injured comings and goings today, here are the lines and defense-pair combinations deployed by Tortorella during practice: Pyatt-Richards-Gaborik Hagelin-Stepan-Callahan Miller-Boyle-Powe Mashinter-Halpern-Bickel Extras: Thomas and Kreider Staal-Girardi Del Zotto-Stralman Eminger-Gilroy
great hackett, thanks for all of those answers.....(you're answer about the accopuntability thing is still absurd) now can you stop posting the same thing game after game ; ) by the way Staal wasn't playing last year at this time and Gabby was way better last year. all of his goals this year are in about 3 games. and no i don't believe this is a carbon copy of last year, but you keep missing my point.......which is mainly, it aint friggin Tortorella's fault they are sucking wind right now. I said befor the lockout was settled that the short season would hurt them.......yes every team has dealt with it..but I firmly believe Torts and this team thrived on preparation and chemistry last year, which was developed largely through a grueling camp....not many teams played as well as a unit.......they missed camp more than most teams and it is showing.
The lockout and shortened pre-season should help teams with settled units and low turnover, that's no excuse for a veteran team like the Rangers. It's sides like Minnesota who are damaged by the lockout.
If Ottawa can win with guys injured then Rangers should figure their shit out...I blame Sullivan alot too
"Gabby was way better last year. all of his goals this year are in about 3 games.' -Gaborik has always been this way. Scores in bunches like he's possessed and then won't score for weeks.
The Rangers are hardly a settled unit... a lot of turnover this year if you hadn't noticed. A lot of key guys that were part of their outstanding unit cohesiveness are gone (Prust, Dubinksy, Anisimov, Mitchell, Fedetenko, that's 5 forwards from last season's regular rotation)....in their place Nash (not right now obviously) Halpern, Pyatt, Miller, Asham, Kreider et al Nash was worth it (assuming he ever plays again)......but, again your missing my point too so I'll make it again, their biggest asset was intense, hard nosed, team oriented 5 man play........chemistry & goal tending...they are lacking all of that right now (a lot of which was developed during camp). The shortened season helps the lesser teams, there's no doubt in my mind about that. again i'm not making excuses, I just think I saw this struggle coming before the season started....whereas a lot of peolpe had them as maybe 2nd behind the Penguins in the East. The Nash addition was considered (by the hockey media) without much attention paid to who they lost and how they played.
Depth. I don't know much about the Rangers' farm but Binghamton won the Calder Cup the year before last and we have a seemingly endless supply of young talent to call up, some of whom got NHL experience last year and some of whom have made their debuts this year. We'll win some games this season with them but we won't go deep in the playoffs if we even make it there.
Kreider played for the Rangers last year, but I take your point - I hadn't realised there'd been that much turnover. Still, the players you're referring to are mostly veterans - if you're bringing in knackered old lumps like Jeff Halpern, Arron Asham and Taylor Pyatt then I'm inclined to think that your issue is less one of preparation and more one of a lack of ability. Also, it's a ludicrous argument that less talented teams are hurt less by a lack of pre-season. I've no idea how you come to that conclusion. There does seem to be evidence that teams with lots of players who went to Europe during the lockout are doing better than teams whose players stayed at home, but again I don't know how the Rangers stand there.
